Vikram Sampath's book, 'My Name is
Gauhar Jaan!' - The Life and Times of a Musician is an incisive
account of the life of a tawaif (a woman of the arts) who went on to
become the first person to have her voice recorded in India in 1902.
The book also traces the journey of Indian music after the fall of
the Mughal Empire in 1857 and before India gained Independence in
1947. I am glad it picked it up from Crossword because it is filled
with facts and trivia that I'd like to share here:
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni: Many of
us have been exposed to the sargam at some in our lives,
either by listening to Indian music or as a student of music. Indian
music draws its seven basic notes from the sounds of animals and
birds. Sa is associated with
the peacock's shrill cry, Re with
the bullock, Ga with
the goat, Ma with the
jackal, Pa with the
cuckoo's cooing, Dha with
the horse and
Ni with the elephant. You might
know the sargam but
did you know this?
The Mumbaiya word, chhappanchuri:
In Mumbai, the word chhappanchuri is
used as a derogatory term for a woman who is shrewd and has the gift
of the gab. In Sampath's book, I discovered where it may have come
from. Apparently, it was the nickname of a tawaif, Janki Bai
(1880-1934) from Allahabad. A jealous suitor, madly in love with her,
had scarred her face with 56 (chhappan)
slashes when she rebuffed him.
How
the harmonium came into Indian music: Most
people in India think the harmonium must have been invented here
because it is inseparable from Indian classical or folk music. But,
it was only in the late 1800s did this French instrument (developed
by Alexandre-Francois Debain) become an accompaniment to an Indian
vocalist. The credit for this goes to Bhaiya Ganpatrao, a son of
Gwalior's Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia and Chandrabhaga Devi, a
courtesan. The harmonium was despised as a lifeless, stiff-reeded
instrument because it was incapable of producing subtle nuances.
Ganpatrao modelled the harmonium to suit Indian music so muchso that
it displaced the reigning sarangi.
The
shellac in gramophone records: Lac
is hardened resin secreted by the tiny lac insects which settled on
twigs and sucked the plant's sap. These insects were scraped from the
twigs, crushed, dried, sieved, winnowed, washed and again dried. The
mangled mass was then passed through a hot melting system, filtered
and stretched into sheets or 'shellac'. Since it was non-toxic, it
was used to make gramophone records.
The
hierarchy among the tawaifs:
While most tawaifs were trained in music and dance, some chose to
only sing. A 'bai' was a tawaif who only sang. A 'jaan' sang and
danced. Interestingly, even when the dancer sat and performed, the
tabla and sarangi players accompanying her always stood and played
their instruments. (How many people play the tabla standing up,
nowadays?)
