“Play a set of swaras and forget them. Create a fresh set of swaras and forget them again, never note down, never memorise,” my guru says, while teaching kalpanaswaras. I was awe-struck. While every system of learning insists on saving data in one’s memory, here was my sitar-teacher, Pandit N. V. Gopinath asking me to forget my creations. I dare to disobey my Guru by consciously adding the suffix Pandit to his name, an epithet that he gently rejects. Like many great masters, he too considers himself a humble learner. Gentle and soft by nature, his artistic achievements over long years has been rather silent, away from the hustle and bustle of commodified music circuits.
His music journey has been significant for several reasons. He migrated from Carnatic music to Hindustani, switching from an illustrious career in veena to sitar. In the fifties, he was already performing with his guru Vainika vidwan G. N. Subramanyam of the ‘Sri Bharathi Institute of Music’ fame, and also giving independent concerts. He initially learnt veena from Sri Aswathanarayana Sastry of Chamarajapet. His mother Sarojamma, also a veena artiste, and his guru Subramanyam were gurubandhus, both students of Karur Krishna Rao. But a brief training in Hindustani vocal music and sitar in the mid-fifties under Pandit Seshadri Gawai, changed the course of his music life. Eventually, the immense melodic possibilities of the complex instrument, namely sitar, lured him into a lifetime engagement with the joys and challenges of music creation.
Employment in a ceramic factory took him to Jabalpur, where in fact, his sitar-learning took proper shape under the tutelage of Professor Govinda Rao G. Kulkarni, a disciple of the legendary Ustad Allauddin Khan of Maihar. He taught him sitar-techniques afresh as well as the tantrakari-ang of Maihar. There was now a sea change in his approach, compared to his previous handling of sitar, based on veena-playing. On migrating to Bombay to assist his brother N. V. Srinivas, a cinematographer, Gopinath took up printing of huge stills. He returned to Bangalore in 1969 and made sitar his fulltime vocation.
Gopinath’s sustained shishyavritti under Pandit D. S. Garud for over thirty years honed his skills thoroughly. Under the sharp eye and meticulous care of Garud, his gayaki-ang evolved systematically, taking his manodharma to newer heights. I once had the fortune of witnessing one of their teaching-learning sessions at Garud’s home in Malleswaram. The guru’s vocal lessons were translated into guided sitar-playing, charting an entirely new course in the language of sitar. Gopinath’s sharp sense of laya, his well-timed expressions and handling of complex rhythmic cycles can be traced to his tutelage under Garud, the tabla wizard. That Pandit Garud voluntarily offered tabla-saath and accompanied Gopinath in concerts for several years. this is in itself an endearing compliment to the shishya. With a sparkle in his eye, Garud would openly acknowlegde Gopinath as his most sincere student, who has kept himself away from the temptations of gross commercialism.
BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 19/11/2019 : Pandit N V Gopinath, Sitar, in Bengaluru on November 19, 2019.
Few can match Gopinath’s sincerity as a teacher. In his method, notebook after notebook of teaching material finds no place. He observes every single detail - the student’s sitting posture, positioning of fingers and hands and the right kind of movement while applying different strokes, all in order to ensure proper basic-techniques of sitar-playing. He has devised alankaras and compositions that help students to learn newer fingering techniques as well as melodic-rhythmic nuances. Opposed to mechanical practice that fixes blinkers and stunts the growth of learning, his teaching aims at enabling students to explore aesthetic domains on their own, while simultaneously equipping themselves with instrumental skills and artistry.
My teacher once said: “Taans must come naturally and spontaneously”. And he used a temple analogy to explain. “You can start your pradakshine from anywhere but you can come face to face with God only at the door of the shrine. Similarly, you can start your improvisation patterns anywhere on the tala cycle, but you must end them at the same point, the sam.”
Gopinath’s sitar always sings. His music emanates from a manodharma that is at once, tender and exuberant. Playing with ease and clarity, he proffers rich expressions through mellifluous notes that spring forth in an overwhelming rush. The gentle notes come together in all their beauty distilling pure music, serene and soul-filling. His gayaki-ang encompasses every stage of his concert - the pure melody of alaap, the soft cadence of jod-alaap, the captivating todas and even the concluding fast-paced jhaala with its pronounced rhythmic component. His strongest assets, meends and gamaks take shape in an astounding range of combinations making his renderings ever-fresh. If timely choice of technique, right placement and a fine sense of proportion can define good instrumental music, Gopinath surely is a master. Embellishing his presentation with varied elements - well-timed krintans, murkis, zam-zamas and ghasits, remarkable meend-work, a dramatic lift or turn of phrase, long winding patterns, filigree work on a single fret, shifting notes that suddenly create a drama, a neat sapaat... together Gopinath weaves his gayaki into an organic whole.
BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 19/11/2019 : Pandit N V Gopinath, Sitar, in Bengaluru on November 19, 2019.
Connoisseurs of old Bangalore recollect some of his programmes even now; including his jugalbandi with sarodiya Atindriya Kumar Moitra, son and disciple of the legendary Radhika Mohan Moitra, organised by ‘Kalashree’ in 1971. Right from his major concert in 1972 organised by ‘Swarashringar’, connoisseurs have acknowledged his sincere and faultless rendering coupled with his calm approach. Ragas like Shyamkalyan, Malkauns, Durga and his Rageshree at the Hindustani Kalakara Mandali programme in 1994 are often remembered in Bangalore music circles. His exploration of the mellifluous evening raga Kamod in 2005, earned him enormous appreciation, bringing memories of Ustad Vilayat Khan’s gats in Kamod. While Vilayat Khan had employed elements of vocal Khyal music, Gopinath had rendered celebrated vocal cheezs in the form of vilambit gat (Hoon to tanman), madhyalaya gat (Kaare jane na doongi) and drut gat (Chand de more anchara). His creative gayaki struck an immediate chord by its underlying closeness to the gayaki-ang of Vilayat Khan, also capturing the mood of zest and abandon associated with Kamod. Gopinath’s scholarly Bhoop-kalyan when Pandit Garud was conferred the BKF Mallikarjun Mansur Award in 2005 and his moving Gorakh-kalyan last year at the Garud Memorial programme are milestone performances in his music journey. His concerts are well-curated and structurally systematic and often accompanied by his son Gurunandan, the talented tabla-player, also a disciple of Pandit Garud.
In 1999, he composed and directed ‘Jhankaar’, a confluence of sitar and the human voice. The novel programme conceived by vocalist Sumathi, to explore the possibilities of instrumental music as against vocal exposition, took a meaningful shape, thanks to his open-minded effort.
BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 19/11/2019 : Pandit N V Gopinath, Sitar, in Bengaluru on November 19, 2019.
Gopinath has created gats in several ragas and talas. These scintillating instrumental compositions in medium and fast tempo constitute a rich creative source for sitar- practitioners. His gats in Yaman, Shyam-kalyan, Marubehag, Bhupal-Todi, Shuddha-sarang, Yamani-Bilawal and Gorakh-kalyan have captivated the uninitiated listener and connoisseur alike. To his students, each is a multifaceted lesson in form and technique.
It is a less-known fact that Gopinath teaches vocal music, semi-classical compositions to be precise. His huge repertoire includes compositions in Marathi, Bengali and Italian! Time and again, he returns to his veena-playing as well. Listeners were awed when recently, he played raag Todi on the veena accompanied by two of his students on the sitar. The virtuosity with which he achieved the sustained vocalism of sitar-music on the veena, with meends and gamaks, preserving the contemplative element throughout, was truly a novel experience. His ability to handle two string instruments of diverse styles that approach melody-creation differently, and his artistic discretion in creatively employing stroke-craft elements of the two instruments, are rare assets indeed. Gopinath in a way, embodies the rich tradition of the veena-sitar continuity in a transformed hue.
His major awards include Sangeeta Kalaravinda by Sangeetha Krupa Kuteera, Nadashree conferred by Hindustani Kalakara Mandali and Tansen Sangeeth Kalanidhi by Tansen Sursangam of Tiruvananthapuram. Unmindful of the fact that he deserves many more accolades, he plays on with humble grace and dedication.
Published - November 21, 2019 06:08 pm IST
