One song at a time - 23. Karim Khan and Karaharapriya

(Ustad Abdul Karim Khan)

We saw earlier in this series how Gurudev Tagore was inspired by Muthuswamy Dikshtar and composed a song based on Dikshitar's "meenakshi me mudham dehi". One more great personality from North, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan was also so enamoured by Carnatic music that he learnt and recorded a few krithis!!

You will understand why this is something unique if you know about Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. He was a great musician and was, what the Hindustani people call, the 'khalifa' of Kirana Garana. You can understand the impact his style had on Hindustani music by looking at the 'shisya parampara' of his gharana. Sawai Gandharva, Hirabai Barodekar, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubhai Hangal, Sureshbabu Mane, Basavaraj Rajguru. All of whom were top class and influential musicians. Abdul Karim Khan was a revered musician of those times and it is indeed surprising to know that such a man took pains to learn and render krithis in a musical form which was quite different from his. Great artists search for music everywhere and Abdul Karim Khan was one such artist who was enamoured with carnatic music.

I am not sure when he learnt these krithis but it is well recorded that he learnt the krithis from Veena Dhannamal, in who house he stayed whenever he came to Madras. (I think his first trip down south must have been to sing in the Mysore Darbar.) Initially Abdul Karim Khan used to be quite critical about the carnatic musicians singing the kalpanaswaras. It is said that he used to say, "Why are these people playing harmonium with their lips" when referring to kalpana swara singing. He completed changed his opinion when he heard Dhanammal playing the kalpana swaras on the veena. Infact he was so taken in by Dhanammal's playing that he started incorporating swara singing in his Hindustani singing as well!! (They are known as sargam in Hindustani music.) So in Dhanammal's house the great man learnt a few krithis which he recorded. The couple of them I have heard as "rama nee samanau evaru" in Karaharapriya and "entha nerchina" , a Patnam Subramanyaiyer krithi in Saveri. Today I feature the Karaharapriya krithi.

When you hear Abdul Karim Khan singing, you can clearly make out that he has adapted Karaharapriya and the krithi to his style of singing. That itself makes it very interesting. (BTW, Karaharapriya is not present as such in Hindustani music though the Kafi thaat would be equivalent in scale to Karaharapriya). So don't listen to it keeping your carnatic music ears open. Instead look at the beauty he brings in by his adaptation. It may not be the form of krithi which we have often heard but very interesting nevertheless. So, bow down to this great man who took pains to learn and record this krithi and listen to the song.