Freewheeling interviews with important personalities can be advantageous. They are less structured and the interviewers can exercise an amount of flexibility while meandering through the many known and unknown aspects of the lives of their subjects. But at times, the lack of focus can act as a limitation, particularly when questions that are posed seem to put the interviewees’ in a spot or create a moment of discomfort. This is further exacerbated when the questions seem probing and condescending.
This lengthy interview with Kirana gharana exponent Roshan Ara Begum (1917-1982), conducted by Khalil Ahmad and M Iqbal for PTV Classic, covers a lot of ground with regard to the artiste’s life, but at times, almost seems like an interrogation. It's covered over two separate video clips, with both containing short demonstrations of khayal, dadra and ghazal.
Born in Calcutta, Roshan Ara Begum describes her early training since the age of nine with sarangi player Laddan Khan. A musician once described the impact of Kirana gharana maestro Abdul Karim Khan’s music and Begum was immediately convinced of the need to move to Bombay for advanced training. She acknowledges with immense gratitude the support and encouragement she received from her mother, Chanda Begum.
Roshan Ara Begum sang for films before learning under Abdul Karim Khan in Bombay for four years.
She describes her first recital in Hubli, which was attended by Abdul Karim Khan. Listing the names of contemporary and experienced women artistes with whom she shared the stage at music festivals in India, she also refers to a single recital of Kesarbai Kerkar that she had heard.
Personal views
When asked for her opinion about the impact of raags on performers and listeners, Roshan Ara Begum expresses her firm belief that the quality of the singer’s voice and the impact of the raags are equally important for the success of a concert. She mentions a few raags that she likes and dislikes, but clarifies that she has never questioned the existence of raags that she does not find attractive, as she believed in all humility that they are also the creations of great masters of the past.
In other words, like most musicians, she reiterates that she does not question what is considered to be traditional knowledge. In response to questions about the raag-time theory, Roshan Ara Begum believes that it is the result of cultural conditioning, but that she too is not comfortable singing outside the time frame prescribed for the raags.
The interview also contains questions related to her marriage and the manner in which it affected her musical life. Once again, she mentions that it was her mother who decided that she should marry, although Begum was firm that she should be permitted to pursue her music.
She also reminisces about a concert in Madras, where language was a barrier and yet the music was enjoyed to the fullest by the audience.
Pondering the future
Roshan Ara Begum moved with her husband to Lalamusa, a small town in Pakistan, eight months after Partition. After an initial phase when she did not perform in Pakistan, she went on to record for radio and television. Well before the time when electronic tabla and tanpura machines were manufactured, Roshan Ara Begum’s husband recorded a track with tanpura and tabla, which she continued to use during her practice sessions at home.
The interview moves from questions related to music to ones about lifestyle. Roshan Ara Begum describes her love for animals, flowers, fragrances, her distaste for violence and disputes, and her unease about air travel.
She is not hopeful about the future of classical music, as she does not find many young people who wish to undergo long years of training in the traditional format. She feels she cannot contribute anything towards strengthening the future of this music. But in response to pointed questions on the contribution of Muslims to this system of music – questions that are leading and obviously asked with an overt communal bias – she said that the music is alive because of contributions from Muslims and that those performing this music in India too are students of Muslim ustads.
Significantly, the question and Roshan Ara Begum’s response are representative of the biased approach to music historiography that has existed since the 19th century, and that has led many Hindu and Muslim musicians and musicologists in India and Pakistan to appropriate the past and paint it with a communal colour.
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