INDIA – INDE Kumar Gandharva – Hindustani Classical – His Master's Voice – ECLP 2360

INDIA – INDE
Kumar Gandharva – Hindustani Classical – His Master's Voice – ECLP 2360, released 1968 (LP)

The legendary Kumar Gandharva, born Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkalimath (1924 - 1992), hailed from a musical family in Sulebhavi, Karnataka, in southwestern India. As a young child his prodigious musical gifts inspired his nickname "Gandharva," after mythical celestial beings known for their divine singing. His celebrated 1935 performance at the prestigious All India Music Conference, at the age of 11, assured his reputation, and the eminent Khyal singer and musicologist B.R. Deodhar (1901-1990) accepted him as his disciple.

Gandharva’s steady trajectory to greatness and his complete mastery of his art was cut brutally short by a severe case of tuberculosis contracted in 1947. His doctors said he would never sing again. He moved to the dryer northern climate of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh to rest, but when a new drug became available he gradually recovered and began performing again in 1953 despite having to adapt to singing with a single lung.  

 

The singer's six-year hiatus, spent intensely listening to the sounds of nature, itinerant folk singers and Bhakti devotional songs, proved to be a pivotal moment of transformation and a metaphysical awakening.  

 

With his unique high-pitched voice and short, dynamic melodious flights, Gandharva innovated and freed himself from convention, combining several gharana traditions, while delving into India’s past to reconnect with the devotional and transcendental spirit in the folk music of old, which he fully expressed in passionate renderings of bajhans by the 15th-century poet-saint Kabir Das. This true original, venerated to this day, is a treasure of Indian culture.

   

This outstanding 1968 release features Gandharva’s soft, lyrical and inventive musings with harmonium player P. Madhukar (1916-1967) and Gandharva’s longtime tabla accompanist Vasant Acharekar.  

Le légendaire Kumar Gandharva, né Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkalimath (1924 - 1992), est issu d'une famille musicale de Sulebhavi, Karnataka, dans le sud-ouest de l'Inde. Les prodigieux dons musicaux du jeune garçon ont amené sa famille à l'appeler Gandharva – nom donné à des entités célestes réputées pour leur chant divin. Il acquiert une renommée à l’échelle nationale à l'age de 11 ans suite à son récital à la prestigieuse All India Music Conference de 1935 et l'éminent chanteur de Khyal et musicologue B.R. Deodhar (1901-1990) le prendra comme disciple peu après.

 

La trajectoire ascendante de Kumar Gandharva et sa maîtrise de son art sont brutalement interrompues par un cas grave de tuberculose contracté en 1947. Ses médecins lui annoncent qu'il ne chantera plus jamais et il part vivre dans le climat plus sec au nord à Dewas dans le Madhya Pradesh pour se reposer. Suite à la disponibilité d'un nouveau médicament, il se rétabli progressivement et se produit de nouveaux à partir de 1953 malgré le fait qu'il doit maintenant apprendre à chanter avec un seul poumon.

 

Cette période d’arrêt total de six ans – pendant laquelle Gandharva écoute intensément les sons de la nature, des chanteurs folkloriques itinérants et des chants dévotionnels Bhakti proposés par son environnement – se révéla être pour lui un moment charnière de transformation et d'éveil métaphysique.

 

Avec sa voix aiguë inimitable et ses courtes envolées dynamiques et mélodieuses, Ghandarva innova et s'affranchit des conventions en combinant plusieurs traditions gharanas tout en regardant vers le passé de l'Inde pour renouer avec l'esprit dévotionnel et transcendantal de la musique folklorique d'antan – qu'il exprima magnifiquement notamment dans ses interprétations de bajhans passionnés du poète-saint du XVe siècle Kabir Das. Cet artiste iconoclaste est un véritable trésor de la culture indienne.

 

Ce précieux album de 1968 présente les envolées douces, lyriques et inventives du maître accompagné de P. Madhukar (1916-1967) à l’harmonium et de Vasant Acharekar aux tablas.

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The photographs below are from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s online collection database https://philamuseum.org/collections/search.html

Sun (Lord Surya), copper, Rajasthan, 18th-19th century:

Tantric Painting of Garuda, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Gujarat, 19th century:

“Garuda, the mythical bird depicted here, is the vehicle of Lord Vishnu. Images of various goddesses appear on his human torso, bird legs, and wings. This painting may have been part of a set relating to the Hindu religious tradition known as Tantra. It would have been used to support meditation by tantric practitioners seeking to attain superior knowledge of the divine through secret magical practices.”

Kantha (Embroidered Quilt), Bengali (Bangladesh or India), late 19th-early 20th century:

“The maker of this kantha gloried in depicting modern life. In the upper right, a woman stands within a grand residence detailed with gas sconces and arched louvers. In the upper left, she or another woman sits surrounded by mostly aquatic creatures in a square representing a ghat (stepped riverbank platform). In the lower section appear two steam-driven vehicles-a train and a peacock-prowed pleasure boat (the latter usually propelled by oars). At bottom, an elaborate market scene includes a merchant who weighs a woman's purchases on a scale. In contrast to the usual sari draped over the head, the women here wear long-sleeved blouses, separate head-coverings, and long necklaces that resemble the outfits seen in the hill region of northern Bengal.”

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