acharyagoswamigokulotsavjimaharaj

Acharya Goswami Gokulotsavji Maharaj

Ustad Amir Khan's Impact on Other Artists

“When Goswamiji heard late Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, he felt that the ultimate presentation of singing is in this gayaki, by which the human soul is enchanted.

The gravity of Khan Saheb’s singing, the beautiful application of swaras and variety of miraculous tans, influenced Goswamiji to such an extent that his singing appeared to be true copy of vocalism of Khan Saheb. Soon he initiated originality in his singing, and now, in spite of being influenced by Ustad Amir Khan, his style has its own specialty. The originality of singing of Gokulotsavji depends on his alaps, expression of words and heart touching application of swaras. In his singing application of merukhand abounds and the image formed by his style of singing leaves clear and deep imprints on mind.”[i]

“It is these two traits, his stylistic tans and varying sargam patterns-which together with rubaidar tarana constitute the essentials of his gayaki. And it is these very features which closely identify his singing with these riveting and mystical gayaki of the late Amir Khan, who was well known for the use of similar characteristics.”[ii]

As has already been mentioned that Pt. Amarnath has also recognized Shri Gokulotsavji Maharaj as the follower of the gayaki of Indore gharana. Maharajji is a good vaggyekar [composer of music and lyric both] and he has composed many bandishes under the pen name of ‘Madhur Piya’. Without receiving any training from Ustad Amir Khan personally, simply by using audio recordings of Khan Saheb, the presentation of his gayaki after his death, is unique in itself. The specialties of gayaki of Maharajji are: bahlava, soot, boltan, meed, gamak, to present gamak tan rapidly with zarab, lahak, chhoot, sapat, well balanced tans in three octaves, sargam of merukhand and gamakdar tans, bal, pench, andolan, daat, khand tan [which also named as sakhand tan], neembat, firat, murchit and to present every joint jointlessly. In the gayaki of Maharajji, there are some specialties in addition to that of Ustad Amir Khan. Since sixties he has been performing on the stage. His broadcast on radio started in 1975. At present he is Special A Top Grade artist of Akashwani. Not only from Indore, but from other radio stations of Akashwani, his audio recordings are broadcast, e.g. Raipur, Mathura, Delhi, Delhi Urdu Service, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Sangli, Jalgaon, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar etc. His All India Programs are being broadcast by radio and television. His vocal recitals have been organized in USA, England, Denmark, Sweden, France and other European countries and also in Arab countries.