Prabha Atre: The thinking musician

AT 11 a.m. every Sunday, fans of classical vocalist Dr Prabha Atre log in to her YouTube channel, to hear audio clips of her rare recordings. The programme, named SwaraArpan, was started when she entered her 90th year on September 13 2021, and each episode has been a treat for admirers. Recent streamings have included raags Kalaavati, Raamkali, Kedaar and BhinnaShadja, besides an assortment of thumris and dadras.

At her age, Dr Atre’s passion for music remains the same, and her desire to provide information and education remains undiminished. Besides numerous concerts over the years, she has spent much time on research, having authored many books on the nuances of singing. An Amazon search reveals 12 such books in English or Hindi, besides four other currently-unavailable titles. Her books Enlightening The Listener, Along The Path Of Music and the Swaraseries are considered essential reading by many students of the genre.

Naturally, the news that Dr Atre has been named a recipient of this year’s Padma Vibhushan comes as music to one’s ears. The other classical musician to be felicitated is vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan, who has been named Padma Bhushan.

Dr Atre has been a senior representative of the Kirana gharana, founded by the legendary Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and carried forward by maestros Pt Sawai Gandharva and Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. She learnt under the guru-shishya paramparafrom Pandit Sureshbabu Mane and HirabaiBadodekar, children of Abdul Karim Khansaab. Other senior vocalists of the gharana includedGangubaiHangal, Pt Bhimsen Joshi and Pt Firoz Dastur. 

Agewise, Dr Atre has been a contemporary of KishoriAmonkar, who was five months elder. But while Amonkarstarted learning early from her mother MogubaiKurdikar, a renowned vocalist herself, Pune-born Dr Atre did not come from a musical family, and took to lessons only at the age of eight.

Sureshbabu Mane and later HirabaiBadodekar taught Dr Atre the finer details. Thus, the young singer had the direct advantage of learning the intricacies of the Kirana style. In her younger days, music wasn’t her only vocation. She had degrees in science and law, and was involved in theatre, besides learning Kathak. She also did a course in Western Music Theory.

When she began performing regularly, Dr Atre also displayed a keenness to learn more about other musicians. She was particularly impressed by the styles of Ustad Amir Khan in khayal and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in thumri. Though she stuck to tradition, earning a doctorate in the use of sargam, she also embraced change. While some aficionados have described her as a rebel, others have called her a re-interpreter. Some have even put her in a thought category similar to Amonkar and Kumar Gandharva, who brought about their own innovations to the art. For her contribution and dedication, Dr Atre began to be called ‘Swarayoginee’.

“I was lucky to have a guru who let me grow independently. My strong educational background and academic interest helped me look upon music with open eyes,” she says in the preface of her book Enlightening The Listener. “My need to compose, my need to communicate with my audience made me examine critically and objectively the various things that were happening in the field of music,” she adds.

To promote classical music, Dr Atre started the Swarmayee Gurukul in Pune in 2003. To mark her 90th year, the institute has announced various plans, including the formation of a Kirana gharana library, a web series to help students of music, panel discussions on ‘contemporary performance and Shastras’, and discussions on the time theory of music, focusing on raags that get missed out because of the existing concert timing structure. This is besides the weekly telecast of her recordings on her YouTube channel Dr Prabha Atre Foundation.

In these days when younger musicians and music students rely heavily on technology, Dr Atre has kept up with the times. All her life, her approach has been open-minded, progressive and highly individualistic. Coming in her 90th year, the Padma Vibhushan is a richly-deserved recognition of her contribution. One can celebrate by listening to her recordings of Chandrakauns, Madhukauns or Bageshree.