Music in Bhendi Bazaar’s streets

Krishnaraj Iyengar

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Ever wondered where the legendary Lata Mangeshkar’s voice gets its mellifluous raagdaari from? Listening to an archival recording of her great guru, the venerated vocalist Ustad Aman Ali Khan is pure meditation. His famous Hansadhwani composition Jai Mata Vilambh Taj de with his gentle and relaxed exploration of the Carnatic raga lulls you into a trance. Though it is believed that the maestro did not leave behind many recordings, there is a subtle mystical touch to his singing that lives on.

As a young lady, Lata was privileged to have undergone intensive taleem under the ustad. But little is known about the fact that he was one of the most eminent representatives of Mumbai’s, or colonial Bombay’s, only indigenous musical tradition, the Bhendi Bazaar gharana.

While many Mumbaikars might find it funny to associate the city’s Bhendi Bazaar area with such a profound classical legacy, history has it that in 1870, vocalist Ustad Dilawar Hussain Khan and his three sons, Ustads Nazeer Khan, Chhajjoo Khan and Khadim Hussain Khan, migrated to Mumbai from Bijnor near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and settled in Bhendi Bazaar close to Fort area, Mumbai’s commercial hub.

Though originally termed by the British as ‘Behind the Bazaar’, Bhendi Bazaar or Bhindi Bazaar became the colloquial distortion, though it has or had nothing to do with bhindi or ladies finger! Today, the predominantly Muslim area bustles with life, with exquisite old mosques, attar shops and a colourful market with narrow alleyways and gullies.

Dilawar Hussain’s three sons, after having also learnt under the great Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan or Rampur Seheswan Gharana and Inayat Khan of the Dagar tradition, developed their own style and unique approach to raga music which came to be called Bhendi Bazaar gayaki.

The forte of this style is gentle and soothing delineation of the raga based on Khandmer or Merukhand principle that focuses on combinations of notes woven in elaborate and intricate patterns to bring out the beauty of the raga, rendering the raga in medium and medium-fast tempos to enhance exploration, singing complex sargams in dance-oriented structures, forceful taan (rapid succession of notes) varieties and smooth meeds or glides. The gharana also incorporates Carnatic ragas like Hansadhwani and Nagaswaravali and Pratapvarali.

Ustad Aman Ali Khan (1888-1958) stands as one of the most noteworthy figures of this tradition. Incidentally, he heavily influenced the style of the towering Ustad Amir Khan. “Ustad Aman Ali Khan, the doyen of Bhendi Bazaar gharana received rigorous training from his father Ustad Chhajjoo Khan and uncles Ustad Nazeer Khan and Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan. He also studied Carnatic music under the guidance of Kalanidhi Bidaram Krishnappa, the court musician of Mysore state. Khan saheb shunned publicity and preferred to lead a secluded, spiritual life,” says Sudhir Gadre, one of the most noted scholars and promoters of the Bhendi Bazaar gharana whose late mother, Mandakini Gadre, was a prominent representative of the style. His hallmark website swaramandakini.com is an in-depth documentation of the tradition, its style and its maestros.

Reminiscing about her ustad, Lata Mangeshkaris deeply nostalgic about her training days. “Khan saheb was a very kind-hearted, systematic and benevolent guru. He would most patiently explain difficult passages to us many times if we didn’t get them in the first instance. He had a very unique and sonorous voice and style which remain deeply embedded in my consciousness till date,” she smiles, then demonstrates the minor difference between her ustad’s and Ustad Amir Khan’s rendering of the Hansadhwani tarana, Ta nom tanana tadim ta dare dani.

Other stalwarts of the gharana include Pandit Anjanibai Malpekar of Goa, Pandit Shivkumar Shukla, Pandit TD Janorika, Pandit Kedar Bodas, Shubha Joshi and Prof Dwarkanath Bhonsale to name a few. Though Bhendi Bazaar is now a predominantly commercial area and not particularly the hub for the gharana’s music, its current generation of vocalists fervently carries forward the tradition.