"Music is pulsation of Life energy in its Sound form"
Ustad Zakiruddin Khan was born in the year 1840. His father's name was Mohammad Jaan Khan and his grandfather's name was Haidar Baksh Khan.
Ustad Zakiruddin Khan was trained in the Khandarvani Dhrupad style, both in Vocal and Instrumental (Rudra Veena) music under the guidance of his father and grandfather. Up to 1880, he remained in the court of Maharaja Ramsingh of Jaipur and when in the year 1880 the Maharaja expired, Ustad Zakiruddin Khan along with his cousin brother Ustad Allah Bande Khan came to Udaipur.
The then ruler of Mewar Maharana Sajjan Singh patronized him and appointed him as the chief of the music department of the state known by the name 'Sangeet Prakash'
In the year 1884 Maharana Sajjan Singh expired and his adopted son Maharana Fateh Singh became the ruler of the Mewar state. Maharana Fateh Singh was a man of refinement and culture.
He had great liking for Indian Studies, particularly Vedic literature, Philosophy, Music, Art and Literature. He was deeply interested in investigation and research in the field of Indian studies. In those days music loving people were unsatisfied and disillusioned with the existing musical forms.
Some of the estately nobles the of the Mewar state , more particularly the Raja of Banera named Rajadhiraj Sardar Singh, who was an eminent musicologist had expressed his opinion that the Samvedic music is no more in vogue and there is a need of deep research in the different forms of Indian Classical Music(ICM). These types of disaapointments in the minds of music loving people, musicologists and scholars of music regarding ICM, compelled Maharana Fateh Singh to commission a research in the field of prevalent and Vedic music. He, the Maharana assigned the duty to Ustad Zakiruddin Khan to initiate and undertake deep and thorough investigation & research in the field of prevalent as well as Samvedic music. He assured Ustad assistance in all forms.
As per the wishes of the Maharana, Ustad Zakiruddin Khan first went to Benares, remained there for a long duration and held consultations and discourses with eminent Vedic scholars, particularly Samvedic Scholars and other scholarly musicians and musicologists. In his several trips to Benares he collected immense research material regarding Vedic music & ICM. Further, he made trips to musically rich regions like Patiala, Gwalior, Agra, Pune, Baroda, Allahabad, etc. and discussed different aspects of Indian Classical Music (ICM), particularly Dhrupad and Samvedic music with scholars, musicologists and musicians of those regions.
Having acquired all the necessary material and notes for his research and investigation, Ustad Zakiruddin Khan with the help of Vyas Pandit Shambhu Ram Shastri the Kulguru of the Mewar State, studied Samved and its allied literature, namely Pushpasutra, Rktantra,Samtantra, Akshartantra, Chhandogyaupanishad, Tandyabrahman, Shathpathbrahman, Panchvinshbrahman & 6 Brahman books of Samved as well as Shiksha manuals of Yagyavlkya, Paanini, Narada etc,and many more books related to Vedic Samgaan. Besides the Vedic literature he also studied the Natyashastra, Brihaddeshi, Sangeet Ratnakar and other available literature on ICM.
Finally as a result of all the investigation and research Ustad Zakiruddin Khan, on the basis of the Seven Geetis as prescribed in Saamswarkramani(the appended text of Rktantra), and examining the elements of the 7 Geetis as prescribed in Brhaddeshi, along with the four Vanis (Gauharvani, Khandarvani, Dagarvani and Nauharvani), developed the Sadharani Geeti style of Dhrupad singing and Rudra Veena playing.
Following are the main features and intricacies of Sadharani Geeti Dhrupad style as developed by Ustad Zakiruddin Khan and taught to his cousin brother Ustad Allah Bande Khan and to his own son Ustad Ziauddin Khan.
The most important feature of Sadharani Geeti is that practitioners as well the listeners must experience and feel the "Music as the Life force floating in the boats of Musical notes".
Ustad Ziauddin Khan who further enriched the Sadharani Geeti style of Dhrupad, always emphasized on the actual feeling and experiencing of life energy in the musical notes, by using the notes in such a manner that the notes pulsate alive with an energy force.
The above are the few of the many characteristics and specialities of the Sadharani Geeti style of Dhrupad singing and Rudra Veena playing that was developed by Ustad Zakiruddin Khan and Ustad Ziauddin Khan of Udaipur.
It is this style of Dhrupad that was later on spread in the entire world by the sons of Ustad Ziauddin Khan, namely Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Khan and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Khan.
Even till now no other musician of Indian Classical Music has as many disciples throughout the world as those of these renowned artists.The musical geniusness of Ustad Zakiruddin Khan has also been recorded by Atiya Begum, a contemporary musician of Shri.
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and Ustad Zakiruddin Khan, in which she writes that " The last time Raga Megh was sung by Ustad Zakiruddin Khan of Udaipur at 1st Musical conference in Baroda in 1916, much to our amazement a sudden storm brewed, the rains poured in torrents and the disturbance lasted for a couple of hours".
Emphasizing the importance of the musical greatness of the musicians of Udaipur, Shri. V N Bhatkhande, in reply to a question as to of all the regions visited by him, the musicians of which city impressed him more, said that" of all the regions visited by him the musicians of Udaipur impressed him more and it is their music which he found more lustrous and impressive.
And that their(Udaipur musicians) style of singing should be followed by us".
It is this style and lineage of music that is being preserved, propagated and promoted byrenowned Rudra Veena player and Guru of Dhrupad Gurukul Udaipur, Dr. Rajshekhar Vyas.
The 7th National Dhrupad Samaroh 2017 (1st International) is an earnest attempt of Dr. Rajshekhar Vyas in safeguarding and promoting the rare art of Dhrupad and Rudra Veena.
It also aims to present before the masses of Udaipur and the whole world the real taste of Indian Classical Music by world renowned artists like Ustad Bahauddin Khan, Padmashri Shri Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha, Shri Akhilesh Gundecha, Dr. Sanjay Verma, and international artists of Indian Clasical Music like Mrs.Nancy Lesh( U.S.A), Shri. Ahsan Z Niloy (Bangladesh), Mrs. Haafize Daniel (Germany), and other musicians from France and Turkey. This Samaroh also aims at providing a national stage to the talented musicians of Udaipur. In this Dhrupad Samaroh there will be a Seminar on ' Saamved, Saamgaan and Music of Mewar' to be held in Silver Jubilee Hall of Manikyalal Verma Shramjeevi College on 28th March,2017 at 9am onwards.
