Composers, lyricists, performers and stylistic traditions
Domain 5: Composers, lyricists, performers and stylistic traditions
Questions here test attribution - who wrote, who composed, who sang - and stylistic description. Marks come from pairing a name with the right role and the right idiom.
Names and roles
- Composers for the Marathi stage and light music: Govindrao Tembe, Keshavrao Bhole, Master Krishnarao, Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Shrinivas Khale, Vasant Prabhu, Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
- Lyricists: G. D. Madgulkar, P. Savlaram, Shanta Shelke, Mangesh Padgaonkar, Suresh Bhat (a leading Marathi ghazal poet), Kusumagraj.
- Performers: Bal Gandharva and Dinanath Mangeshkar in natya sangeet; Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Suman Kalyanpur in playback and bhavgeet; Vasantrao Deshpande, Ramdas Kamat, Asha Khadilkar and Arun Date in concert light music; Bhimsen Joshi and Jitendra Abhisheki in abhang and bhajan.
Stylistic traditions
- The Balgandharva stage tradition: high-register delivery, clear diction, dramatic gesture built into the melody.
- The khayal-trained stream: Abhisheki's abhangs and natya sangeet carry ornamental depth drawn from khayal training.
- The bhavgeet stream: melody written to serve the poem, keherwa or dadra base, restrained ornament, microphone-scale dynamics.
Worked example
Asked to compare two bhavgeet composers, do not rank them. Describe method: one writes melody first around the metre of the poem, keeping the tune singable and the words clear; another treats the poem's image as a raga cue, so the antara moves into a related raga colour. Evidence must be musical - phrase shape, tempo, ornament density, treatment of sam.
Traps
Crediting the singer with composition; giving a lyricist's name as composer; describing style in adjectives ('soulful', 'melodious') with no musical evidence; mixing film and stage attributions.