Original subtitles

I,Fakirullah, a speck in the cosmos, tell those who delight in music...

....that my humble eyes saw a book in AD 1670...

...copies of which were made in the lifetime of its author

It was Maan Kutuhaal

It is said that Dhrupad was patronized by Raja Mansingh,ruler of Gwalior

Many talented singers were in his court

The king himself discussed music with them

Amongst them, Nayak Bakshu...

...and Nayak Pandabiya had come to Kurukshetra to bathe in the Ganges

Also Mohmood Lohang,of extraordinary voice, and Nayak Kam

The king was minded...

...that rarely did so many superior singers gather in one place

Therefore, the form and nature of ragas should in some way be written

Mansingh Tomar,ruler of Gwalior, rides outside his fortress

With a sword of music, a shield of tuned strings, the artist wanders

The great warrior's wits win him many musical battles

The note: a taut bow Syllables: true arrows

Their target: ecstasy

The assembly acclaims the heroic scholar

Where has the rhythm flown?

From the midst of the assembly, Haridas Dagar declares

Seekers of wisdom, the army of ignorance is being overwhelmed

In Dhrupad,the syllable must not be disturbed in the alaap or the pad

For example: one note

Now two notes

Now three

The same notes are divided in the raaga

Ancient music has two facets

One celebrated nature and existence

The seasons,birth,marriage,death: life's cycle is a matter of rhythm

The second accompanied ritual and sacrifice

These two facets inspired the Chandh

In the Magadh empire,tribal social divisions disintegrated

...replaced by villages and city states

These had an agricultural economy

The village derived from the first facet of ancient music...

...accompanying agrarian festivals, birth and marriage

The second facet of ancient music broke from its original function...

....and developed an independent, classical tradition in the city states

During the Upanishads and the Brahmanas...

...music was integrated into a "classical" form

Two important works, Natya Shastra and Dattilam...

...recorded the birth and evolution of music

Although mainly about theatre...

...Bharata's Natya Shastra is a comprehensive study of music

It distinguished Gandharva and Gaan music...

Gaans, composed of Dhruvs (stanzas), was linked with theatre

Gandharva, performed in the early evening, adhered rigourously to classicism

Dattil's Datillam is solely concerned with Gandharva

It has separate chapters on notes and rhythms

He created a fortress of sound; aaroha,avroha,sthayee and antara

With his great precision

...six raagas soar like towers: their 30 "wives"

Moorchanas and shrutis are the battlements

The seven notes are seven arches, their scales are their swinging doors

Cymbals, like cannon fire, engender a cosmic sound

The Dhrupad quatrain offers a fourfold challenge

His voice is such, his throat seems lined with polychrome ichor

Haridas Dagar hails his master's master

The infinite music jousts are the gems of wisdom...

...as precious as diamonds and pearls.

Dhrupad came into being a thousand years ago

It is strongly linked with the musical forms of 300 BC

A 14th century treatise, Sangeet Ratnakar,confirms this

Its chapters on Sruthi,Swar,Gram, Moorchana,Taan,Sadharam Jati...

...Varna,Alankar and Taal indicate the same classicism...

...as Dhrupad of today

The perception of 2,000 years ago..

...is of great significance in current usage

As you know, there are many schools of intepretation

However, even when the same raaga is performed by a particular gharana..

...different atmospheres are created

Performing in a house or a hall, for an audience great or small

...creates subtle differences in the rendition of unwritten Hindusthani music

To predeterminate it is to destroy it

But grasp its range and it is magnificant

Is there a particular way of applying the shruti for each raga?

Yes,shruti is a tiny sound, I'll give you an example

-Is that Raga Kambhoji? -Yes with the note in nishaad

Our family has always had one player, one theoretician and two singers

Both my grandfathers were singers

The theoretician was Inayat Khan Sahib, Behram Khan Sahib's grandson

My father and Nasiruddin Khan Sahib were singers

...and Riyazuddin Khan Sahib was the theoretician

That was the family tradition

We were taught two ragas in five years

I learnt Yaman,then Bhairav

I was told I could learn the afternoon Raga Sarang if i wished

In a moorchana each note achieves its own octave

This is sa

We get to sa.Now from re

Also from ga to ga,ma to ma,pa to pa, in ascending and descending order

The word Taan is very old

It is in the Natya Shastra and the Sangeet Ratnakar

The aakar the khyalis use today is also called taan

The Dhrupad taan and Khayal taan are different.This is the Khayal taan

Now the Dhrupad taan.

That's the Dhrupad taan.

In the sthayee antaraa improvisation...

..word patterns must be chiselled, combined with notes,and set to rhythm

This is the wordless alaap. In this we have words

There's only a stylistic difference

I'll show you what little I know

Syllables may be tuned differently in another style

That is the difference.

We practise the Dagarvani style called Sadharani

A specific place was reserved for musicians...

...where they sat,played and rested.

In another specific place the King listened to music...

Recitals and music dialogues would last four to five hours

There were different places for the different schools of musicians

They recieved a regular salary

They could practise,teach their children,live well

But,suddenly,the feudal states were abolished

Some musicians moved to Bombay others moved to Delhi or Calcutta

Behram Khan went to King Bahadur Shah Zafar

Then he went to Rana Ranjit Singh's, in Lahore,as the Rana's teacher

He recieved many titles and had many students

Among them were Gokibai and Alyapoot

Also Chajookhan and Hyder Khan Der

Hyder Baksh, who played the sarangi was also Behram Khan's student

He had other students,including Akbar Khan and his own son

Both my grandfathers were his students

On his way back from Patiala, Behram Khan came to Alwar

When Maharaji Ramsingh of Jaipur heard that the great scholar was in Alwar...

...he gave him land and a salary so that he could live in Jaipur

From there,both my grandfathers came to Udaipur

As long as the states existed

...we lived together discussing everything together

When the states were abolished we went different ways

When we meet now,we have the same discussions

Through these discussions we have kept Dhrupad alive

Some abandoned Dhrupad for Khayal; others became players or gave up

Most Dhrupadiyas lived within a state

Few outside that state were familiar with their music

Now Dhrupad is being propogated, there are many conferences about it

And people are becoming interested in the schools of ancient instruments