HYDERABAD: This artist has impressive credentials indeed. He has played the tambura for some of best-known Carnatic musicians. These include renowned vocalists like the Malladi Brothers, Hyderabad Brothers, T.M. Krishna, Sudha Raghunathan, Nityashree Mahadevan, Hyderabad Sisters, besides the Priya Sisters and Unnikrishnan.
Interestingly, the 37-year-old Imdad has also trained in vocal music and gives solo vocal performances.
Like so many performers, he decided that besides the track record of accompanying top musicians, it was also necessary to acquire academic qualifications in his field. So he obtained a Post Graduate in Carnatic music (Vocal) from Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad after the Certificate and Diploma course in Carnatic classical music (Vocal) from Government Sarada Sangeetha Kalasala, Kurnool; and Teachers Training Course, Anantapur in the same field. Imdad also has an MA in English Literature from GITAM University, Vizag.
How did his love for music begin? “During my schooldays in Kurnool, I always wanted to sing for the Assembly prayers and national festival songs. I was also influenced by Telugu films based on classical music like Shankarabharanam, Sruthilayalu and Sagara Sangamam. Noticing my love for music, one of my teachers suggested I enroll in Bala Bhavan, Kurnool for music classes.
So I enrolled there paying a mere Rs 12 as annual fees!! However, even that seemed a burden for my middle-class family. Also my parents felt I should focus completely on academic studies rather than taking time off to learn “Aatalu, Paatalu” and thereby wasting precious time!! However, I persisted and also saved up money and learnt music there. I learnt vocal music only though I was also interested in the violin as the latter was an instrument my family could not afford to buy.”
How did he learn the tambura? “While doing my diploma course, the well-known Komanduri Seshadri, was appointed as the new Principal of the college. He got all the unused, old tamburas in the college dusted, cleaned and tuned. I helped in this job and thus got interested in tambura playing. He used to insist on teaching music to the accompaniment of the tambura and I would always volunteer to be the tambura player among all the students in the class.
He taught me how to play this instrument and also took me a few times to play the tambura for him when he performed at kutcheries. In this way I learnt to play this instrument. I continue to take advanced music lessons under Raghavachari of the Hyderabad Brothers as well as Vaidyanadhan Balasubramanian.”
Imdad has been a music teacher since 1998 at various private schools and music schools/institutions. He began accompaniment to classical musicians on the tambura since 2001. He has also been giving solo vocal concerts at various music sabhas and Temple Brahmotsavams. His personal background has never been a barrier to these opportunities. This is indeed a testament to the secular spirit of Indian classical music.
He says with happiness and pride: “Every year, I perform at the brahmotsavams, dolotsavams and sahasra deepalankarana seva at various temples.” Imdad adds: “I also am the Asthana Tambura artist for Kalasagaram, Secunderabad; and Sarada Cultural Trust, Secunderabad; since the past 10 years. I have received the Pratibha Puraskar from Sri Sai Seva Samithi, Hyderabad in 2017.”
Given the increasing use of digital tamburas and other apps, the manual tambura-player in south India receives very little opportunities to perform nowadays. Many music students and even performers do not know the art of playing the tambura. Of course, the use of the digital tambura is largely a matter of convenience since they can be transported easily compared to the bulkier, heavier manual tambura. Also, the latter needs long and painstaking period of tuning before the concert while the digital one provides the needed shruti at the touch of a button or the simple turn of a knob.
So, how does a professional tambura player like Imdad handle this? He replies: “It is sad that the increasing use of digital tamburas means lesser and lesser opportunities for manual-tambura players like us. We look forward to playing the tambura for top musicians so this is indeed disappointing for us. It also means less income---we tambura players already receive only around Rs 500 to 1,000 for each concert. And even this is lost thanks to everyone using electronic versions.”