A composition, a song, a foundation. The bandish is the central idea around which flourish the many forms of Hindustani music. Ahead of this year’s edition of the NCPA’s Bandish, a festival that celebrates compositions and those who created them, we speak to vocalists Umakant Gundecha, Malini Awasthi and Sanjeev Abhyankar about this elemental form of infinite possibilities.

By Lakshmi Sreeram

Dhrupad, khayal and thumri—the three genres comprising Hindustani music—are heavily improvisation-driven. The space occupied by alap, bol banav, tan, bol bant and other aspects of vistar (exposition) and upaj (improvisation/ elaboration) in these three genres is far more than that occupied by the composition.

Nevertheless, the composition occupies a central role as borne out by the fact that “khayal”, “dhrupad” and “thumri” refer primarily to compositional forms and, by extension, to the musical genres that use these song-forms prominently. The generic word for composition or song-form in these performance traditions is bandish, which is the pivot and the anchor of performances in these genres.

The bandish is usually a very short song; it is a tiny bud throbbing with immense possibilities that the gifted and well-trained musician can cajole to offer varied hues and fragrances of raga, tala and bhava.

We find descriptions of a wide variety of compositional forms in medieval texts on music. In the 8th-century text Brihaddeshi, Matanga Muni wrote, “That prabandha which is sung with raga in the beginning along with ornament and is next accompanied by tala, well rendered with solfa and recited with drum syllables and also contains passages of meaningful text—this is declared to be Shukachanchu, a favourite of people everywhere.”

Sangeetaratnakara, the 12th-century treatise on dance and music, describes dozens of kinds of compositions and song-forms. In present-day practice, the dhrupad genre uses compositional forms such as dhrupad, dhamar and sadra while khayal uses chhota and bada khayal, and tarana. Not long ago, other forms such as the chaturanga, trivat, khayalunama, tap khayal were also part of a khayaliya’s repertoire. The thumri genre includes compositional types such as thumri, dadra, chaiti, kajri, barahmasa, sawan, jhoola and so on.

The National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, organises an annual series of concerts titled Bandish – A Tribute to Legendary Composers to celebrate the form, draw attention to its centrality in music and document leading musicians performing a variety of bandishes.

This year, the series features Umakant Gundecha and Anant Gundecha, Sanjeev Abhyankar, and Malini Awasthi, representing the genres of dhrupad, khayal and thumri respectively. All three have impeccable credentials to represent these genres, having trained under highly regarded masters and with rich experience as performers. Collectively, their presentations will sweep the history of Hindustani music and offer a peak into the range of sources for bandishes—from texts to learning directly from a guru to absorbing a rich musical soundscape of an ancient musical centre.

The Gundecha duo of uncle and nephew will present dhrupad compositions by Swami Haridas and his two legendary disciples Baiju and Tansen in the 16th century, while Abhyankar will present the more recent compositions of his guru, Jasraj. Awasthi, with her deep roots in the culture of Banaras, will present a wide variety of compositions such as thumri, chaiti, kajri, etc.

“There are three aspects to a bandish—the lyrical content, its setting in raga and tala, and, finally, the andaz or the style of rendering it,” says Umakant Gundecha. His presentation will demonstrate the coming together of the textual and oral traditions of music transmission. He (and his brother, the Late Ramakant Gundecha) accessed the lyrical content of these compositions from textual sources, and together, cast them into music by drawing upon their exposure to the musical form and presentation.

“We imbibed the texture, spirit and aesthetics of dhrupad compositions by listening to our ustads.” Perhaps Indian music is the only tradition that has music about music. The glory, the depths, the secrets, and the liberating power of music are the themes of many compositions, and the Gundecha duo will present a couple of these. A dhrupad credited to Baiju, which the brothers cast in Abhogi Kanada, goes like this:

Swaratattva jnana jeevanmukti ko roop sadhe pave jnana ko marma hai tab gunijana suno praman.

Another composition credited to Swami Haridas will be rendered in Patdeep:

Jab kartar karam kare to sabaka chhupave nad vidya shuddha Sangeeta aave.

If Gundecha promises to take us back in history for a glimpse of the enduring beauty of 500-year-old compositions, Abhyankar will display the youthful vigour of the tradition by presenting compositions that are not over 50 years old.

“My guru, Pandit Jasraj took me under his wings when I was barely 10, and I stayed in his home for the next 10 years, imbibing this music and his style. Most of the bandishes that I will be presenting are his compositions, and I have learned them entirely in the moukhik parampara (oral tradition).”

He will present compositions in rare ragas like Din Ki Puriya, Shuddha Baradi and Dhuliya Malhar. Jasraj had imbibed the rich musical wealth of Pushti Margiya Sangeet also called Haveli Sangeet. And, this is reflected in the lyrical beauty of his compositions. The bandish in Shuddha Baradi goes like this:

Kunj bihari thari re
bansuri lag man pyari re.
Aavoji mhar kunwara kanhaji
Thar bina naina ri neend bisari.

The composition in Dhuliya Malhar captures the intoxicating fragrance of the earth after the first showers. Abhyankar points out the appropriateness of the raga for the lyrics in his guru’s compositions.

“The lyrics and the raga have to go with each other. Just like a person, every raga has a basic personality, a mizaj, and may best be suited for certain moods. Like a person, it may exhibit other moods too but less prominently.” Abhyankar will present compositions in different talas and layas, and with different uthans (the take-off point in the metrical cycle) and rhythmic complexity. A composition from Haveli Sangeet, a Sanskrit composition and finally, a Surdas bhajan will offer a spectrum of bandishes that his guru was a master at.

Abhyankar avers there is no substitute for the oral/ aural tradition in transmitting the bandish. Notation, however detailed, cannot communicate the andaz, the kahan, the style of rendering a bandish in an attractive manner. Little rhythmic pulls and pushes, delicate ornamentation, the dynamics of presenting—all this can only be conveyed orally.

Awasthi will offer an experience of the world of thumri, dadra, chaiti, kajri. A disciple of Girija Devi, she brings a special flavour to her performances with her intimate connection to the culture of Banaras. “Not everyone acknowledges the composer of bandishes— we sing them, enjoy them, teach them, but rarely take the composer’s name. This is why I love the idea behind this festival of bandishes organised by the NCPA.” She will present bandishes of the pitamaha of Hindi, Bharatendu Harishchandra, and Ramprasad Mishra (“Ramuji”), Chhabile and Sajile.

The bandish of Hindustani music is delicate, almost nebulous. It is not set in stone but is meant to be owned by each performer and presented according to her musical sensibilities, experience and personality. A mind-numbing homogeneity is not desirable in the rendition of bandishes.

“Take the iconic ‘Babul Mora Naihar Chooto hi Jaye’,” says Awasthi. It sounds different each time it is rendered by a different artiste due to many factors including “the theka of tala used, the tempo, the aesthetics of presentation. And that is how it should be.”

Musicians have been known to take other liberties with bandishes too. “My guru did that with a composition by Bharatenduji—‘Kahanva Mano O Diljani’. She changed the word diljani to Radharani. This change made presenting to genteel audiences more acceptable and possible,” adds Awasthi.

The bandish, like a raga has a core identity, but, like a raga, assumes the personality of the performer. The core too changes—less obviously but surely. This is indeed a sign of a vibrant, living tradition. In documenting bandishes as rendered by seasoned musicians and offering a historical understanding of the bandish and the composer, the NCPA captures a moment in their history, and that is priceless.

Our Supporter
For over seven years, HSBC has supported an array of initiatives in Indian Music at the NCPA that range from providing taleem under the mentorship of renowned masters in the guru-shishya tradition to giving a platform to up-and-coming artistes, enabling workshops with a focus on the development of ancillary skills among performers and celebrating the many shades of Indian music at the highest level of performance by eminent artistes. The three-day festival of Bandish brings the works of legendary composers, across the genres of classical, semi-classical, devotional and film music, to life in the voices of acclaimed vocalists. For its support in the endeavour of promoting, preserving and propagating India’s artistic heritage, the NCPA expresses its gratitude to HSBC.

Lakshmi Sreeram is a musician and teaches at the Ahmedabad University.

This article was originally published in the July 2024 issue of ON Stage.