BY PRATIMA ACHREKAR | NT NETWORK
Noted classical artiste, Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar will for the first time conduct a workshop on Indian classical music and voice culture in Goa.
“The workshop will cover the fundamentals of Indian classical music and voice culture. It is being organised by the Department of Art and Culture, Goa. This particular workshop will be of great help to students of classical music as well as students of drama and other art faculties,” informed Dr Ghanshyam Borkar.
Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar is a well known ‘dhrupad-dhamar’ singer and belongs to the Dagar family that has preserved the art of Dhrupad for last 500 years. Ustad Dagar will demonstrate different fundamentals of Indian classical music like voice culture, ten vak-kriyaj mandrasadhana, riyaj of kharj, concept of shrutis, swardnyan, raagbhav, etc, along with the technical aspects. This would be a perfect treat to the ardent students of Indian classical musicians. Moreover, entry is free.
Revealing more about workshop Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar elucidates, “Because of my family I have been blessed with the gift of Dhrupad. Many children come to me to get trained. I use intuition to choose those keen on learning. Apart from that I also conduct workshops abroad. Interestingly, foreigners seem to be more enthusiastic about learning Indian classical music. Unfortunately, we Indians keep forgetting that we have a rich music culture, which has a lot of demand outside India. We are attracted to the western lifestyle. Why can’t we preserve our culture and inculcate these values among our children?”
“My sons, the so-called 20thcentury youth, have been groomed in Dhrupad and both will perform with me at the concert that will be held on the last day of the workshop on October 1 at 5 p.m. at Kala Academy,” informs Ustad Dagar.
Ustad Dagar’s sons are good at jugalbandi and it will be a treat to watch the Dagar trio perform together.
“My main objective to preserve the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition. Everyone is not blessed with a unique genre of music. Today parents want their children to learn everything. Music is not learned in few days, it needs rigorous ‘riyaj’ (practice). Regularly, four hours of devotion to music is a must to perform for an hour,” elaborates Ustad Dagar.
“The Dagar family may die out but Dhrupad won’t. We should pass our rich culture and music to the next generations so the culture can live forever, even though me we not!” says the Ustad.
