Timeless tunes: Young Vocalist leaves Kashmiri art buffs Spellbound

Tanveen Kawoosa
When audience referred to him as ‘’Dhruv ji’’ an exponent of Sufiana music, you might expect him to be a graying, wizened musician of many decades experience.Yet,Dhruv Sangari, a disciple of late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,  turns out to be  26 years old Qawali maestro.
His eyes crinkle with amusement as if he was playing music in his mind. His voice kept a large number of audience glued to their seats in the Sunday evening session of ‘Anhad Youth Festival’ at Broadway.
 He started with Qaul---Nameeda namche…., mystic verses of Sufi saint Hazrat Amir Khusraw. The’Qual’ is said to be the origin of Qawwali. To draw and hold the attention of a heterogeneous audience is the skill that the best Qawals (performers of devotional music) excel at.
The mesmerising variety of performance projected a wide range from –spiritual to romantic, a natural product in a multicultural society. The Hymns touched heart with the uncanny magic of his voice, word, diction and delivery.
Dhruv belongs to the Chistiya Sufi order which is considered to be a mode which brings one closer to the inner truth. Qawwali as a musical form is closely linked to the Sufi traditions of Islam and the mystic practices that Sufi Scholars develop to achieve closeness to Allah.
His powerful renderings of Zikr(meditation) Allah Hu….Allah Hu….. Sent listeners in a frenzy of deep religious fervour. Repeating a sentence until all meaning is exhausted and it becomes meaningless is another technique for bringing the audience closer to the elusive ‘ma’rifat’. Through this technique, semantic reality is negated and a purity of form is created. It is often this element that transcends linguistic barriers.
 Educated at Delhi University  Dhruv hails from a family, many members of which were engaged in Indian classical music .After completing his masters in music studies  he went on to hone his voice and skills at an early age.
 The classical form of artistic expression is proverbially rooted in tradition. Trained in the complexities of music by masters like Ustad Sadiq Khan, Pandith P.S Sharma, and the Qawali maestro late ‘Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’, Dhruv’s  sense of exemplary comradeship towards his senior Gharana guides is worthy of emulation. In his search for the authentic and traditional exposition of classical music he got professional guidance from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for two years. Guidance under Qawali maestro led to a surge of interest more in spiritual music.Dhruv accepts it with grace and answers in measured cadences.
‘’The magic of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice sustained the interest of music connoisseurs as he was first and foremost a classical Sufi singer. Today when everyone is taken by the superficial glitter of big cities, he lived hermit like austere life in Pakistan. Such men are born once in a millennium,’’.
The extraordinary grace and delicacy in the methodical handling of the mystic lyrics and the resounding depth of his voice were remarkable.Ustad Amjed Khan ably accompanied Dhruv on tabla. The artist gave thoroughly enjoyable recitals while his personal modesty impressed the discerning audience that turned up in good number at the concert.
When asked about the fusion of classical and western music, Dhruv trails off,   “If Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music is deconstructed, we find the elements of western music, folk, classical, jazz, and Drupat damal.He was open to experimentation. It is important to experiment so that you grow as a musician. It is also important to keep your form intact so that you do not get cut off from your roots,’’
Nusrat retained all that is timeless in classical music, yet he forged a new style. He was one of the few classical singers who have successfully contributed new form to the traditional pantheon.
 When critics accused him of corrupting the traditional Qawwali by introducing innovations he said , "Tradition should not be seen as a dead thing, it is the responsibility of musicians to make music for the people of their time,’’
“Whether he performed at music festivals or at the Shrines of Sufi saints in his beloved Punjab he transcended listeners to the realms of sublime and ecstasy,’’says Dhruv with a dash of happiness.
Druv reproduced the flavour of Nusrat as he concluded concert with ‘’Saansu ke mala par simru main pe ka naam… Nusrat‘s baritone was not easy to copy but subtle variations for the single couplet –from effortless romanticism to melancholy-made him unique.