Dhrupad’s devout and deity:

Dhrupad has lost its devout, Sanskrit – a Muslim scholar and the Dagar lineage, the most learned, feisty, old member and performer. Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, the crusader of Dhrupad is no more. He passed away owing to long illness on Wednesday night. Honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2008, Dagar received the Akademi Ratna Sadasyata recently. Losing him comes with the same burden as losing a sacred scripture would.

Fahimji — as he was fondly known was a colossal storehouse of compositions on Durga, Shiva, Ganesha and other deities and a treasure trove of music literature. Fahimji was where spirituality and art met — and the sacred, secular character of Hindustani music and religiosity converged.

The picture frame of Mecca Sharif hung on the wall over his head, there was something very surreal about the way he would sing his favourite Baghambar Ambar Trishul Dharani (a compostion dedicated to Durga describing her own grace and the gait of her gorgeous lion) while fixing the tanpura zawahri, plucking pieces of thread to tune his tanpura at his riyaz room. He would say, “Ab duniya ko kaun samjhaye, sab dharm ke chakkar mein pade hain. My ancestors were all Hindus. Girdhari Nath Pande, the foremost in the family tree was a musician at Babar’s court. His sons learnt from Swami Haridas. They were musicians at Akbar’s court. They fell under the influence of Sufism and were renamed. The connections between the two spiritual thoughts influenced our music.”

Born in Alwar, Rajasthan in 1927, Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar was tied the ganda — the sacred thread by his uncle Ustad Nasiruddin Khan Dagar. His father Allabande Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar taught him for 35 years and his uncle Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar taught him the rudra veena for 12 years. Among the Dagars, Fahimji was the senior most.

Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, the Dhrupad exponent remembers him as the granddad of not only the Dagar family but that of Dhrupad and Khayal as well. He says, “His passing away is a loss to the entire music fraternity and not just the Dagars. He was a treasure of knowledge. Plus, he was loved by all. At times, when he would come home, he would have so many people greeting him that he would get tired. He would say, ‘Haan adaab ho gaya, chalo chalo’.”

When relaxing at home, Fahimji would usually have his grandchildren giving him company, playing indoor games and cats cozying into his feet.

Spic Macay’s much loved grand dad would usually be given the task of helping young minds develop a liking for Dhrupad — the father of Khayal singing. At his sessions at Spic Macay conventions, where he was a regular, Fahimji would sit drawing the uninitiated ones into Nad Yog — breaking up its meaning, telling students how they could practically achieve it. From shadaj down, as students would try getting notes in the mandra saptak right, Fahimji would crack jokes — often leaving people teary-eyed, knowing this funny side to apparently a very serious maestro.

A propagator of music shastras and theories, he quashed present day concert norms openly and expressed his cynicism on the way Dhrupad is being taught, sung and perceived at educational institutions, especially the universities.

His conversations on music would involve excerpts from Sharangdev’s Sangeet Ratnakar, he would usually explain these through singing. “Dhrupad has the pride of recording history. Which other music form describes the various stages in Akbar’s crowning ceremony?” he would say.

He could mull over various aspects of music for hours. His canvas so vast, his knowledge so deep, musical stature, so lofty — he would often lose track of his own thoughts. From the subject of tuning the tanpura correctly (something he was extremely particular about) to the swaras in ragas, to the 12 minute grammar aspects in Dhrupad singing — he would often jumble up his own thoughts, at times forgetting what he was talking about last — due to age. And barely within a minute, would string bits and pieces of his conversation together on his own. “If someone asks what the difference between Marwah, Sri and Puriya is, I would explain it by comparing the role of Rishabh. In Marwah, Re it is like the full glowing sun — very strong. In Sri, it is mellowed down but still majestic. In Puriya, it is shy, turning away in coyness from the rest of the swaras.”

But when it came to the subject of Dhrupad training at universities, you would see Fahimji losing his cool. The fact that students fail to track beat cycles mentally, would really put him off. “Singing in 12 beats — that’s all what Dhrupad means today to students. Where is the meditative aspect? Where is the raga aspect? Why are students being made to perceive Dhrupad as composition centric?”

Sometimes his cynicism would make Dhrupad lovers really adore him. Last year, Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar had invited Fahimji to speak on aspects related to Tanpura turning through a lecture demonstration at a Dhrupad Festival held at the India International Centre. To help his elderly uncle with the Tanpura tuning, Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar sat beside him, waiting Fahimji to begin. Fahimji, hardly had begun tuning his Tanpura, broke into a baffling criticism of the present time callousness for tanpura tuning on the part of younger artistes.He made the gathering burst into giggles with his candid, slapstick comments and takiakalaam — creating an unusual impact with his singing and verbal legacy.

And then he would do things differently, proving what being the senior most devout of Dhrupad takes. Right when you would expect him to celebrate the Sultal with a composition in Adaana, as per the trend, he would settle for Sohini. There would be days extraordinary when we would see Fahimji being his very generous self.

At one of his concerts, a few years ago, Fahimji performed Hamsadhwani, progressing from noteworthy meends in the mandra saptak to the two beautiful madhayams in Kedar. He then, lingered over to Chandrakauns, noteworthy for the way he used Rishabh subtly, concluding with Sohini — the melody with the arrogant and handsome dhaivat.

At a Spic Macay park concert some years ago, Fahimji’s Malhar renditions brought the rains down. Then on, whenever he would perform compositions of Tansen and Naik Baiju, music lovers would expect the showers to come.

(By:Sumati Mehrishi; Courtesy: The Pioneer)

SPIC MACAY and Sangeet Natak Akademi is organizing a Memorial Meeting for Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar on Wednesday the 10th of August from 6 pm to 8 pm at Meghdoot Theatre, SNA, Rabindra Bhawan, Ferozshah Road. Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar has kindly consented to give a small recital in his memory.