Jugalbandi

It was just yesterday that I attended the much awaited Times Swar Sangam 2017, curated by Vasu Dixit. Much awaited for very personal reasons.

My love for Indian classical music being the most obvious, since, like all good, cultured Bengalis of the world, I too trained in all the three classical forms of art; Hindustani classical music, Bharatnatyam and of course the customary fine art classes, until juggling all of them became a logistical nightmare!
The other reason was the performance of my childhood role model, Smt. Shubha Mudgal Ji, whose performance I would never miss for anything.
This time however, she was not going to be performing alone, but as part of what was called 'Swar Sangam' or in other words a confluence of notes, hence, there was going to be a jugalbandi with another eminent and accomplished singer, Smt. Bombay Jayshree.

Before this would be a jugalbandi between two other exceptional musicians, Smt. Jayanti Kumaresh on the Veena and Sri Kumaresh on the Violin.

What transpired for those three and half hours can only be described as being an extraordinary and fulfilling experience!

As I sat there listening to one composition after another, sometimes followed by valuable nuggets from the artists, I started contemplating on the format of jugalbandi itself, purely from the perspective of what I had experienced over the years, having attended jugalbandi performances. I could not help but notice the uncanny resemblance it bears to perhaps the text-reading sessions as part of my Masters education, which, I likened to what is called the Socratic circles (yet to be verified, so please do not crucify me!).

It is with this understanding, that I am trying to dissect the various facets of this practice of jugalbandi.

To paraphrase Sri Kumaresh's definition of a jugalbandi;

"
It is like the Instruments having a conversation
A conversation that has no space for arguments

or display of anger or aggression.
At every point, one responds to the other, be it an instrument or the vocals.
The Ghatam speaks to the Mridangam like the Veena speaks to the Violin.
The Veena sometimes assumes the voice of the Spanish guitar

and yet maintains her distinctive sternness! "

From where I saw...
There is appreciation coming from one for the other, followed by a befitting response, one that is not sabotaging in nature. Yet, there is scope for elasticity!
Take one look at the sound waves on the adjacent monitor and you can tell that, it is a representation of the consonance between the participants and how it is always contained within an unclaimed boundary, without one exceeding the other.

It is as though there is the raaga (melody) or in some cases the text (or its meaning), that acts as the warp and the two musicians or instruments are the intertwined weft.

Like Shubha Ji puts it;

"
The Consonance is as important in a Jugalbandi

As the Dissonance between the Participating Elements. "

While all this is happening on stage, there is the audience that is in a state of undetected brownian motion.
They engage all along. The engagement has moments of tension, involuntary holding of the breath, blissful unawareness of any other stimuli, all this until, it finds a release as a deep sigh or a clap. The applause (ranging from medium to high levels of vigorousness) is a sign of the deepest involvement turning into appreciation that cannot be contained.

I cannot help but ask, if this is what the consumption of and experience of engaging with timeless ways of learning looks like?

One where...
The Recipient/audience is not passive but astutely mindful
Their activeness/involvement is displayed in different ways
Time stands still and it's measurement becomes immaterial
There is an innate wish to prolong the experience( beginning less & endless)
There are moments of shunyata (emptiness) occasionally experienced
The contentment/gratification is immeasurable and perhaps even emancipatory
The participant leaves each times, partly satiated and yet hungry for more
Curiosity then paves the way for further pursuits