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Great Maestros : Ustad Abdul Karim Khan By Nadanandini (Page Three of Four…)He founded a branch of the Arya Sangeet Vidyalaya in Bombay in 1917, but it closed down after 3 years. After the school closed down. Khan Saheb migrated to Miraj where he built a house of his own, and settled down. Miraj now became the centre of his activities. But he continued his musical tours all over the North and even into the far South. He became very popular to his admirers and numerous students during his stay at the Hyderabad and Madras presidency. Wherever he went, people garlanded him and took him in grand processions like a King. He became a respected musician of the Mysore Darbar (court). His music was highly appreciated by great Karnatak musicians like Tiger Varadacharier, Muthiah Bhagawatar and Veena Dhanammal. During this period of his career, in collaboration with the British musicologist Mr. E. Clements, he presented the 'Shruti Samvad' theory, and gave a fine demonstration of 22 Shrutis (micro-tonal distances) with the help of 2 Veenas at a public function presided over by the great scientist and nobel laureate Dr. C.V. Raman. In Maharashtra his popularity knew no bounds with great men like Lokmanya Tilak and Gopalkrishna Gokhale becoming great admirers of his music. Though Ustad Aman Ali Khan is credited with incorporating a number of South Indian Ragas into the North Indian Hindustani Music, Abdul Karim Khan was perhaps the first North Indian musician to study Karnatic music system and ragas, and incorporated several of them into Hindustani music, as is evident from his style of singing sargam (singing notes) as well as his recordings in Karnatic ragas, "Kharaharapriya", "Saaweri", "Hamsadhwani", "Abhogi" etc. Kirana Gharana (school/style) was named after the birthplace of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Kirana, near Kurukshetra. Although the gharana was named after a North Indian town, its influence is more dominant in the Deccan plains of Maharashtra and Karnataka. This was because Abdul Karim Khansaheb migrated as a young musician to Baroda, from where he moved to Mysore. Although, the gharana's ancestors go back to many generations before him, the most notable predecessor being the legendary Beenkar (Veena Player) Ustad Bande Ali Khan, who was trained in the lyrical thumri based 'Rangila Ang' by his teacher, noting his romantic demeanor; the world knows Ustad Abdul Karim Khan as the main architect and star of the Kirana Gharana, who popularised the Gharana and gave it its name. Interestingly though, Abdul Karim Khan himself had acknowledged during his later years, that his style took a complete turn after he heard Ustad Rahmat Haddoo Khan, the son of Ustad Haddoo Khan sing, Ustad Haddoo Khan being one of the brothers of the Haddu-Hassu Khan duo, also known as 'Kawwal Bachche', who were credited with popularizing the Gwalior Gharana. |
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