In conversation with Dr. Rezwan Ali

Noted classical vocalist Dr. Rezwan Ali will perform in this year's “Celebrating Life Gala 2013”, to be held at Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka on October 4. Currently a Chhayanaut Guru, Dr. Rezwan Ali, with an ICCR Scholarship, went to MS University of Baroda, India where he completed both his Honours and Masters. Alongside, He took musical lessons from Pt. Narayan Rao Patwardhan of “Gwalior Gharana” for eight years and a “Jaipur-Agra Gharana” Pt. VR Athwale for six years. Later he moved to Gandharva Niketan, Mumbai, India where the artiste received tutelage from Dr. Arun Kashalkar of “Jaipur-Gwalior Gharana”.
Dr. Rezwan Ali's style of rendition has conspicuous influence of the strong sides including laya, chhanda, bolbaat, boltan and layakari of Gwalior Gharana.
Pt. Dhirendranath Chakrobarty of Magura baptized him in music. Later he took lesson from Pt. Chandiprasad Chatterjee [of Magura] and Ustad Abdul Bari Khan [of Dhaka].
“One can get untainted joy from music. The joy of melody is immense. I can mention a story in this regard: Once Baba Ustad Allauddin Khan invited four of his very close disciples –Ali Akbar Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pannalal Ghosh and Nikhil Bannerjee over to dinner. After dinner, Nikhil Banerjee told Baba to play the sitar. While playing, Ustad Allauddin Khan was crying and so were his disciples. Nikhil asked Baba why he was crying. The Ustad replied that he touched the apt tune of 'Behag' after 40 years, and the tears were of the ecstasy of reaching the ultimate of melody,” said Dr. Rezwan Ali.
Dr. Rezwan Ali thinks that Bangladesh has many inborn talents in classical music. Despite having many odds, classical vocalists and instrumentalists are ceaselessly fighting for an apt position and platform.
“No big progress has been marked in Bangladeshi classical music scenario over the last 40 years. The Shilpakala Academy is much less of an 'Academy'; students of classical music can hardly be found in classrooms. Artistes' honorariums are also very low compared to the neighbouring country,” mentioned the artiste.