{"id":117615,"date":"2018-03-30T18:29:04","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T12:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=117615"},"modified":"2018-03-30T18:29:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T12:59:04","slug":"meet-dhruvaa-indias-only-sanskrit-band-that-combines-the-soul-of-classical-music-with-fast-paced-western-beats-firstpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=117615","title":{"rendered":"Meet Dhruvaa, India’s only Sanskrit band that combines the soul of classical music with fast-paced western beats | FirstPost"},"content":{"rendered":"

The young find them \u2018cool\u2019. The elderly,\u00a0sanskari<\/em>. The only Sanskrit band in India, Dhruvaa, rocks the stage. Notwithstanding their traditional Indian attire\u2014dhoti<\/em>,\u00a0kurta<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0angvastram\u2014<\/em>their approach to music is contemporary, albeit delivered in a classical format.<\/p>\n

Dhruvaa – The Sanskrit Band is unique, not because of the novel concept alone, but also because their music is both lifting and soulful. Though they sing in one language, the band members are as diverse as the cultural legacy they represent.<\/p>\n

The band is trying to popularise the 2000-year-old genre of\u00a0Dhruvaa gaan<\/em>, which gave birth to\u00a0Dhrupad gayaki<\/em>. As Sanskrit’s status as the lingua franca declined,\u00a0Dhruvaa gaan<\/em>\u00a0disappeared from public memory. The band members are trying to keep the classicism of the language and music intact, in a\u00a0contemporary format.<\/p>\n

The challenge taken up by these young men and women is daunting. \u201cThere are those who tell us, ‘You are doing\u00a0punya<\/em>\u00a0(an act of charity),’ and then there are those who object to the use of the word \u2018band\u2019 with Sanskrit. We are neither doing\u00a0punya<\/em>, nor are we trying to ape rock or pop bands. We are a professional musical band. The use of the word \u2018band\u2019 with Dhruvaa is unavoidable, because no one remembers ‘vrinda’<\/em>\u00a0(choir), the traditional way of rendering Sanskrit verses,” says Dr Sanjay Dwivedi, 32, the founder of Dhruvaa.<\/p>\n

The son of a Sanskrit scholar, Sanjay was looked at as a kind\u00a0of prodigy. At 11, he had memorised the\u00a0Vedas<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. When he sang Sanskrit\u00a0shlokas<\/em>\u00a0at FICCI and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, he won accolades and awards. The training in Indian classical music which he has received since childhood added to his love for Sanskrit and the way Vedic\u00a0richas<\/em>\u00a0were sung. He says he was fortunate to be a disciple of Prof Radha Vallabh Tripathi, a\u00a0scholar who possessed\u00a0exceptional insights, and who made him explore the classical texts in a\u00a0contemporary context.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy career path was charted out for me. I had topped the Master’s course in Sanskrit at the Hari Singh Gour University, Madhya Pradesh. A faculty position awaited me. But, this was not all I wanted. For years, I had been composing music for Sanskrit plays like\u00a0Mrichchhakatikam<\/em>\u00a0(Shudrak),\u00a0Uttara Ram Charitam<\/em>\u00a0(Bhavabhuti),\u00a0Urubhangam<\/em>\u00a0(Bhasa), and\u00a0Abhigyanshakuntalam<\/em>\u00a0(Kalidasa). The strands of music and Sanskrit both made me thrive. I couldn’t leave\u00a0one for the other. For months, I sat at home without work, contemplating what I should do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ideas had been floating in his mind. While attending a musical concert at Alliance Francaise, he realised\u00a0he could enjoy the music without understanding\u00a0French. Why couldn’t the\u00a0same\u00a0be true for Sanskrit, he wondered.<\/p>\n

That Sanskrit is known only as a classical language of spiritual obscurantism disturbed him. He wanted to make the classical language appealing to the young by introducing them to its beauty of expression and variety of\u00a0rasas<\/em>(emotions). \u201cPerhaps the first ever love letter was written on a\u00a0bhojpatra<\/em>\u00a0in Sanskrit by Shakuntala, the heroine of the famous Sanskrit play,\u00a0Abhigyanshakuntalam<\/em>\u00a0(in around the 4th century BCE). The intense feeling of\u00a0virah<\/em>(separation from the beloved), is often written for\u00a0women characters, but we sing passages from\u00a0Uttara Ram Charitam<\/em>, that express the intense\u00a0virah<\/em>\u00a0of Lord Rama, the parallels of which are not found in world literature,\u201d says Dr Dwivedi.<\/p>\n

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After two months of hard work with just eight members, Dr Dwivedi worked out a way to sing Sanskrit compositions in classical music, in a hummable, foot-tapping form.\u00a0The band\u2019s renderings are made engaging by three vocalists \u2014 Vaibhav, a\u00a0Dhrupad<\/em>\u00a0singer, Gyaneshwari, a singer of\u00a0khayals<\/em>\u00a0and Dr Dwivedi. They are supported by Vijay Gaur on the acoustic guitar, Amir on the\u00a0sarod<\/em>\u00a0(who happens to be the grandson of Ustad Liyakat Ali Khan), Sagar on the keyboard, Swapnil Bagul on the\u00a0tabla<\/em>, Tushar on the\u00a0pakhawaj<\/em>, Manoj Chipleka on the acoustic drum, Rakesh on the flute and Yashwant Rao on the violin. Barring a few, most of these artistes come from the small towns of Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n

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The band works with a fusion of two diverse musical streams. Composition are\u00a0sung based on classical ragas, with\u00a0accompanying traditional Indian instruments like the\u00a0pakhawaj<\/em>,\u00a0tabla<\/em>, flute,\u00a0sarod<\/em>\u00a0and the harmonium. Then, the same composition is interpreted in a fast-paced version, such as with\u00a0jazz, with\u00a0the instruments of western music like the violin, acoustic guitar and acoustic drums. The challenge is to make sure it is not jarring and maintain the high aesthetic beauty of the language and the verses.<\/p>\n

Dhruvaa begins their show with ‘Prachand Tandav’<\/em>, a fast, rhythmic composition of powerful alliterative syllables, followed by the Vedic\u00a0richas<\/em>. A very contemporary composition ‘The Dancing Ganesha<\/em>‘, reminds one of the foot-tapping elements of Latino music. They keep re-inventing their sound, working towards perfection. Some Sanskrit scholars believe the band has enhanced the beauty of the language.<\/p>\n

The first performance of the band in 2015 at Bhavabhuti Auditorium, Bhopal came as a pleasant surprise to a small gathering of about 300 people. The audience collected Rs 11,000 as reward for the unique initiative. \u201cThis was encouraging, even though we had spent more on booking the hall and other technical requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within two years, after a few bad experiences, the band had learnt their lesson \u2014 Sanskrit is not for charity. They became professionals and never had to look back. \u201cWe are like any other musical band, with all kinds of technical requirements, and that includes expenditure on sound and light equipment,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The popularity and success of Dhruvaa is also an indicator of changing times; of greater interest in heritage and culture. In 1996, selected compositions of Kalidasa\u2019s\u00a0Meghdootam<\/em>\u00a0were composed by Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The music, produced by Music Today, had compositions sung by Kavita Krishnamoorty and A Hariharan in Sanskrit, with the\u00a0accompaniment of classical instruments like the\u00a0veena<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0mridangam<\/em>. It didn’t find much success.<\/p>\n

Last year, the band created a record of sorts by performing four shows for 35 days without a break at different locations in Onkareshwar, MP. \u201c We had to take a workshop and train more musicians to meet the demand,\u201d says Dr Dwivedi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The young find them \u2018cool\u2019. The elderly,\u00a0sanskari. The only Sanskrit band in India, Dhruvaa, rocks the stage. Notwithstanding their traditional Indian attire\u2014dhoti,\u00a0kurta\u00a0and\u00a0angvastram\u2014their approach to music is contemporary, albeit delivered in a classical format. Dhruvaa – The Sanskrit Band is unique, not because of the novel concept alone, but also because their music is both lifting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}