#darbarfestival | “You can do the scientific and analytical approaches too, but I wouldn’t take these routes in expectation of finding an answer...a green signal has to flash” (Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande)
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Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande’s vocal style draws on her PhD in biochemistry as well as the traditions of her illustrious musical family. Her grandmother played dilruba, and she first received instruction from her mother Manik, a successful singer. Always inclined towards learning in all directions, she completed a PhD and worked as a biochemist and atomic scientist for several years. But music was ever-present: “What was essential was my need to find light. I gave up science 30 years ago for the sake of music, initially giving myself a year to explore it. That year has never stopped!”

Her exacting style is emblematic of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, although she has also mastered the finer points of several other regional traditions. She draws inspiration from Sufi poet-saints as well as science, and specialises in sankeerna [mixed] and achchop [complex] forms. Her analytical mindset does not mask a deeply human approach to ragas, seeing them almost like living, breathing people: “I want the raga to befriend me too. If I’m interested in a raga, I want it to be interested in me as well.” She reminds her students that “you can bring your tradition forward by looking into the past”, encouraging them to resurrect rare and near-forgotten ragas.

“Science and music complement each other for me as they are both deeply ingrained, and influence my approach to everything. They build my personality, and can’t be separated now. In any case, the scientific should not be separated from the aesthetic - I feel they are two sides of same coin.” (Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande)

Here Ashwini sings a bhajan (literally ‘sharing’), an Indian devotional song form traditionally associated with the Bhakti movement of Hinduism, and also with the Jain faith. Lyrical themes include ancient epics, saintly teachings, love for the divine, and scriptural ideas. Bhajans typically borrow from raga frameworks but do not impose the same detail and rule-based rigidity, giving the singer more freedom to deviate. This bhajan, like many others, is in praise of Kabir, a 15th-century mystic poet-saint famed for exquisite couplets and criticism of prevailing religious norms.

Recorded at Darbar Festival 2009, at London’s Southbank Centre:
-Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (khayal)
-Subhankar Banerjee (tabla)
-Jyoti Goho (harmonium)
-Priya Parkash (tanpura)

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