Cage's friend, Gita Sarabhai passes away

Vikram's sister, Cage's friend, the musical Gita Sarabhai passes away

Kannan Somasundaram, TNN Mar 12, 2011, 01.33am IST

AHMEDABAD: When Gita Sarabhai passed away on Friday, Gujarat lost a musician who helped italicise an important part of world music with Indian intuitions.

Sarabhai, one of the first woman pakhavaj players – if not the first woman exponent of that daunting percussion instrument – will be remembered as a magnanimous patron of music, and as a well-regarded musician. In the latter role, she helped John Cage, the American avant-garde guru of the 20th century, make sense of Indian music's spiritual enchantments.

Sarabhai, Dr Vikram Sarabhai's younger sister, was 89 — yet her devotion to music was as fervent as it was 70 years ago, when she introduced stalwarts such as Govindrao Burhanpurkar, a pakhavaj legend, to Ahmedabad.

"Not only was Gitaben a knowledgeable music lover, but also an accomplished musician," said Manju Mehta, a celebrated sitarist, the wife of the late Pandit Nandan Mehta, and the force behind Saptak these days. "Gitaben had a valuable archive, with a collection of some rare recordings."

One of Sarabhai's most feted gifts was to bring together worthy young musicians and discerning rasikas. Her affection and admiration for promising exponents manifested itself during the Saptak music festival this year. "She called to say that she could not make it to my performance because she had not been keeping too well," said Viraj Amar, a distinguished custodian of Banaras gayaki in Ahmedabad. "She was not only a great music aficionado but a committed musician as well." Vivek Khadpekar, a music lover who knew Sarabhai, amplifies that contention. "Gita was sensitising young musicians to great opportunities as far back as the 1940s," Khadpekar said. "Her passing away represents a personal loss for me. She never hankered after fame."

Indeed, what Sarabhai wanted was the purity of sadhana, which she sought under her gurus Rasoolan Bai, a Banaras Gharana titan; and Anjanibai Malpekar, a Bhendibazar Gharana notable.

Sarabhai belonged to an era in which even icons like Kesarbai Kerkar – a tornado of temper and genius – relied on the hospitality of patrons. Today, musical divinities are showered with corporate offerings, and the patronage of refined individuals is on the wane. If tributes to Sarabhai alloy love with respect, it is because she pushed back the horizon of aspiration, at a time when the horizon itself was only an inchoate cultural frontline.