Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
This is a most hilarious story once told by Sri Brajendra Mohan Moitra, father of Pandit Radhika Mohan Moitra, who was fondly known as ‘Buro Dadu’ or ‘Bhuro Dadu’ for his remarkable tummy. It was a lovely memory shared by a father about his legendary son.
Brajendra Mohan Moitra, Zaminder of Rajshahi estate was a person with strict principles. It was that era when smoking hookah, bidi in tender age was not a very big taboo. But Brajendra Mohan had set strict discipline for his children that made impossible for Radhu Babu to get any bidi or cigarette during his high school days. So he met the tobacco supplier of their estate and ordered him to make a special type of bidi for the students which would be very short in length so that the students could easily enjoy a whole bidi in two to three puffs between the class periods. The tobacco supplier became very confuse and afraid as he could not ignore the order of the elder son of a Zaminder. He asked Radhu Babu what would be the name of that special bidi. Radhika Mohan suggested as the bidi was particularly made for students then it should be named as‘Student quality bidi’. Thus the bidi came into existence and within a few days it became hugely popular among the High school students throughout Rajshahi.
One day Radhu babu was caught red handed by his Head master Gostho babu while smoking in a leisure mood sitting on a branch of a tree. He became enraged after finding his student in that state and ordered him to get down from the tree. Being a very mischievous in nature, Radhu babu told his Head master that he would prefer to get down after smoking as it was inevitable that he would be beaten at any circumstances. In a furious state Gosthobabu went to Brajendra Mohan Moitra to complain against Radhu babu. Hearing about Radhubabu’s deed, Brajendra Mohan Moitra got fumed and called Radhika Mohan for interrogation but as usual he was not found anywhere in the house. Meanwhile Bhagawan babu who used to know his whereabouts, brought him from the bank of the river by pulling his ear and present him in front of his father and head master. But it was Radhu babu’s luck that his Grandmother came in between three angry persons, scold them for their mistreatment towards a young lad and rescue him.
Paraphrased by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, RabindraBharati University
Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Jnanendra Prakash Goswami, Paresh Chandra Bhattacharjee, Fayyaz Khan, Megaphone, Programme Director, 1932-38, Asit Baran, Clerk cum Tabaljee, Abhoy Pada Mallick,
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Jnanendra Prasad Goswami, 1934-38, Radhika Mohan Maitra, Suresh Chakraborty, Bhismadev, Vishmadev Chatterjee, Amiya Nath Sanyal, Deba Prasad Garg, Vishnupur, Mallick Bazar Telephone Exchange, Atta Hussein Khan, Fayyaz Khan, Rathin Chattopadhyay,
Kazi Nazrul Islam or that period which is 1935, 1936, 1940 that time. The work period of Jnanendra Prasad Goswami was before the year 1938. Means 1934 -1938 around that time. Also stating the reason that is around 1938 he had developed a feeling that he is not doing good music anymore. And if he wants to improve his music then he has to do it with God. In the manner, just joining hands in front of the people wearing shawl and silk Punjabi is not enough and nothing is happening in his life. This he said to Radha babu and Suresh babu, Suresh Chakraborty, both of them …..
Radha babu means here Radhika Mohan Moitra?
Radhika Mohan Moitra and Suresh Chakraborty ……
Which Suresh Chakraborty is this?
Suresh Chakraborty about whom I am saying, he is not the musicologist Suresh Chakraborty. He was the disciple of Viswadeb Chattopadhyay and Amionath Sanyal , Suresh Chakraborty. He went to these two people at Debiprasad Garg’s house , he did not enter the house – “ See, I don’t like to enter such houses and do music” and he started crying. He said , “ When did I sing in my life? I could not do music”.
After that in 1938 he said, “ I will not return to Kolkata anymore. I am moving to Bishnupur, I will stay there.” And everyone in that temple were members of the royal family of Bishnupur. He said,
“ I will stay there and sing to Radha Madhav .” He did not return anymore.
Where was the house of Debiprasad Garg?
The house of Debiprasad Garg was at the behest of Mallick bazaar. Now, it is the telephone exchange. Ata Hussain Kha was of same age at that time. And Faiyaaz Khan used to stay. Ata Hussain Khan and Radha babu then developed themselves as artists by taking training. At that time Rathin Chattopadhyay were good friends with Ata Hussain and Radha babu. They used to stay there at that time. He used to call Rathin babu his ‘son’ and he used to also call Ataa Hussain ‘son’ .
Who?
Ustad faiyaz Khan
Faiyaaz Khan sahab. His recording, helping voice everything were Rathin Chattopadhyay and Ata Hussain, both. And for tabla he would always say that Aye Bhattacharya played a lot with his name Jnanbabu, Nimai Bhattacharya’s father… so when this was said it was the year 1938. Then he had left and used tocome to Kolkata only once a year, where Bishnupur kings had a monument in Bagbazar, he used to sing in that house. In Gokul Chandra Mitra’s house. He used to sing in that place only on the day of Saraswati Puja and never came to Kolkata for the rest of the year. He died in 1945. And from 1938 – 1944, he used to come to Kolkata once a year during Saraswati Puja. Jnan babu was the director of Gramophone Company during that time.
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Kaji Nazrul Islam, record company, Jamiruddin Khan, HMV, Programme Director, 1930, Bhismadev, Vishmadev Chattopadhyay, Jamiruddin Khan, Radhika Mohan Maitra, Masid Khan, Mushtaq Ali Khan, Buik, Brojen Maitra, Haromoti Devi, Achchhan Maharaj, Thumri, Hathibagan Tol, Harmonium, sarod, Md. Amir Khan, 1934, Pahade, Kafi, Baithaks
This is the story of Kazi Nazrul Islam, who had returned just from First World War. He decided to work on something related to music. His guru Jamiruddin Khan was retiring from HMV and he wanted Nazrul to take his place as programme director. HMV had already produced some of his songs. It was in 1930s when Kazi Nazrul Islam joined HMV as a programme director.
Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra
Radhikamohan Maitra, the renowned Sarod player, Mustak Ali Khan, the famous sitar player, Vismadeb Chattopadhyay, the great Vocalist- they were all young and promising musicians. They used to roam around Calcutta. Keramatulla Khan just came to Calcutta and his father didn’t let him go with them. Radhubabu used to quarrel with Masid Khan to let his son go with the lot. But he wouldn’t let him. So, these people used to wander in a buick which Radhubabu’s father imported. He had a blue and a red coloured Buick which had an in-built radio. Sometimes when his father needed one they used the other one and crammed inside. They attended to many functions which featured music. They learnt the name of Harimoti Debi from Achhan Maharaj. He said that, she was young and he taught her Kathak Dance and she just consumed the style of Thumri from him. There was a two storied house near Hatibagan where Harimoti Debi used to sing. There was ticket of Rs. 2, 3, 4 and people had to pay that sum to listen to her. In one such programme Vismadeb Chattopadhyay played harmonium and it was recorded by the sheer enthusiasm of Kazi Nazrul Islam. The super heavy recording machine, the big gramophone cone was all set up in that room and two small discs were released. The songs of Harimoti Debi were recorded through his endeavour.
We see a famous Nazrul portrait with a Sarod, it belonged to Radhubabu. He insisted that it must be kept in the recording studio. Once he requested Amir Khan Saheb to record his music for posterity. But he didn’t agree, he said he didn’t believe in such things as it did not contain the music well. He was not ready to play anything without his instrument. So, Nazrul requested him to play with his disciple’s instrument. He agreed grudgingly and recorded two ragas. One Kafi and the other Pahari, and this was the only available record
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Radhika Mohan Moitra, 1935, Bhagawan Chandra Sen, Swami Vivekananda, Lalit Mohan Maitra, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Allahabad, 1937, Anokhelal, jaba, Dipali Nag.
In 1937, Radhika Mohan Moitra was twenty years old. Bhagaban Chandra Sen had passed away. Bhagaban Chandra Sen was his guru in pakhwaj, he had shielded him, taken him everywhere, and introduced him to other great musicians. This man had passed away. One thing has to be mentioned – Bhagaban Chandra was the disciple of Swami Vivekananda and had learnt both the Dhrupad and the pakhwaj from him. Bhagaban Chandra Sen was also the friend of Lalila Mohan Moitra, the grandfather of Radhu babu. He visisted their house in that connection. Radhu babu was plating at several programmes during this time. Sometimes, he’d sit down with UstadDabir Khan Sahib. This is how the days were passing. One day, a duet was organised with Allauddin Khan.
Ustad Dabir Khan
I had spoken about this with Ali Akbar Khan. He had saidm “I didn’t play then. I used to play with father because I was still learning. When Radhuda and father sat with the surshringar in our house, I didn’t understand much because I was so young.
So the duet took place during this time.
Was this the duet performed in Allahabad?
Yes. But I am saying this because he called this his fourth award.
Three people performed together in Allahabad in 1937 – the twenty-year old Radhika Mohan Moitra, Allauddin Khan, and Anokhe Lal Mishra on the tabla. It was a sarod duet. At one stage of the duet, Allauddin Khan put his instrument down and said, “The sarod can’t be played after this. You are playing in such a way, I cannot continue! I leave my javva to you.” Then Radhu babu said, “You are older than my father. Both of us should play.” Both of them played after that, but the javva stayed with him as his fourth award.
After this event, Allauddin Khan always used the formal address with Radhu babu. Once Radhu babu got desparate and said, “You are older than my father! Please don’t address me like this.” Then Allauddin Khan sahib replied, “Listen, I have to revere the energy that resides within you. That is what I do.”
Deepali Nag was witness to this. Allauddin Khan was in the ausience at her house when he played the Bageshree. He had said, “The Bageshree can be played like this?” He said to Deepali Nag, “I’ve never heard bageshree played like this. Will you hear me play? Will you hear me play?” Deepali Nag said to me, “I had never heard an artiste, mesmerised by the performance of another, asking another artiste to hear their performance. And I had never heard such a rendition of the Bageshree either.
This is something Deepali Nag said to us in her interview.
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Surshringar, Vishnupur gharana, Nrishinha Prasad Mukhopadhyay, Pramathanath Bandyopadhyay, Veen, Surabab, Bhowanipur, Wajed Ali Shah, Kashim Ali Khan, 1924, Bhimpalashree, Madh Jor, Nasiruddin Khan.
Pandit Radhika Mohan Moitra’s three unique Surshringars and their cultivation was itself a story of that era. His first surshringar was the common one with broad plate and big gourd which he usually played with Ustad Ali Akbar khan. And the other two were designed by him by intermixing different rare instruments. That was supposed to be happened when he came across stalwart instrumentalists of that century specially the musicians of Vishnupur Gharana.
Radhika Mohan Moitra had close association with many noteworthy musicians. Therefore, many students of those noted musicians had come to Radhu Babu for Taalim. Among them, one promising student was Nrisingha Prosad Mukhopadhyay, Son-in-law of great instrumentalist of Vishnupur Gharana, Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay. Nrisingha Prosad used to play Surshringar and Sur-rabab; While Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay was expertise in instruments like Veena, Surbahar, Sitar, Surshringar and was also an efficient Dhrupad singer. He was very down-to-earth musician who always engrossed in music.
He used to live near the bank of river Ganges, not far away from the maternal house of Radhu Babu in Chakraberiya. Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay had taken rigorous taalim from several musicians like Kashim Ali Khan, Court musician of wajid ali shah and also from eminent Hindu instrument players.
Nabab Wajed Ali Shah
One incident relating Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay is worth mentioning here, though it was not happened in Kolkata. It was a historical event in the history of Indian music. In 1924, Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay got invitation in Ahmadabad Music Conference. Before his performance there, all the musicians attended the Conference came to an inference that Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay would perform any composition from Jatra which was much vogue in Bengal at that time. But with great astonishment, Pramatha Nath took five long hours rendering Alap and Madh Jod in Bhimpalashi and after that he modestly announce if the listeners were interested to listen further, he would definitely play the next following day. Stalwart musicians of different Gharanas like Nasiruddin Khan Dagar, Tansen Pande were amazed and sway away with the performance. After that mind blowing performance, several students started coming from outside Bengal especially from Pune to take lessons from Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay was fascinated with the knowledge and playing techniques of Radhika Mohan Moitra. So he handed over his favourite disciple and Son-in-law Nrisingha Prosad Mukhopadhyay to Radhu Babu for taalim. He was then 96 years old. Radhu Babu was a devoted listener of Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay from his early life. Therefore, he took the responsibility very seriously to train Nrisingha Prosad after the death of Pramatha Nath Bandyapadhyay. Radhu Babu was very meticulous on his teaching process. He himself started practicing all three types of Surshringar, so that Nrisingha Prosad Mukhopadhyay would receive the best taalim. Samarendra Nath Shikdar had recorded many compositions of Nrisingha Prosad Mukhopadhyay in all India Radio but all of them were in wire tape recording, so none of them can be restored in present days.
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Radhika Mohan Maitra, Dhruva Tara Joshi, train, Shakh, Sadiq Ali Khan, Surshringar, Lucknow, Veena, Chakraberia, Bhowanipur, 56 Chakraberia Road, Surshringar, Veen, Mohan Veena, 1943, Gopal Sharma, Kanailal, Rajab Ali Khan,
This is a story about how Pandit Radhika Mohan Moitra, the eminent maestro, created the Mohan Veena. Looking at the time frame I take it that he was at the second phase of musical career. After demise of his Guru Radhika Mohan became very busy with his music concerts. One could see his personal Salon Train waiting at the tourist platform of different states. During this phase he visited different Royal Courts of Lucknow, Alwar, Rampur, Jaipur, Kolhapur, Ahmadabad and others.
Meanwhile, Dhruva Tara Joshi, the great musician of Agra Gharana was on All India Radio, Lucknow. He was working on Sakh group of ragas i.e. Deo-Sakh, Laccha Sakh, Bhav Shah and Shakh with four different artists. Among these four Sakhs, one was performed by the legendary Ustad Sadik Ali Khan in Veena. Radhika Mohan Moitra with his Sursringer was very popular and regular on Baithaks. On hearing him in a Baithak, Sadik Ali conveyed his interest to perform with Moitraji. Dhruba Tara Joshi liked the idea and decided to organise a jugalbandi of Veena and Sursringer. The performance happened twice; one in All India Radio as the continuation of that programme and other one at Joshiji’s Lucknow residence. Great musicians throughout India came to attend that extraordinary Jugalbandi. They appreciated the effort that Dhruba Tara Joshi had taken and also very keenly suggested another programme to be performed in Kolkata at a very large scale. They asked for Pathuriyaghata Rajbari or the Shobha Bazar Rajbari of Raja Nabakrishna Deb. But it was finally happened at 56 Cakraberiya Road at the maternal house of Radhika Mohan Moitra. It was a very simple Baithak. Radhu Babu expressed his enormous happiness after the concert, personally to Joshiji.
Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra with his Mohan Veena
Radhika Mohan Moitra, after the third duet recital with Sadiq Ali, somewhere felt the need of an instrument where he could get a deeper tone like Sursringer and Veena with faster fingering style like Sarod. It was 1943. He came up with an idea and design and handed it to Gopal Sharma. This was how Mohan Veena was born. The measurement of Mohan Veena remained the same as his Sarod. He added a small bridge, a type of bridge that was in common use for sitar Tarab strings. The shop of Gopal Sharma, the instrument maker, was on the opposite of RabindraBharati University. Radhu Babu often visited his shop during the instrument making. Next to Sharmaji’s shop, there was famous Kanai Lal& Sons. Stalwart musicians of that era, Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan, Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, Ustad Enayet Khan were the regular visitors of that shop.
Paraphrased by Dr. Suranjita Paul, Research Fellow
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Radhika Mohan Maitra, Dabir Khan, Dhrupad, Veen, Surshringar, Rampur, Bhupen Ghosh, Pathuriaghata Rajbari, 1936, Abdullah Khan, jaba,
Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta
Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags
Radhika Mohan Maitra, award, 1934, Ameer Khan, Raja Naba Krishna, Bhagawan Chandra Sen, Pakhawaj, Kaunsi Kanhada, Nayaki Kanhada, Adana-Bahar, jaba.
The next incident is about Radhika Mogan Moitra’s upbringing, or in his lamguage, the time he received awards.
In the beginning of 1934, the residents of Rajah Nabakrishna’s house requested Amir Khan Sahib to play at their home. They said, “You have played along with your disciple ar Rajshahi and some other places, please perform at our house as well.” The performance began at 10pm. No one was playing the table, the pakhwaj was played by Bhagaban Chandra Sen. He was Radhu babu’s guru. The first piece was Kaushi Kanara, which was the ustad’s pick; the second piece was Nayeki Kanara, which was requested by the students.
Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra
It was quite late in the night. He had played two gats. It was almost 3 in the morning. Then the master and the disciple began to play Arana Bahar, which was the ustad’s favourite. In the alaap, Amir Khan handed his jabaa to his student, who had tears in his eyes. Amir Khan said, “Now I don’t have to worry about how the sarod will be played in India. He will finish the performance today.” Then there was the jhala, the jor, Radhu babu finished the performance with a fast ‘madhya-lay’ on the arana pakhwaj. When he was bending down to touch his master’s feet, he was still holding onto that – that was his award. After a few days, Amir Khan sahib passed away, and that same year, Enayet Khan sahib passed away as well.
