| 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 | 1980’s, Pakhawaj, Accompanist, Rajiv Lochan Dey, Tarak Chand Boral, Bitthal Das Gujrathi, Satya Kinkar Bandopadhyay, Sonagachi, Horimoti, Gramaphone Records, Khayal, Thumri, Dhrupad, Bijoy Nandi,Dani Babu, Satya Kinkar Bandopadhyay, Indubala |
| Language | English |
Sri Rantideb Maitra speaks :
Text Version:
In the late 1980’s there was a crisis of good pakhawaj players in Calcutta. Rajibbabu had died. Tarak Chand Boral, he was paralyzed. Bitthal Das Gujrati was becoming quite old and he will never reach out to students of Dhrupad to accompany them in the houses. So it was a very very dicey situation. Now my wife, you know was a Dhrupad singer and she learnt under Satya Kinkar babu…Sangeetacharya Satya Kinkar Bandyopadhyay and she really wanted you know to keep alive the tradition and so practiced those Dhrupad. But unfortunately she had to practice with Tabla players. And it was my duty. And she used to regularly reprimand me that –‘you are supposed to be a music lover. But you can’t find a simple Pakhawaj player for me in Calcutta’?
I said that, ‘unfortunately Pakhawaj players are not available in Lake Market, Southern Market even New Market. So where will I get it?
– No no no, I mean no joking. If you can’t bring me a Pakhawaj player within this month I’ll stop singing Dhrupad. I’ll sing only Khyal.
I loved Dhrupad too much. I didn’t want to, you know, my wife to give up Dhrupad singing. So I was getting very desperate. Somebody told me that the best place; the only place may be go to Sonagachi because there the famous Harimoti was there.
Horimoti was a great singer. You must have heard about her. Horimoti had several gramophone records may be hundreds of gramophone records. Although most of the records were you know light songs, but her Khyal records, her Thumri records and her Dhrupad records are absolutely…you should be preserved in any archives. She was such a great singer. She was in the center of Sonagachi and she was dead at the point of time of course. So who is to accompany Horimoti? He is alive. So that was only clue, a Pakhawaj player who used to accompany Horimoti, stayed somewhere near Sonagachi or in Sonagachi. That was the only clue. So I had to go to Sonagachi and then mostly those were Dalals you know Pimps. So I was asking one Pimp after the other –‘look I want, you know, a Pakhawaj…you know what is Pakhawaj? I drew a Pakhawaj with a pencil….this is Pakhawaj and it played like this. Do you know of a person?
– Dholak?
– No, no, no, not Dholak…Pakhawaj. It is like this, you know.
– Haan, Dholakbajaye ache. KintuPakhawaj? ….aeiekebol to? Okebol to? (Yes, someone is there plays Dholak, but Pakhawaj? Listen…you ask him or someone other…)
So luckily near Sonagachi there was one Tanpura Harmonium shop still. I don’t think it is still there but at that time it was there. So they took me to the Tanpura Harmonium shop. I thought this must be the place. They will know it definitely. So I said that you know…apnaderekhane …do you know any Pakhawaj player who plays Pakhawaj ,Tabla?
– O ekjon e ache….there is only one. His name is Bijoy Nandi. So it was like something blessing from the heaven. I said that -‘where do I find him’?
– He just stays here. Wait here.
I was waiting. After ten to fifteen minutes he got a person. He is very simple type of person. He is Bijoy Nandi.
– A re apni Bijoybabu…namaskar…namaskar. (Oh…you are Bijoybabu. My heartily greetings…). Do you play pakhawaj?
He said that- ‘oh….pakhawaj! Where are those singers? With whom will I play Pakhawaj? Those were the days you know. Great Ustads…Danibabu…this babu…that babu…Horimoti. Is there any singer fit I have to accompany now?
I said –‘My wife is a disciple of Satyakinkar.
– Oh Satyakinkar …Ok… Ok…
– will you be kind enough to come to my house and accompany her once in a week or twice in a week?
– Where is your house? Then he thought …I said that what will be your fees? He said meager sixty rupees or something. I immediately agreed.
– Was it per class or for a month?
– Per class.
So I agreed. Then first day I took him in my car and got him in my flat. He started playing Pakhawaj. He was good but he was out of practice. But he was a khandani Pakhawaj player no doubt about that. We understood that and then he started narrating stories about most the gramophone records of Indubala. He was accompanist. I thought Oh my god what a luck…I mean I was playing one after another Indubala’s records…and he said ‘this is my playing…this is my playing’. The person who accompanies Indubala must be somebody you know. He narrated me lot of stories about Indubala, about Horimoti and those singer of that point of time.
Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Picture Courtesy: Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqg0kmmRR9M
https://www.saregama.com/artist/indubala-devi_2838/songs
Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.