What is the future of Shastriya Sangeet (Indian Classical Music) in this respect?
Pandit Jasraj: The most important element of instruction of Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet is ‘Gurmukh Vidya’ – The vidya (knowledge) that comes from the mukh (mouth) of the guru (teacher) and that is received by the shishya (student). If a person has a good capacity to learn or grasp music, then he (or she) can go far but only to a certain extent. However, as soon you sit together with such a musician/student (and sing awhile), it soon becomes obvious that he hasn’t been trained – it is rare for that to not be apparent. What we call a Gharana – it isn’t just a name – is more like a college. Just like there are Arts Colleges, Science colleges and so on, similarly there exist Gharanas. It’s a style that induces others to immediately recognize what Gharana a singer belongs to. The same Raga is sung in different Gharanas but the way of singing is slightly different from one to the other. Some compositions may also vary. Further, each Gharana can be carried forth by generations of family mem
