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‘Technology has hurt artistes the most’

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | ByDeep Saxena
Sep 25, 2018 03:25 PM IST

Eminent classical singer Shubha Mudha, who has also rendered chartbusters like ‘Ab Ke Sawan’, said that film songs were not her specialisation.

Eminent classical singer Shubha Mudgal, who has also rendered chartbusters like ‘Ab Ke Sawan’, said that film songs were not her specialisation.

“‘Raag sangeet’ (pure classical music) has a different set of rules, while the ‘parampara’ (tradition) of playback singing is very unique. My education is of ‘raag’ and ‘bandish’. In playback singing, you get the song in the studio, prepare it as per music director’s vision and sing it instantly. It is a different kind of a challenge. We are not prepared for such challenges,” said the celebrated singer. She was in conversation with author Yatindra Mishra at the opening show of the series ‘Sangat’, held at a city hotel on Sunday.

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“Earlier, songs were recorded with live musicians. Now, it’s completely different. I was supposed to sing a duet but I never met my male counterpart. He sang his lines separately and I mine, and it was, interestingly, a song of ‘saghan prem’ (intense love). There were no musicians and all music was coming through my headphones. So, it’s a different world all-together.

“I am usually called for songs where a jogan is dancing, lost in her own world, or, it is an alaap for a sad song,” she said.

Commenting on the role of technology, Mudgal averred, “It has its own merits but it hurt artistes the most and that is the saddest part. There is a software called Melodyne, which can make anyone ‘surila’ (melodious).”

Yatindra Mishra in conversation with Shubha Mudgal during the Sangat event in Lucknow. (Dheeraj Dhawan/HT Photo)

MAKING OF SHUBHA

She lived in Allahabad and her parents were professors in English at the university. “They were very fond of music. They used to go on their Lambretta scooter to Varanasi to listen to concerts. Both encouraged us to learn ‘sangeet’. While studying in St Mary’s Convent Inter College, Sister Eugenia, a teacher, asked another colleague, Dr Kamla Bose, to teach me music. Dr Bose recommended me to her guru Ram Asrey Jha ‘Ram Rang’. After sometime, I was singing a Mirabai bhajan where he was a special guest. I feel that I sang badly but he agreed to teach me and that was my turning point,” she said, talking about how her music journey began.

After she moved to Delhi, she continued her education in music under Bhaiji (Pd Vinay Charan Maudgalya, founder of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya). “He took me to Khan Market where Naina Devi lived. She taught us subtle nuances of singing like where to take a pause and so on. She also kept all of us like a family. She was my only female guru and the rest were males, but I must say the contribution of all Guru Mas (the wives of the Gurus) has been immense.” Mudgal has also learned from Pt Jitendra Abhisheki and Pt Kumar Gandharva.

She sang a few lines of Naina Devi’s composition ‘Aja hu aye saiyaan’. She also sang a few lines of the ‘paraj’ (music form) ‘Kahe bajaye been saavre’.

CONTEMPORARY SINGING

Mudgal has no regrets singing pop songs and in films. “I have loved them and have no regrets singing them,” she said.

She recalled the time when her first album ‘Ali More Angna’ came out. Her friends had called up asking if she had left classical singing. “No one complained to me nor did anyone ask why I had sung those songs. Every purist of classical music has indulged in fusion.”

Her ‘Man ke manjeere’, ‘Dholna’ and ‘Seekho na naino ke bhasha piya’ have been runaway hits and when she had rendered the latter live, got a thunderous applause from the audience.

In January, 2019, she is scheduled to collaborate with jazz musicians at the Sydney Opera House, Australia.

FOLK MUSIC

She is making special efforts to bring Shaadi and Sanskar geet to the public. “I learned ‘Amber Bela’ from my Dadi. Uttar Pradesh has a rich culture and has lot of songs for weddings and to do with sanskar (values). I got help from film historian Zafar Naqvi saheb (a Lucknowite) in this project. Eventually, we compiled some 500 songs for our album ‘Weddings Songs of Uttar Pradesh’,” she said.

She talked about a traditional song in which the girl tells her parents how her would-be husband should be and concludes saying: ‘Aisa var dhoondio, Gokul ko Kanhaiyaji raj’. She sang few lines of the song too.

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