JAIPUR GHARANA by Vamanrao Deshpande

Introduction
Although the legendary Beenkar Rajab Ali Khan and Karamati Khan hail from Jaipur, Ustad Sangeet Samrat Alladiya Khan too named his gharana as "Jaipur". Some call it as "Atrauli" Gharana, as the Ustad's family belonged to it. However, it is best to avoid this name for the fear that many musicians of the Agra Gharana also belonged there.

History and Early Musicians
We know that Khansaheb's family migrated from Atrauli to Unniyara, near Jaipur. However, the period of this migration or conversion to Islam is not known. It is believed that this happened somewhere between the reigns of Akbar and Aurangzeb. However, Khan Saheb proudly claimed that his family could be traced back to a Bramhin priest named Nath Vishambhar, who was also an ancestor of Swami Haridas (guru of Tansen).

Born at Uniyara on 10th August, 1855, Alladiya Khan (originally named Ghulam Ahmed) lived upto 16th March, 1946. His father, Ehmat Khan was a reputed singer and court musician of Uniyara. He died when Alladiya was about 15. "Alla"diya (God's gift) was a child who survived after 4 or 5 children of his parents had died. And therefore the name. By the age of 32, he had visited a number of places in Rajasthan, U.P., Bihar, Gujarat and Bombay. He finally settled in Kolhapur as a court musician from 1895 to 1920. The remaining 25 years of his life were spent in Bombay, training Kesarbai, Mogubai and others.

Alladiya Khan had ample opportunities to listen to the music maestros like Haddu Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan, Tanras Khan etc. He was influenced by Mubarak Ali's extraordinary complex style of rendition. Due to restrictions on his own family gharana, he could not adopt these and regretted it. "What you admire so much in my gayaki," he used to say, "is but a fraction of Mubarak Ali Khan's music." Specialities and

Characteristics of the Jaipur Gharana

Tone and Time - these are two fundamental elements of music. Either could be emphasised, or a middle road is taken by the performer. While some masters of the Kirana Gharana are at the tonal end, some of the Agra Gharana are at the temporal (rhytmic) end. Alladiya's Jaipur Gharana is in the middle - a happy blending of both the elements.

A particular feature also is the popularisation of unusual ragas such as prakars (variations) of Nat, Bilawal, Kamod, Todi, etc. which were unknown in Maharashtra. Another feature is its Tedhi phirat, bol-taans and style of landing on 'sa-ma' unexpectedly yet exquisitely. Kesarbai and Mogubai were the most distinguished of the exponents of this gharana. Kishori Amonkar is another living legend of this gharana.