| Told by | Sri Rantideb Maitra |
| Obtained by | Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee |
| Date | 4th March,2017 |
| Place | Sri Rantideb Maitra’s Residence, Madur Daho, Kolkata |
| About the speaker | Renowned Music Collector and Music Connoisseur |
| Tags | Bindhyabasini Devi, Surendranath Bandopadhyay, Gopeswar Bandopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Surbahar, Banjo, Esraj, Dhrupad, khayal, Tappa, Bishnupur, Chetla, Early 1990’s, Pakhawaj, Accompanist, Rajiv Lochan Dey, Haradhan Pal, Nidan Bandhu Bandyopadhyay, Vocalist, Bamacharan Bandyopadhyay, Tabla, Lakkhan Bhattacharya, Lakshan, Ravi Shankar, Barna Maitra, Bramha taal, Pancham Sawari, Bol, Theka, Benaras, Jaipur, Punjab, Gharana |
| Language | English, [little bit of Hindi and Bengali] |
Sri Rantideb Maitra speaks :
Verbatim:
This is about Bindhyabasini Devi, now Bindhyabasini Devi was the daughter of Sangeet Ratnakar Surendranath Bandopadhyay, Surendranath Bandopadhyay was the younger brother of Shri Gopeswar Bandopadhyay,
He himself was a versatile musician, and one of the earliest ‘Swarlipikar’of Tagore songs. He was a ustad of Surbahar, Banjo, himself was a dhrupad singer et etc. Now Bindhyabasini also stayed with her father almost through out her life because she was widowed when she was a child and she learnt everything from her father, Surbahar, Esraj, Banjo, Dhrupad, Khayal everything, Tappa and she was very very, you know, a ‘teji’ lady, teji means what, full of that fiery power, and I have met her several times in Bishnupur, but once a documentary film was made on her life, by some film maker, and she was staying in Chetla in Calcutta. That’s in early 90’S, and I used to visit her, listen to her songs. But unfortunately at that time, I mean there were very few pakhawaj player at Calcutta, at lest I didn’t know many of them and those Pakhawaj players were not up to the mark, Rajib babu was not there at that point of time, Haradhan Pal was dead, and I mean the great Pakhawaj players were not there. There were bunch of young Pakhawaj players, but knowing Bindhyabasini Devi’s temper, I thought that it’s better not to expose the younger Pakhawaj players with Bindhyabasini Devi. So I was talking to her that before you leave Calcutta there must be a recital, then she said that ‘yes I can sing, but who will play with me?”. I said that I will definitely catch hold of somebody, so let us fix Tuesday evening? I had to have two three days to search for a Pakhawaj player. So that Tuesday evening was fixed for her to sing, in the same house in Chetla, So I was searching, here I don’t want to give the name of some senior Pakhawaj player, I approached him, He said, Oh, he heard the name he was suppose to accompany, then he said o ho I have a class on tht particular day, Then I said please give me some name of your pupils, He gave two or three names and I approached them, but when they heard that there is Ustad from Bishnupur, then they didn’t want to expose them. So I was feeling so frustrated, and that Tuesday duly came and I came back early from the office and I felt so bad, I mean the entire city of Calcutta cant show face to Bindhyabasini Devi, It’s such a big city which doesn’t have a Pakhawaj player. Then one thought stuck me.
I thought that I know such a great Ustad, Nidan Bondhu Bandopadhyaya, but he is a vocalist, he is a Dhrupad singer, Khayal Singer, nephew of Bama Charan Bandopadhyay and he is Gharanadar, great artist, but Nidan Babu was a very good Tabla player, he is to accompany Lakkhan Bhattacharya, Ravi Shankar, a very good table player and I have seen a Pakhawaj in his room, sometimes he also practices Pakhawaj. But he was a Ustad, he knew everything. Sojust with a trepidation in my heart I went to Nidan Babu and said that there is a serious problem, he said what, what exactly has happened?is anybody ill?
I said no no, I narrated to him about Bindhyabasini Devi, I told him that the entire Calcutta has to hang there and it’s a shame if I can’t find a accompanist.
He said yes but what I am suppose to do? I agree but what I am suppose to do?
I said Guruji if you do not mind, can I request you one thing?
What?
I said will you play Pakhawaj with her, o myGod, such great Ustad he was and I am asking him to play Pakhawaj! But he used to really love me like his son, because my wife and my daugther both used to learn under him.
Then he said that – ‘Chup’(Hush), then he closed his door, I said that look yor request is such outrage that if any from my house even listen to your request, it will create lot of problems for you and for me as well.
I said but it’s a desperate situation.
He said I understand, what you do, you just tell my wife, your Mashima, that you are inviting me to your house and I’ll have dinner with you, and what you do is you don’t take my pakhawaj, You have a pakhawaj in your house, bara has a Pakhawaj, I said yes, you go back to your house, put the Pakhawaj in your trunk, and then come and pick me up as if I am going to have dinner with you, but you first tell your Mashima.
I told mashima I want Guruji to have dinner with us and she said yes, why not, why not?
Then I went back home, picked up the Pakhawaj and put the Pakhawaj in trunk, and I just went to his place to pick him up, Nidan Babu came and he went to Chetla, and there were lot of people, they can commemorate what had happened there. In chetla we went, I carried the Pakhawaj, I can’t expect Nidan Babu to carry the Pakhawaj, He was at least seventy four or seventy five years old at that point of time.
Bindhyabasini was eighty five or eighty six at that time. So the first question she asked me –‘Rontu, who is this boy?’ , He was seventy four or seventy five years old, I said no no he is the person who will play Pakhawaj with you.
She said –he,ll play Pakhawaj, he doesn’t look like a Pakhawaj player, ok “ki he’(hey) in Bengali, boso, seat down, do you know what is Brambhataal? Because you see I don’t sing Dhrupad in Choutaal or Dhamar, these are for my students, so I just you know, want to sing Brambhataal, Pancham Ki Sawari all these things, and I know these people from Calcutta,They never got a chance to play brambhataal on Pakhawaj, so I don’t want him to take so much trouble. Do you know Brambhataal, “
So Nidanbabu was so modest, he was trying to, I don’t know what has happened to him, he was pretending to be modest, what a great person he was, and he was pretending to be modest and said’ yes maa, I know Brambhataa’l and then she said that “Bol Batao brambhataal ka, theka batao”
Then Nidanbabu got slightly angry, and whenever he used to get angry he used to speak Hindi. Sure sign that he is getting angry. Then he said “ Mataji, char kisam ka brambhataal ka theka hota hay, Banaras mein ek hota tha, Jaipur mein aur ek hota tha, aur ek, usey sb bhul gaye, bahut punjab mein ek Dhrupad ka gharana hota tha, wahan pe bhi Bramhataal ka ek theka tha, aur aapki bishnupur mein brambhataal ki koi jaankari nehi hay”. So Bindhyabasini was then impressed and said “oh e anek jaane”( He knows quite a lot). He knows lot of things right, ok ok grab a seat, and then she sang and he played the Pakhawaj. Brambhataal, Pancham Ki Sawari and all these things. Later she asked his name and he answered Nidan, Ok “Nidan Nidan, tumi bhalo bajao chokra tomar habe, kolkatay akhono du ekjon ache jara jane tane ”( well played my boy, you will sine one day, there two or three people in Kolkata still now who can play, good).
Verbatim: Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Picture Courtesy: Google
Edited & Designed: Ms. Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.