KOCHI: For Hindustani music aficionados, Bharateey Sangeet Vidyalay at Tripunithura is the right haunt.
This exclusive Hindustani music school, the first of its kind in Kerala, has saarangi, sitar and tabla classes along with Hindustani vocal. Started by a group of ardent music lovers in the city, the school aims to popularise Hindustani music.
“There are more than enough avenues in Kerala for Carnatic music, but to learn Hindustani from maestros you need to go out of the state. At the school you can learn it from experts,” says T C Sivaram, one of the directors. “We have plans to start a fine arts society and conduct musical events on a regular basis, bringing wellknown Hindustani musicians,” he adds.
A sixth generation musician from the Gwalior gharana, Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan trains students in Hindustani vocal, tabla and saarangi. The Ustad, who runs a music school in Bangalore, flies to Kochi once a month for his classes.
An exceptional vocalist, he is equally skilled in Hindustani instrumental music and is perhaps the only south Indian exponent of saarangi.
I Krishna Kumar, disciple of sitar legend Ustad Bale Khan, teaches sitar at the school. A popular performer and recording artist, he spent nine years in Dhanwar imbibing the intricacies of the instrument.
Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, who has been travelling all over the country performing and teaching music, says, “In Kerala there are students who are serious about mastering music and are talented too. It is really nice to find that even amidst the mad rush for everything western there are people who love pure music.” He feels that overdoing the technical part without giving due importance to lyrics and instruments has made today’s film music lifeless. “What you get to hear today is a kind of electronic cacophony. When everything is produced by machines you can hardly call it music,” he adds.
The academy already has a number of students in all age groups. Many of the students are from far off places and there are classes for professionals too. “It’s nothing but the passion for pure music that brings me here. I arrange all my programmes according to my classes at the school,” says singer and composer Suresh Manimala who shares music classes with playback singers Afzal and Biju Narayanan.
But Bharateey Sangeet Vidyalay does not encourage people looking for crash courses in Hindustani music. No easy packages, no one-week bhajan classes to compete in Idea Star Singer and absolutely no tailor- made short courses. “Classical music is divine but difficult.
There are no shortcuts to learning music. You should have the time and dedication to master it,” says the Ustad.
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