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Pandit Barun Kumar Pal : Reviews :
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Review in Arts Tribune, Chandigarh, India
Friday, February 19, 1999
Player of Indian classical guitar
By Vandana Shukla
THIS artiste refuses to talk about his instrument unless you have listened to it. Perhaps he is right in his approach. I went to talk to him with a lot of skepticism, but after attending his concert I had to bow before his unusual endeavour. It was a recital of a high standard in pure Indian classical tradition.
The artiste who waited for five long years to be given an audience by the sitar maestro Pt Ravi Shankar to help him turn his childhood dream of playing Indian classical music on the Hawaiin guitar is very unassuming. He carries grit and steely determination in his fragile frame along with the instrument he has worked upon for the past 30 years and baptised it as Indian classical guitar.
Pt Barun Kumar Pal, who knocked and hammered at the doors of classicists to let his Western instrument make an entry into the sacred arena of classical music, was born in a family of classical musicians. His father, Pt Bankim Chandra Pal, a disciple of Ustad Inayat Khan, and his sister, a disciple of Nikhil Banerji, were eminent sitar players.
He grew up with the classical tradition of two different gharanas, but nurtured a hidden desire to do something different. So, in a house that housed all sorts of musical instruments, he chose to play the guitar. His attempts at playing classical ragas on the Western instrument were actually encouraged, contrary to his expectation, by maestroes like Nikhil Banerji and Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia. They said they too were "struggling" with their instruments. Besides, they said the instrument "sounds good".
Encouarged, Barun started playing the "alaaps" and "jods" with his sister and father, but when it came to "taans" - the limitation of the instrument came in the way. Barun says he believed if there was a limitation, it was the limitation of his mind and effort. He could not limit the expectations of music lovers who would like to enjoy the boundless beauty of Indian classical music through a new medium.
So, he set out to make innovations in his instrument. The first step was to add the sharp strings or "chikari" to the regular six strings of the guitar. Next, he added sympathetic strings or "tarab". Still, he felt the finer nuances of Indian music like "meend" and "gamak" were difficult to produce.
Often, Barun would play light music tunes at concerts and people would demand things like "Rabindra sangeet" to be played. This required more refinement in the instrument, apart from tremendous hard work on his part. Ram Chand Biswas, a famous instrument maker from Calcutta, helped him in his endeavour. He increased the length of the instrument to accommodate 3½ octaves. It also provided scope for "kharaj" - the extra base needed for Indian classical music.
Then, he changed the strings. Guitars are made of "E scale" strings all over the world, which is rather high for Indian classical music. He changed it to "C sharp" and changed the guage of the strings - from narrow to thicker - to get more resonance. Now, with these changes, he could also play "jhala" on the instrument. The instrument had almost been completed for the purpose of playing classical music.
But, all the while Barun continued playing light music on the guitar to get it popularised. He was at the peak of his commercial career in the early '70s when he cut 17 discs - LPs and EPs with HMV and Polydor - was playing for background film music and giving indoor stadium concerts.
Simultaneously, a process of deep realisation was on that though he received money and claps, the audience was moved to tears only when maestros like Nikhil Banerji or Pt Ravi Shankar played the sitar. With the passage of time the realisation became deeper. He was missing the atmosphere he grew up with - that of classical music.
So, he walked out of a successful commercial career and closed all his contracts to explore the serene depths of Indian classical music on his new instrument. But, the identity of a commercial guitar player remained stuck to him wherever he went and people demanded light music tunes. He had to say a firm "no".
Barun knocked at AIR, Calcutta, where he was taken as the first-ever "A grade" light music guitar player to be allowed entry as a classical guitar player. The doors were shut on him. Unrelented, he kept trying at each and every door - playing his unique instrument seeking its recognition in the classical domain.
In the meantime, he also realised the need for a guru. He had nobody to copy, nobody to follow. Carving out his own path he needed guidance. He says, "Father is father, but everybody who wants to make a mark in the classical tradition needs the blessings of a guru." And, he decided he would seek as his guru none else but Pt Ravi Shankar, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna just recently. He was euphoric about it and said, "My teacher is a great artiste and equally great as a teacher with a kind heart and a great personality."
So, after five long years of patient waiting, when Barun was trying to get an audience with the maestro from all possible corners, he was given 10 minutes time to play raga Malkosh in the morning. He thought he was doomed. But after listening to Malkosh, the maestro asked him to play a morning raga. After this assurance, which was like a short lease of life, a waiting period of three more years ensued before he was taken under his tutelage.
With total dedication of a "bhakta" towards his guru, Barun started writing the second chapter of his life on his instrument as he had envisaged. A long journey of self-motivated endeavour of perfection where each concert stood as a challenge, where he endeavoured to take his instrument beyond his capacity, to let it express the perfect tonal beauty of the Indian classical music. He dared to follow even the Dhrupad pattern of playing the ragas on his instrument.
His single-minded dedication opened the doors of AIR, Calcutta, where again he was taken as the first-ever "A grade" classical guitar artiste in the country. Now, after having come across the best quality of listeners who have recognised and appreciated his efforts, he says, he feels quite relaxed.
There are people who suggest to him to get his instrument registered in his name lest someone else took advantage of his life-time effort, but he remains nonchalant to such suggestions. He says he sought recognition for the potential of his instrument, not for himself. He wants his instrument to get posterity, not his name.
Any worries, any goals yet to be attained?
Only the future of his instrument worries Barun along with the future of a rich tradition that has been nurtured by dedicated people for thousands of years. He is preparing a few students across the globe in the Indian classical tradition in between his tight schedules of concerts and his own "sadhana".
Following in the footsteps of his guru, he has also been giving talks and TV shows to popularise Indian classical music. His lecture demonstrations have been recorded by BBC Radio, BBC TV Asiad of the UK, Radio France, Radio Denmark, TV Sanfranciso, USA, Doordarshan, AIR India, and other channels in France, Italy and Switzerland.
Barun has earned the rare distinction of having been invited to perform at WOMAD (World of Music and Dance festival at Reading in the UK) where only two Asian artistes were invited. The recording of his performance has been preserved by National Archives, British National Library, London, in 1993.
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