#abhangs

another abhang of janabai rendered by kishori amonkar. and on this note, where the words of a bahujan woman poet is sung by a bahujan woman vocalist, make sure to read this critical take by rohan arthur on the legacy of kishori amonkar and how lower caste women truly shaped indian classical music:

Kishori Amonkar: Assertion, Erasure, Reclamation (by Rohan Arthur)

The kalavants' defined calling was music and dance. By Brahmanical injunction, this was their expertise. Many artistes found relative success in the entertainment industries. The success was, however, hard-fought and bittersweet. The entertainment industry was controlled by the elite upper castes. How could they unquestioningly admit someone from a lower caste into their fold? No: The kalavants' divine duty was to entertain, and not to deem themselves in any way equal to the elite. This musical entertainment, today, is Hindustani and Carnatic 'Classical' music: supposedly the epitome of purity and perfection, in fact, even a form of worship of the gods of the Brahmins! On the other end of the spectrum, there is Bollywood, which is dominated by Khans and Kapoors. What space is available within this empire for a descendent of a 'devadasi'?

[...]

Kishori was brought up by her single mother (father died when Kishori was very young), in an environment of 'counter tradition'. The kalavant community that Kishori was born into now had an anti-caste foundation, an open challenge to the existing social order. The artists had demonstrated that they could be successful despite being beyond of the pale of the caste order. Fledgling careers of singers, actors and dancers were sprouting up around young Kishori. This did not in any way mean that the Brahmanical empire allowed them any leeway or concessions. Every inch of progress had been hard fought, and this fight has to be seen as an integral part of Kishori's body of work. At every step, this or that artist was broken down and dragged back into a life of slavery. Kishori's world was a most inhuman environment, and for her to have beaten all those odds is indeed a reason to celebrate the life and work of this most remarkable woman.

The Hindustani Music 'fraternity' is organized into gharanas. A Gharana is understood to be a school of music. Each gharana has its own styles, and its own rules. The strict hierarchical organization has a guru at the top, with other gurus officiating 'below' him. The guru is regarded as a divine being, and venerated with utmost fear and fervor. The appointment of the guru is by either lineage or scholarship. In cases where appointments happen outside of lineage, it is only after the candidate has demonstrated 'merit' and 'purity'.

Almost every article reports that Kishori Amonkar was an 'exponent of the Jaipur gharana'. What they miss to emphasize is that Kishori was against such ideas of ritual purity and social exclusivity. In an interview with the Indian Express, Kishori says:

"There is nothing called a gharana. There is only music. It has been bound in these gharanas and that is like dividing music into specific castes. One should not teach the students the limits of this art. There are none. But one has to understand the grammar. Which is why, one is taught the alankaar, the ragas"v.

Many mainstream sources report that she was 'strict' and 'temperamental'. This is because of instances where Kishori is known to have rebuked some audience member for disturbing her, or in some cases has refused to go ahead with a performance or an interview because she thought the audience was badly behaved. Who are the audience at these concert halls? It isn't really a far cry from the temple performances of old, with a gathering of upper caste men to ogle at a lower caste performer. Aren't they, by their own purification, a majority representation of upper castes? Wouldn't it rankle, then, to see the performer asserting herself, and making conditions from this audience who are no longer merely 'patrons'? Mustn't we examine Kishori's assertion in this context? When an upper caste man or woman actor refuses performances or interviews, will these rags swoop down on them too, and swiftly label them as 'strict' or 'temperamental'? Why this eagerness to demonize Kishori Amonkar, or for that matter, Lata Mangeshkar (yes, another artist from the Kalavant 'lineage')?

no high priest no seer no necromancer no exorcist no witch doctor !