This concert is to commemorate and keep alive the memory of the legendary Thumri Dadra Ghazal singer Begum Akhtar. It is a Shukrana concert on her Barsi from her youngest shagird.
Having achieved great fame as Akhtari Bai , when her gayaki had the sparkling and vivacious chulbula ang of Patiala Gharana, her music later matured into an emotional and profoundly meditative style. This transition took place after she trained under the Kirana Gharana Ustad Behre Wahid Khan. Her personal life also transformed when she married the London educated barrister Ishtiaq Ahmad Abbasi and became Begum Akhtar.
What can I say about her as a guru except that she was generous, sincere and inspiring? It is said that great artists are impatient teachers but I found her to be very kind and patient. It was fortunate for me that I lived in Lucknow as did she.
I had gone to her home for the first time with a common family friend who introduced us, saying that I wanted to learn from her. She did not accept the request and said “mainey sikhana chod diya hai choonke mere talkh tajurbe huein hain shaagirdon ke saath”. After graciously offering us tea , just as we got up to leave , she asked me to sing something for her. So I sat again and sang one of her recorded ghazals. Without changing her facial expression she told me to come back next morning at 10am. She said “tumhari taaleem main shru kar rahi hun sirf isliye ke ye awaaz zaaya na jaaye”.
She was generous not just in terms of imparting knowledge but also at a personal level. In those days I used to learn Kathak and was forever on a diet. So she would keep out of season fruit for me in her house like apples and oranges in the summer months and watermelon in the winter. She later dissuaded me from continuing Kathak because she felt that one must dedicate oneself fully to just one art form.
After morning classes she would often tell me to stay for lunch and after lunch I cherished the intimacy she shared when we lay on her bed and she told me stories about her life. Then she began taking me with her to other cities.
My first sorrow was when as a child I lost my Nana and my second encounter with death was when I lost my beloved guru. I was with her only towards the end of her life but within that period she gave me so much. I remember her as though it were yesterday.She had a larger than life, unforgettable personality.
A year or so after her death, Girija Devi came to perform in Lucknow. She stayed in the home of a family friend where she gave a house concert the day after her public performance. The host introduced us, saying that my Taaleem under Begum Akhtar had been cut short. Girija Devi asked me to come over the next day. She heard me sing and after a week took me back with her to Benares.
I have combined both Lucknow and Benares styles of singing and have added the mystical dimension of Sufi poetry which I present in the Thumri, Dadra Ghazal style.
After Begum Akhtar’s death , Ghazal was popularised in the Geet numa style of Jagjit singh which appealed to the masses. At an opposite spectrum, Mehdi Hasan also became a craze and was respected for his Khayal ang style. Rekha stubbornly stuck to Thumri ang Ghazal gayeki in which Begum Akhtar groomed her, even though this style of singing was considered “old-fashioned”. She strongly believes that not just because of her taaleem , Ghazal is best presented in the classical-romantic Thumri style and sings Ghazal alongside other forms that belong to this genre, like Dadra, Hori, Jhoola, Kajri and Chaiti.
There has always been some confusion about the nomenclature of this genre–Light Classical , Semi Classical or just Classical. It is best described as poetry oriented classical music, in which liberties are allowed with Raga.
I will begin and end my recital with a Thumri and a Dadra sung by Begum Akhtar. In between I will sing my own compositions.The lyrics of the opening Thumri were written as a homage to Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz of Ajmer and composed in Raga Mishra Kafi. I will end with a Dadra sung by Begum Akhtar which became so popular that it was even used by Bollywod.