IS GURU-SHISHYA PARAMPARA A DYING CONCEPT?

IS GURU-SHISHYA PARAMPARA A DYING CONCEPT?

Go back in history as far as you want. Tansen, Baiju Bawra or even earlier. It is a law in Indian music that the art is passed down directly from teacher to student. Now coming to today, name any contemporary maestro, living or dead, and he or she will swear by the same one-on-one guru-shishya system. Gharanas have their moorings in this tradition. No single musical great has come out of a class or has a degree alone to show for his or her journey to the top.

Wityh the passing away of greats like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Kishan Maharaj, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi or Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan sahib, we have a vacuum in terms of great gurus to bring back the same magic these legends brought to us. The value of quality education can only be truly understood by the poor serious student who aspires to be great..not good, but great ..and who cannot find a guru of that stature to train him. Classes are there, courses are there, written texts are there. But somehow an old film song can be cited to explain the feeling of loss that the great gurus who left us with- Lakhin hain nigah mein zindagi ki raah main sanam haseen jawan, Ankhon me gulab hai, honto me sharaab hai LEKIN WO BAAT KAHAN?

#education #gyaan #sangeet #music #swara

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