In ancient
times Punjab’s eastern boundaries stretched to the western banks of
Yamuna where Lord Krishna played his mellifluous flute as his cattle
grazed. As we trek further up to the once magnificently Punjabi
Himalayan belt, we can still hear the pahadi dhun played by the
dreamy nomads entertaining and as if breathing life and poetry in to the
majestic mountains from dawn till dusk. This sacred ritual thrived since
times immemorial until man created tools larger and heavier than
himself. Fascinatingly, man has made wonders albeit with tools that
could measure his subtle self and imaginative finesse and the bansuri
of GS Sachdev, recipient of East Punjab government’s this
years’ Shiromani Sangeetkar award, is an example of this subtlety.
He is an
illustrious flutist, recognized worldwide as one of the premier
performers on this traditional instrument. He performed worldwide
on the bansuri, the bamboo flute of India, for over 50 years.
The depth of emotion he evokes from a simple length of bamboo is truly
awe-inspiring. Sachdev is a worthy inheritor of this age-old tradition
handed down from master to student, generation-to-generation. With
Sachdev’s superb technical artistry, powerful devotion to the Indian
Classical idiom and profound love for his instrument, he has carved out
a place for the bansuri as a beautiful exponent of Indian music.
Born in
Lyallpur, Punjab, in 1935, Gurbachan took up the flute at the age
of 14. “My father, Sardar Kartar Singh Sachdev, was a Patwāri
before he became a building contractor. He wished that I become a doctor
but it was my mother, Amar Kaur, who was a big inspiration behind my
music and my success as a classical musician. She herself wanted to be a
musician but being a girl, she was not allowed to follow her dreams. I
remember her melodious voice coming from heart, full of emotions while
she was churning yogurt to make fresh butter and lassi in the
early morning hours, singing folk music of Punjab. She was sowing a seed
of music in me, full of deep human emotions and pains and joys of life.
As soon as she witnessed my passion and deep desire for music, she went
out of the way to help me emotionally and financially and did not allow
anybody to come in my way (interfere in my quest). With my stubborn
nature and her help and Waheguru’s kirpa, I could fulfill my
dreams. I did my pre-medical exams to join medicine, but I was so taken
in by music that I dropped the idea of becoming a doctor, which was then
a very prestigious profession in India, and I have never felt sorry for
renouncing it.”
Gurbachan did
his pre-medical degree at SD College in Shimla, but was so strongly
drawn to the flute that he soon fully devoted himself to it. It took him
a long time before he could find a guru with whom to study in depth this
centuries old music. He says, “My guru, Shri Vijay Raghav Rao is a
very kind, giving and caring teacher with whom I studied for 12 years
and also have had advanced lessons with Pandit Ravi Shankar for many
years”. He recounts a memorable concert of Baba Alladdin at Sapru
House in New Delhi in the year 1954, in which Pandit Ravi Shankar and
Pandit Panna Lal Ghosh played the tanpuras while the legendary
Pandit Anokhe Lal accompanied on the tabla. It was this example
of artistic mastery that enticed him to full immersion in music.
A Panjab
University graduate from Gandhi Memorial National College, Ambala, he
won the only prize for his University at the 1st
Inter-University competition held at Talkatora Gardens, New Delhi in the
year 1954. He proudly recalls his joyous College Principal having
declared a holiday to celebrate his landmark achievement.
The years he
spent in Mumbai between 1958 and 1966 were very enriching as he
underwent extensive training with Vijay ji. To make ends meet, he played
flute in movies, where he worked with a galaxy of music directors such
as Naushad, Ravi, OP Nayyar, Vasant Desai, Hans Raj Behal and Madan
Mohan. His dedication to riyaaz and talim was such that he
chose to record only twice a month, earning hundred rupees each time he
showed in the recording studios. His prowess as a musician and as a
compassionate teacher was recognized early on by Pandit Ravi Shankar who
offered Sachdev a teaching job at his music school, Kinnar, in Mumbai.
In 1970,
immediately after an enthralling performance in New Delhi, he was
requested by the legendary sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan to
teach bansuri and Indian classical music at his school in
California. Encouraged by his now octogenarian Aesthetics mentor,
Professor SK Saxena, former Head of Philosophy at the Delhi University
and presently a fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademy, New Delhi,
Gurbachan Singh accepted this offer from the sarod maestro and
moved to the United States to join the faculty of Ali Akbar College of
Music, where he taught until 1976. Sachdev acknowledges the influence of
Ali Akbar Khan’s music on his playing style. He graciously recalls the
years that he spent teaching at the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music
during which he had the extraordinary opportunity to imbibe
musical values and subtleties from the great Ustad.
It takes more
than mere musical knowledge and talent, of which there is no dearth in
the Indian classical music context, to become a star. It is the moment
when a gifted artist touches the ineffable defying the elements of the
finite, colours, musical instruments, ragas and their notes, which are a
mere breath length worth and at best, the residual in the listeners and
performers memory. Mostly this moment happens in private but when it
happens in a public performance, it is the ticket to stardom.
Sachdev’s moment came in a Colorado concert in 1975, when Zakir
Hussain’s magical fingers danced to his dhun on the flute.
Sachdev acknowledges this concert as the one that established him as a
performer and he wasn’t to look back after that. His hectic tour life
prompted him to stop full time teaching. It is interesting that both
Sachdev and Zakir began, in 1970, and ended, in 1976, their formal
teaching stints at the Ali Akbar Khan School together.
Sachdev has
largely contributed to the growing awareness, in the West, of Indian
classical music. In 1976, he opened the Bansuri School of Music in
Berkeley, California. He produced a world music radio show and
conducted the Music of India Master Class on KPFA Radio (where he
explained what to listen for in North Indian music). He performed
lecture-demonstrations in elementary schools under the auspices of Young
Audiences of the Bay Area, a national organization dedicated to bringing
music to schools. In addition to performing all over the world, he
regularly presents lecture-demonstrations, workshops and master classes
at university level. These pioneering activities have brought
about appreciation and acceptance of this traditional music in the
United States. His growing world fame has taken his music to
Europe, Asia, India and South America.
Though Sachdev
has been living abroad and going round the world with his music tours,
he has retained strong ties to his roots. A family man laced with humour,
humility and kindness, Sachdev is a typical Punjabi who loves to cook:
in fact, he can easily boast of having beguiled the taste buds of
people like Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Allah Rakha, Bhai Avtar Singh
Gurcharan Singh, Swapan Chaudhary and Zakir Hussain!
Sachdev is an
avid fan of Kirtan by maestros Bhai Avtar Singh Gurcharan Singh
whom he followed during their Bay area visits.
Sachdev takes
the listener with him on a highly personal and reflective journey of
improvisation in Indian classical music that transcends all geographic
boundaries of musical origin and style, and touches the very core of
universal musical expression. For sheer beauty of sound, this music is
unsurpassed. Sachdev, one of the world’s foremost flutists, brings the
spontaneous, perceptive musical sensitivity of a master musician to his
performances of classical ragas. Above all, he knows how to let the
music flow naturally and peacefully with such depth of feeling that the
audience is held as if under a spell, evoking that sense of eternity
within the moment.
In 1992, he was
one of the top ten winners of the "Billboard Critics" choice
award for his album “Flights of Improvisation”. Sachdev has been a
recipient of the 1993 Billboard music awards in the alternative/world
music category for his performance on “Global Meditation”.
An exotic
amalgamation of tranquil, meditative playful and titillative, he
relishes blowing the winds through maru-bihag, kalavati, bhopali
though he has also played extensively ragas such as chandrakauns,
kaushik-dhvani, bageshwari, rajeshwari, ahir-bhairav and allaiyya-bilaval.
Interestingly, looking at his choice of ragas, it seems that he has a
preference for ragas with scant notes, i.e., audav (five notes
raga) and shadav (raga using six notes) or ragas, that in spite
of being sampoorna (comprising seven notes), dwell on a crooked
path (vakra jati) providing ample opportunity for meend
and soot.
His playing
tempts you towards a state of samādhi and has an uncanny
power to silence the noise within. Furthermore, his choice of vilambit
and medium-slow paced taals, measured to the elements sahaj (calm)
and saundarya (beauty), confirms this notion. Among the faster
patterns he prefers drut ektaal, though a discerning listener
would still notice Sachedev’s poise in stillness and calm. He has a
newfound penchant for taal jhumra, in which he is planning a
newer album.
Sachdev is in
the process of making educative videos, which I had the fortune
of previewing during my recent visit to his place in San Rafael, California.
Initially this project was exclusively designed for
his Brazilian students, but I am sure it will benefit all
bamboo-wielding students.
Sachdev is one
of the few musicians who have resisted the recent temptations to fuse
music and make a fast buck, simply because of his profound grounding in
and the understanding of the classicality and aesthetics. He is an
authentic torch bearer of this ancient instrument, the
musical-note-bearing-bamboo, bans-suri, and a worthy recipient of
the Shiromani Sangeetkar Award by the Punjab Government.
¡
Bhai Baldeep
Singh
Photo by Amarjit
Chandan
bhaibaldeep@gmail.com
[Bhai
Baldeep Singh. A 13th-generation exponent of Sikh Kirtan Maryada
(vocalist, percussionist, string player), instrument maker, lecturer,
archivist, and founder of Anād Conservatory, an institute of Sikh
aesthetics and culture. He was on the Bhasha Vibhag awards committee.]
