Making a singer out of a timber merchant

Nandi Duggal, a veteran who has worked with Kishore Kumar and Manna De, uses decades of voice research and German software to tutor singing aspirants, from IAS officers to businessmen, in seven days flat. Singing is not a talent, it's an acquired skill, says the wizard determined to seal the schism between born and bathroom singers. Does that make the guru-shishya parampara an outdated tradition?

A modest recording studio opposite Wadala station has been the seat of groundbreaking research for the last three decades. Its chief resident, Nandi Duggal, is hardly the prototype of a whimsical scientist. Good humoured even at 79, he can break into a song just as easily as he can recount a day back in 1976 when legendary playback singer Kishore Kumar married actress Yogita Bali in his home a few block away. Duggal's experiments in musical training are a result of years of research and experience in the Hindi film industry, and could well be what aspiring singers who are short on time but big on dreams, have been hoping for.

The veteran, who has worked with stalwarts like Naushad, Mohammed Rafi and Manna De, and has been at the helm of close to 2,300 shows across India and the West, is steering an express seven-day training programme that takes the help of digital technology and simple breathing exercises to get aspiring singers to hit the right notes.

The training takes no more than a week at Showbiz Enterprises and Studio, set up in 1989. First, the singer is made to record four songs selected on the basis of the quality of his voice. The tracks, usually retro soulful numbers originally sung by Mukesh or Rafi, are then replayed on a digital system to allow the aspirant to comprehend his strengths and limitations. At the centre of Duggal's experiment lies a software developed by Steinberg, a German firm, that offers a visual voice wave in digital format. The entire set-up costs close to Rs 20 lakh.

"Technology comes into play. Visual displays indicate the desired pitch and tone to be achieved. It's like a teacher evaluating a student's singing by listening to his voice," says Duggal, matter-of-factly. The upside, Duggal argues, is that while a guru may find it difficult to convey verbally, the pitch he desires, a digital chart is a user-friendly and visual tool to help the amateur singer see and comprehend areas he must improve on.
The same numbers are re-recorded over and over again till the aspirant is aware of the glitches he needs to works on, while monitoring his own progress. The voice is then evaluated by trained ears, including those of seasoned sound engineers and Duggal himself before breathing techniques, change in posture and alignment of the spine are zeroed in on to achieve desired results in subsequent recordings.

Duggal's novel system of learning stands on the belief that singing is a skill, not a talent. We humans use only a fraction of our breath when we speak. A small amount of the same is pumped via the lungs to vibrate the vocal chords, producing sound. Our mouths and tongue shape sound waves as we pronounce vowels and consonants.
When we sing, the energy running through our body is amplified. We take deeper breaths, lengthen the words and notes. We use variations in pitch, and our volume dips and rises. The desire to communicate intensifies.
"The human body has been designed to sing. All you need is an open mind and training," says Duggal, who gets a speckled bunch of students, from glamour industry aspirants to IAS officers, and even timber merchants.

Each batch includes six students, and everyone walks away with a recorded CD. The week-long training costs Rs 6,000, but Duggal is known to act like the soft-hearted uncle he looks like. Several students have walked out clutching a CD with a token contribution ofu00a0 Rs 450. It's perhaps a decision coloured by an experience dating back to the 1950s when as a young boy, Duggal earned no more than three rupees a month. The son of an administrative officer with the Indian Air Force who was transferred to Lahore barely two months before the Partition, he and his family fled Pakistan with a handful of belongings.
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The music bug bit him early, and it was KL Saigal's songs and the poetry of a little known Urdu poet from Bengal, Fayyaz Hashmi, that encouraged him to take up music and train under Pandit Krishnji of the Jaipur Gharana. Back home in Meerut, he quit medicine and boarded a train to Mumbai, where he worked as assistant cameraman at Kalina's Chandu Studios. Unable to make do with his paltry earnings, he was forced to turn taxi driver until a chance meeting with singer and actor Talat Mehmood changed his destiny.

"There was a time when I didn't know where my next meal would come from. One thing led to another and I met a financier who liked my idea of a musical tour of Africa. Talat was the only one with flight tickets. The other six musicians, including India's first electric guitarist Van Shipley, and I, took a ship. We performed at 45 shows in three months; all houseful." It took Duggal two years to convince playback singer Kishore Kumar, who he describes as a "mad genius", to perform at a show in the West Indies. "Once convinced, Kishore was so enthusiastic, he would arrive three hours before reporting time."

Just like the late maverick would've approved of Duggal's experiments, some of today's most famous names in playback singing, including Kavita Krishnamurti, are excited at the possibilities his experiment offers. "What Duggal is doing is fantastic. Talented youngsters now have a chance to figure if they have a mike-friendly voice. Singing in a room is different from singing in a studio. Besides, Duggal has worked with greats like Kishore Kumar and Manna De, and has a refined ear for music. It's an outcome of his personal quest into the mysteries of what goes into making singing effective," she says.

While Duggal agrees that a machine can't vie for the position that a guru holds in India's classical music tradition, not everyone has the luxury of time and finances for years of riyaaz. Reluctant to let out names, he says it's not just amateurs but established artists too who drop by for self-evaluation. "Some professionally-trained artists, due to advancing age and lack of riyaaz, are unable to recreate the magic of the past. Some wish to drop a singing habit they may have picked up over the years."

Music composer Ajay Bhatia, who has been associated with Duggal's experiments for 30 years, and has over 300 jingles to his credit, says breathing techniques along with pitch and rhythm correction are essential in making a professional singer, and Duggal, himself a trained classical singer, can offer a fountain of guidance.
Bhatia has been assisting Duggal since he was 13 years.

"Some of the great singers of today respect him (Duggal) for what he has achieved. They often approach him for professional help, and that is quite humbling. Some of today's famous names like Kunal Ganjawala, Shaan and Saagarika, and Suraj Jagan, have all started their careers right here in this studio."

Musical greats on Duggal's innovation

Bhupinder Singh, Ghazal singer
Nothing can replace the old tradition of the guru-shishya parampara. But short courses are a blessing to identify natural talent. Finally, it can be honed with proper guidance in the traditional way. Duggal, of course, is a musical wizard, and capable of anything.

kailash kher, singer
It is wrong to judge someone's creation and years of research without experiencing first-hand what the technology is all about. In our fast-paced world, anything can work, provided a student has the ability to grasp and pick up a skill.

Shaan, playback singer
What is the use of technology if we don't utilise it? I remember cutting my first demo album with Duggal. In the current scenario, not only amateurs but professional singers who lose touch with long hours of riyaaz owing to hectic schedules, can also benefit from a crash course like his.

Smitesh Joshi, Chief Engineer (Sound)
I appreciate the old-school training and music that was recorded without the aid of digital technology. But times have changed, so has taste in music. Having individuals like Duggal, who are able to blend technology with years of old-school experience, is a blessing.