What Shimla means to musicians

Shailaja Khanna

The Gothic Gaiety theatre in Shimla, with its amazing acoustics that don’t require microphones for audibility, has been the venue of concerts and theatre productions for decades. The new multipurpose theatre on the ridge certainly seats more people, and its Gothic arches are a reminder of the smaller hall below, but the charm of the original Gaiety on the Mall remains unmatched.

Banaras gharana tabla expert Pt Ram Kumar Mishra has the distinction of being thumri maestro Pt Channulal Mishra’s son, yet he is one of the finest tabla players today. He has performed three times at Shimla’s annual Classical Music Festival, in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His performances were different each time, displaying his vast training and sensitivity in structuring his accompaniment to suit the style of the main artist, ranging from instrumentalists Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt and Pt Ronu Mazumdar, to vocalists Pt Jasraj and his father Pt Channulal Mishra.

On Simla he said “pahaar ke log rehte to pattharon ke beech mein hain, per bahut hee komal hriday aur saaf man ke hote hain. Woh sangeet ko ussi shiddat se sunte hain. Maine teen saal lagataar se Simla mein bajaaya hai aur mujhe lagta hai, ki wahan shastriya sangeet ki bhook bahut hai” (Hill folk live amongst rocks, but their hearts are soft innocent and pure. They listen to music with intensity; I feel there is a thirst amongst them to hear authentic classical music). “Nightingale of the South”, Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri, too, amazingly has performed twice in Shimla (in 2013 and 2017), also in both the Gaiety halls. She recalls “the beautiful old auditorium in the heart of Shimla, where the children were crowded in the upper-level balcony seats, and sang along with me. The 10-day tour exposed me to such beauty, in Shimla, Kasauli…” Her second concert last year in the larger hall was also “memorable”, she said.

A similar nostalgia for Shimla and its audience was voiced by none other than Ustad Shujaat Khan, one of India’s finest sitar players. He had this to say of the Shimla audience, “When I come back to Shimla, it’s like a bride coming to her ‘maika’. I have so many wonderful memories of my childhood here; I definitely feel the audience is special.”