Kirana Gharana: A different plane, another time.

Gangubai Hanagal
Originally uploaded by Gautam R S.

"My earliest memories of music are of running out of the house to listen to gramophone records in street corners. How I loved that music and tried to copy it!

My mother taught me the basics of sur, but the most important influence was my Guru, the late Sawai Gandharva. He would teach us one phrase or palta and not go to the next until we had mastered it. There were times when I would sit in a comer for hours, quite alone, just practising. Sometimes I would start crying out of frustration... but Guruji never gave up, such was his bhakti.

I believe in the gradual development and unfolding of the raga, an exposition so delicate that the listener should wait eagerly for the next phrase. My Guruji taught us to use surs like a miser parting with his money - a graceful, subtle movement so that the listener understood the importance of the placement of each note of the raga. I believe that listening is also an art, and that a discerning audience draws out the best from an artiste."

Gangubai Hanagal