Monsoon music: of nature and devotion

Hyderabad: A city thirsty for rains was treated to the ragas of the monsoon by the legendary Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ashwini Bhide-Despande at the Hyderabad’s Barkha Rithu fest. It was as if the clouds waited to the wooed by these musicians and rain followed.

Indian art has always been associated with nature. Ragas reflect the seasons and even the time of the day. Most importantly, these traditions go on to prove that our classical culture, is not restricted by class as nature, Music and devotion brought people together.  

Close to the end of Ashwini’s performance, the singer was requested for an abhang associated with the month of Ashad.  “Monsoon music is not a direct reflection of the physical elements of rain, as much as it is of life and people. The month of Ashad is associated with devotion of Vitthal and Abhang is a folk tradition. Even today, devotees trek hundreds of kilometres singing these songs,” says the singer, from a family of musicians.

Her grandmother was a musician, so was her mother, who also taught Ashwini. But she didn’t take up music professionally till she finished her doctorate. “I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my father, who was a scientist at the Bhabha Research Centre. I was keen on doing research in medical sciences, cancer to be specific,” says the musician of the more flexible tradition of Khayals.

After she finished “all that she could academically,” she decided to  take a “test”  and she “never turned back.”

Having returned recently from a US tour, Ashwini acknowledges that sound-scapes are changing. “It is unavoidable. We as artistes just can’t block it. We will someday have to open up. So I am not going to say I will not be doing global music, but I will when it comes naturally,” she says.