Shaila Piplapure, Biography
Shaila Piplapure’s initiation into Hindustani Classical Music goes
back to her childhood days.
Later, as a student of ShriRam Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Raipur, Madhya
Pradesh, she secured the degree of Master of
Music of Khairagarh University, and was awarded the Gold medal.
This graduation for Shaila was only a starting point of her future musical
pursuits, which continued with her long and extensive tutelage under the
well-known musician and musicologist, Pt. Ramesh Nadkarni. Shaila was fortunate
to also receive guidance from Master Navrang.
As a culmination of this training, Shaila is now an accomplished artist,
and has made Khayal Gayan her forte. Reposeful Aalaps, intricate Taans
and lilting Sargams characterize her concert renderings.
Even while receiving the training, in the rare BHENDI BAZAR GAYAKI under
her Gurus, Shaila was conscious to keep in mind the qualities of her own
voice. And, to suit these voice qualities, she imbibed several intricacies
and aesthetics from varied sources to enrich her music. In the process,
Shaila has established herself as a vocalist with distinctive style of
her own.
While Khayal Gayan is Shaila’s forte, she is equally adept at singing
the light classical varieties like Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan etc. TAPPA, which
is one of Shaila’s unique repertoires, is an integral part of her concert
renderings. Pt. Jal K. Balaporia trained Shaila in Tappa genre.
Concerts & festivals As an accomplished and well-known vocalist, Shaila has given her solo
public performances at many places in India and abroad. She so far participated
in several prestigious Music Conferences and Sammelans. In these Sammelans,
Shaila shared the platform with top-notch musicians of India. Notable amongst
them are, Pt. Hari Prasad Chourasia - at Surat, Ustad Amjad Ali khan
- at Tatanagar, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma - at Jaipur, Pt. Jasraj - at Calcutta,
Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra - at Nagpur, etc. Indian Embassy in Belgium invited
Shaila to give her concert, as the cultural item from the country, to mark the celebrations
of 50 years of India's Independence.
Shaila Piplapure has also participated to important festivals such as the Dover Lane Music
Conférence or the Manmohan Bhatt festival of Jaipur.
Shaila participates regularly to the Sangit Academy and Summer Seminar in Belgium, where
she performs and teaches.
She has performed in many European
venues such as Espace Senghor of Brussels, Agora of Liège, 'Le Monde est un
village' public radio broadcast of RTBF, The Night of Museum concert in the
Museum of Ethnography in Antwerp. She performs either with her indian
group composed of Srinivas (harmonium), Shantanu Shukla (tabla) , or with
her European group made of Daniel Schell (tiptar) et Sandip Banerjee
(tabla).
The Bhendi Bazar family of style (gharana)
In North Indian Classical Music, several Systems are prevalent. Unlike
many other music systems of the world, which are documented in the written
form, Indian music systems are basically tradition bound, and, for past
several centuries, have descended only in the oral form from a teacher
to a student. A musician practising a certain system of music, is said
to belong to that particular musical family, and is locally called to belong
to that gharana. Amongst the contemporary ones, Bhendi Bazar is one such
gharana of the North Indian Classical Music.
Three singer brothers, Ustad Chhajju Khan, Ustad Nazir Khan, and Ustad
Khadim Hussain Khan, who lived in Bijnour town of Moradabad district in
the state ot Uttar Pradesh, are the founders of Bhendi Bazar Gharana
Since they hailed from Moradabad district, this Gharana initially was
known as Moradabad gharana In early 20th century these brothers migrated
to Bombay, and made their home in the southern part of the town called,
Bhendhi Bazar. Since the Governor of the state, the elite class, and rich
tradesmen also lived in the same locatity, it was full of several activities.
These brothers when started giving their public performances and becoming
popular, the listeners lovingly started referring to them as Bhendi Bazarwale
Gayak (singers from Bhendi Bazar). Since then, the gharana founded by them
has come to be known as Bhendi Bazar Gharana.
It is therefore not surprising that, with such a recent origin, the
current performers of this Bhendi Bazar Gharana belong only to its 4th
generation.
The gharana lineage shows that it is Ustad Aman Ali Khan who, with
his several disciples, was mainly responsible in popularising the Bhendi
Bazar Gharana. Sometimes, therefore, the gayaki ( style of singing ) of
this gharana is referred to as Aman Ali Gayaki.
Characteristics:
Bhendi Bazar Gharana’s style of singing, in many respects, is clearly
distinct and different from several contemporary styles of North Indian
Classical Music. The style typifies itself with delicate voice production
and bewitching tonal inflections. It stands out with its high - degree
rhythmic play, and the tonal arches and swara (note) sequences in it are
so balanced and poised that one is reminded of the footwork of a skilled
dancer. The bandishas (compositions), mostly composed by Ustad Aman Ali
Khan, the doyen of the gharana, under the pen-name Amar, are rich in their
literary and poetic content. The singer of Bhendi Bazar Gharana is constantly
maintaining a clear and conscious balance between the grammar and aesthetics
of music. Rendering of sargam (sequences of musical notes) with intricale
laya (rhythmic) patterns and weaving of taanas (note sequences in
fast tempo) based on merukhand system, and with high degree of melodic
content of pleasing permutations and combinations are some of the other
distinctive hall-marks of Bhendi Bazar Gayaki
Notes by Daniel Schell, from Shaila Piplapure's biography
Shaila Piplapure accompanied by Daniel Schell (tiptar) and Sandip Banerjee (tabla).
Shaila Piplapure in Espace Senghor, Brussels - Belgium:
rAg rageshri
rAg madhuranjani
rAg bhairavi
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