BENGALURU: In a generation of selfie-obsessed Netflix binge watchers, how does an 18-year-old find fanscination in the Agra tradition? For Nishant Panicker, it comes easy.
The musician does not really care much for “being known” when he grows up. The biology student is a trained vocalist in Hindustani music and is an avid Kathak dancer.
He will be performing his show “Ek Jhalak”, a vocal concert of Khayal in the Agra tradition at Alliance Francaise on Wednesday.
“The gharana has descended from Nauhar Bani which has been traced back to 1300 AD, and I believe keeping this tradition alive is a part of my life's mission,” he says.
The Agra gharana is known for the stress it gives to laya (rhythm), and the importance given to bol banaav, layakari, bol taans, meends (glides) and gamak taans (powerful ornamentation), he informs.
The most well known singer and proponent of the gharana is Ustad Faiyaz Khan, whose voice is characteristic of the gharana - forceful, khula aavaaz (open throated singing).
So what is that piques his interest in this ancient art form? “The interesting thing about this stule is that much of the technical aspects including Nom-tom aalap, Dhrupad and Dhamaar are derived from the Dhrupad style of Hindustani classical music, which is the oldest form of Indian classical music,” he responds.
The teenager then reminisced a story his Guru once told him. He says that his guru learnt from a stalwart of the Agra gharana, Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan, who was an avid composer.
“One day, during her lessons, she asked him - ‘Khan Saheb, I am very surprised. You are a Muslim, yet all your compositions are about Lord Krishna (Kanha).’ To this, my dadaguru replied, ‘In classical music, there are no distinctions between Hindus and Muslims. Aur sach kahoon toh Kaanha ke bina gaana nahin hai’ (And honestly, according to me, there is no singing without Kanha).”
Nishant took to Hindustani music at the age of six, but by the time he was nine, Nishant was already imbibing the art of raga elaboration and taan creation. When Taranathji moved to Mysuru, he entrusted Nishant to Vidushi Lalith J Rao, doyenne of the Agra-Atrauli Gharana.
“Music runs in my family, but I made a conscious decision to train to become a professional musician while I was learning from Rajeevji," he says.
He says that he does not favour hip-hop and rap personally. “But I do listen to R&B, pop, classic rock, jazz and indie music - not only do I just listen to it, but I really enjoy singing as well as playing the keyboard. My favourites are Queen, Florence+The Machine, Panic! at the Disco, The Beatles, Adele and Ed Sheeran,” he says. Nishant says that his training in Hindustani classical music aided him in grasping these more contemporary forms of Western music.
“I wish for my generation to be able to relate to their roots and culture through classical music, and really understand, that it is not as boring as they think it to be,” he says. Catch Nishant's performance at Alliance Francaise on Wednesday from 6 - 8.30pm.