Along The Path of Music

The dearth of written material of quality and authenticity on contemporary music performance, musicians and related issues needs to be considered seriously in the context of preservation, propagation and promotion of Indian classical music.

The reading material available today on Indian music is mainly by theoreticians and not practising musicians. In general one observes lack of objectivity and scientific approach in the work by Indians and the absence of cultural perspective in the work by non-Indians. A professional Indian woman performer is still a rarity in this field.

'Along the Path of Music' is not a biographical work. It is a journey in and out of a noted musician Dr. Prabha Atrre who cannot dissociate herself from music even in her personal life. A first hand account of her musical journey, observations, experiences, reactions, in her own words makes reading of this book interesting and engaging. The objective, scientific approach and cultural perspective brings this book credibility.

Padmashri, Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee, Padmabhushan and Kalidas Samman awardee, Dr. Prabha Atrre is an eminent personality in the field of music. She is revered as a brilliant thinker, performer, academician, composer and guru. Assistant Producer with the All India Radio, Professor and Head of the Department of Music, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai and Producer-Director of the recording company 'Swarashree,' Dr. Prabha Atrre has a rare blend of skill and insight, and has displayed constant innovation and creative endeavour which has distinguished her both in the classical and light-classical idioms.

A senior vocalist representing the Kirana gharaanaa, Dr. Atrre, was trained under late Sureshbabu Mane and Padmabhushan awardee Hirabai Badodekar and drew much inspiration from the styles of late Amir Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

Dr. Atrre has been teaching in the traditional guru-shishya style for more than thirty-five years and is an acclaimed guru in India and abroad both in performance and research. 'Dr Prabha Atrre Foundation' set up by her aims to promote the cause of Indian culture and performing arts. She has also established 'Swaramayee gurukul' to bridge the prevailing gap between the academic institutions and the traditional guru-shishya parampara by nurturing talented students into complete professionals.

Dr. Atrre has authored several academic books on the various aspects of music tha are especially relevant to the present day performance. Her Doctoral thesis on 'Sargam' or the use of sol-fa names as musical material, which is perhaps a pioneering work on the subject, bears testimony to her various accomplishments. Her books 'Swaramayee,' 'Swaraalee,' 'Swaraanginee,' 'Antahswar,' 'Swaraalee,' 'Swaraanginee,' 'Antahswar,' 'Enlightening the Listener' have all been well received by both lay and knowledgeable listeners.

Preface

At the age of 73 when I look back, I realize that all my thinking, experiences, actions, reactions are associated with music directly, indirectly; especially when music became my life's goal and also a full time profession.

But along with that musician Prabha Atrre, there was another Prabha who tried to live as an ordinary human being away from public and publicity.

Knowledge and creativity open up many avenues. I have forever been tempted to stroll into every one of those that I came across. Not every such trip has been a success. But the experience so gained has been meaningful. The person in me successively got enriched.

I have never aspired to seek recognition as a writer. That certainly has not been my dream. I am a singer and I feel thoroughly fulfilled as a musician. I took to writing because I felt the need to communicate with my listeners. My first book in English, Enlightening the Listener dealing with the technical aspects of the contemporary performance in Hindustani classical vocal music and the related activities therein got published in 2000.

My singing always gets upper hand when it comes to doing something else. There have been many occasions when people wanted to know about Prabha Atrre as a person, her personal life, her grooming, her education, her family, her relationships, etc. this book also took long time. It is my close ones who consistently dragged me into completing this work. They do not want their names to be disclosed. But, I certainly thanks Prof. Sushma Joshi, Prof. Basanti Raina, Dr. Milind Malshe, Chinmay Chakravarty for helping me through the script. I am indebted to Prof. Susheela Ambike without whose help I would not have been able to complete this work.

I would also like to thank late Shri Devendra Jain of Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers for bringing out my second book beautifully.