|
 Leading
sitar-player Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan is helping the strains
of the sitar reach out to the youth by adapting to the new information
technology...
Ustad Abdul
Halim Jaffar Khan is among the renowned and innovative sitar-players
of our country with a colourful personality. He is both rational
and intuitive, articulate and musically skillful in the world of
Indian classical music. Among the outstanding features of his art
are unflagging tunefulness, even at the quickest pace. The rhythmic
variations and remarkable ability to punctuate the recitals with
moments of what is called Jagahdikhana, i.e. the indication of scope
for unexpected, yet winsome improvisations in the narrow spaces
between adjacent swaras is what he excels in.
Born in Madhya
Pradesh, he was initiated into the study of vocal music and sitar
at the tender age of five under his father, the late Jaffar Khan,
a famous vocalist and sitarist of his time. He also took training
from his uncle Mehboob Ali Khan. Ustad Halim Jaffar Khan does not
attach much importance to the Gharanas. He believes that there is
only one Gharana for music - Samvedi or Saraswati Gharana.
Khan Sahab
has cut many records. In the early part of his career he also played
sitar in films like Anarkali, Mughal-e-Azam, Jhanak Jhanak Payal
Baje and Gunj Uthi Shehnai under music directors like Vasant Desai,
C. Ramchandra, Madan Mohan and Naushad.
He deserves
credit for innovating a new idiom of sitar-playing which is now
known as Jaffer Khani Baaj. Khan Sahab has revived the use of quite
a few authentic ragas in the realm of sitar-playing. Some of these
ragas are Champakali, Araj, Shyam Kedar, Basant, Mukhari and Rajeshwari.
The maestro
has won many accolades including the Padmashri, Ustad Alauddin Khan
Sangeet Ratna Award, All India Critics’ Association Award for
Best Instrumentalist, Gaurav Puraskar from the Government of Mahrashtra
to name a few. Khan Sahab has been running the Halim Academy of
Sitar in Mumbai, which trains talented people in sitar. He recently
produced and released a book titled Jaffarkhani Baaj - Innovations
in Sitar Music, to commemorate his 70th birthday. The book comes
with an interactive CD. In this book, the benevolent sitarist reveals
all that he knows about the instrument as a vehicle of Indian classical
music. He discloses the many innovations that he has made in the
course of his sadhana. The CD captures the style and actual techniques
of the Jaffar Khani Baaj, on the actual playing.
The CD Rom/book
package features his words, his music, and him carefully demonstrating
each technique in a computerised video format. It also has some
interesting and artful photos. Ustad Jaffar Khan’s innovations
involve radical changes in the use of sitar bols and detailed instructions
for producing them. He can teach a complicated series of these bols
to his students, describing as many variations in tone colour as
there are in a pitch. A student can watch the teacher’s hands
to get the exact wrist angle and plucking motion, and hear exactly
how the parts cohere into an expressive whole. Each technique is
repeated and accompanied by Khan Sahab’s explanations. No wonder
Teed Rockwell, president of the Multicultural Music Fellowship,
has described Khan Sahab as the ‘Cyber Guru’ of sitar.
—Uma
Shah
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