Mewati gharana


The Mewati gharana is a musical apprenticeship tribe of Hindustani classical music. Known for being Pandit Jasraj's musical lineage, the gharana was founded by brothers Utd. Ghagge Nazir Khan and Utd. Wahid Khan of Bhopal in the late 19th century at the Jodhpur court. Consequently, it is also known as the Jodhpur Gharana.
With its own distinct aesthetics, stylings, practices, and repertoire, the gharana emerged as an offshoot of the Gwalior and Qawwal Bacchon musical traditions. The gharana gained visibility in the late-20th century after Pt. Jasraj popularized the gayaki.

History

Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan are regarded as fountainheads of the Mewati gharana. They were descendants of the Qawwal Bacchon gharana.

Name

Brothers Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan founded the Mewati Gharana, named after the region in Delhi from where their family hailed, Mewat.

Ancestry

Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan inherited the traditions of Qawwal Bacchon gayaki from their parents. Their father, Bade Mohammed Khan, son of Shakkar Khan of Lucknow, emerged from the Qawwal Bacchon tradition. Their mother, a daughter of Haddu Khan of Gwalior, emerged from the Gwalior tradition. Through their union, Bade Mohammed Khan acquired the status of being a Gwalior gharana exponent and was regarded for his "taan bazi" repertoire. Another offspring of Bade Mohammed Khan, Bade Mubarak Ali Khan, is said to have influenced Alladiya Khan's gayaki due to his proclivity for taans.
Due to politics and competition with Natthe Khan's family, Bade Mohammed Khan relocated to Rewa in Bhopal as the court musician of the maharaja. Consequently, Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan are associated with the Bhopal region in musical literature. Like their sibling, Bade Mubarak Ali Khan, Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan moved to the Jaipur region following their father's demise, where the former was a court musician. Later, Ghagge Nazir Khan became court musician of Jodhpur.

Geography

Seeking musical patronage, their ancestors immigrated from their origins in Delhi and Gwalior, settling first in Bhopal and later western Rajasthan.
These migrations influenced new developments in the gharana's musical styles and aesthetics. Eventually, these changes resulted in the Mewati gayaki becoming distinct although reminiscent of the Gwalior and Qawwal Bacchon styles. Hence the gharana is considered both musically and genealogically different from these groups.

Genealogy

The below illustration is based on the historical account provided by Siraj Khan.

Pedagogy

Ghagge Nazir Khan passed on his musical tradition to his foremost disciples Munavvar Khan, Natthulal Pandit, and Chimanlal Pandit. Natthulal passed the tradition onto his nephew, Motiram, who shared this tradition with his brother, Jyotiram, around the start of the 20th century. During this period, Mewati musicians served under monarchical patronage as court musicians.
Jyotiram later became a disciple of Rajab Ali Khan, whose father, Manglu Khan, was a disciple of Bade Mohammed Khan and Bande Ali Khan. Motiram passed this tradition to his sons, Maniram and Pratap Narayan. After Motiram's unexpected demise, Maniram and Pratap Narayan were instrumental in grooming their younger brother, Jasraj, in the Mewati tradition after the latter renounced playing tabla, his primary training at the time. Jasraj was initially influenced by the music of Amir Khan and Begum Akhtar but later developed a separate style. He introduced new stylistic elements into the traditional Mewati style, following the romanticism started by Omkarnath Thakur and producing a more emotive, devotional, rhythmic-conscious, and lyric-conscious style.

Pedagogical genealogy

A visual representation of Mewati gharana and its earlier roots.

Overview

Aesthetic Approaches

Though the gayaki has roots in the style and trends of the Gwalior and Delhi, the Mewati gayaki has some distinct qualities. The Mewati gayaki emphasizes the importance of bhava and literature. The gayaki includes substantial use of sargam and tihais. In a crude sense, the approach to taankari is similar to the Patiala gayaki and Tappa Gayaki in execution but is closer to the Gwalior gayaki in application.
The gayaki's meend applications have been regarded for their smoothness and naturalness.

Philosophy

and Jasraj have described the essential philosophy of the Mewati tradition as based on "shuddha vani", "shuddha mudra", and "shuddha sur".

Religious themes

Through Sufiana mausiqi and bhaktic influences, the Mewati gayaki includes theistic and spiritual elements, where religious verses from Hinduism and Shia Islam are incorporated not only in the grammatical content of the music, but as intrinsic elements in melodic expression. Jaiwant Singhji and Jasraj contributed numerous devotional compositions to the gharana's repertoire.
Some contemporary compositions invoke the name and attributes of Aga Khan as the manifest Imam and the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu according to the dashavatara. The verse "Om Shri Anant Hari Naaraayañ" is typically invoked as the initiation of a performance, and as the grammatical medium for an alap.

Specialty ragas and compositions

The Mewati Gharana holds raags unique to its tradition. These include:
Informed by the gharana's kirtankar tradition, Jasraj researched the haveli sangeet of Mathura and Brindavan. Consequently, many devotional compositions have been brought into the gharana's repertoire.

Members

Utd. Ghagge Nazir Khan

"Ghagge" Nazir Khan was born to Imdad Khan, a dhrupadiya, in the Mewat region. He learned vocal music from Utd. Chote Mohammed Khan and Utd. Waris Ali Khan. He had no children. He taught music to Pt. Natthhulal, Pt. Chimmanlal, and Utd. Munavvar Khan.

Utd. Wahid Khan (beenkar)

Wahid Khan was born to Imdad Khan, a dhrupadiya, in the Mewat region. He learned rudra veena from Utd. Bande Ali Khan. Influenced by the Dhrupad ang, Wahid Khan taught instrumental music to his six children who also became musicians.