Associated to All India Radio, Kolkata. He presented several eye-opening discussions on Indian classical music. A poet, writer, and music connoisseur.
Tags
Mahajati Sadan ,1955-60, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mian Ki Todi, Gurjari Todi, Taan, Bandish, Tarapada Chakraborty, Halak Taan, Dhaibat, Meer, Gandhar, meend
In classical music circle a commonly used word is mood or mijaj. In Bengali, we use this word negatively, as someone having a bad mood but in music world it is connotative of his aesthetic sense and beauty of rendering his music. They have a humour of their own which cannot be perceived by common people but when they convert it into their music it became tangible and we can see their world a little.
Mahajati Sadan
I will tell you one such story. I cannot confirm the year, but we can say, 1955-60. Ustad Bade Ghulam ali Khan was performing in Mahajati Sadan. It was almost dawn and he was singing Gurjari Todi and he was a master in that raga. I can still hear his voice “bhor bhai tori bat kataka piya”. It was such a difficult Bandish. There is perhaps no one tossing the Bandish itself, except one. Pt. Tarapada Chakrabarty once sang us the difficult Bandish of “Mahmod Shah durbare Niyamat Khan diyat taan”. This song had a Halaak taan which creates waves of ocean in our heart. Now this song I was referring, Bade Ghulam Ali saab was creating the taana as a mountain stream in rain, coming down upon us in full force. He was creating magic through Gurjari Todi, he went to dhaibat from madhyam, suddenly a cow mooed out of nowhere and the whole magical mood was shattered. But here we are talking about a master and he suddenly changed his tone and through a meer he went from Dhaibat to Gandhar and somehow, he manages to mix his tone with that mooing sound. And the magic was recreated. Everyone cheered because the beauty remained unchanged.
Now I want to discuss something, in our classical musical texts it was said that every note was formed from some animal sound. But I believe it is a tendency in our culture to mark everything through a metaphor. I have recorded personally the different animal sounds to prove that. But it is not true. I have the recordings of cuckoo’s song; it goes from one note to another. Now in this case, gandhar was supposed to be the sound of a goat. Goat and cow are both herbivores, that much we can conclude but only a single sound cannot be identified as a note. You have to have a reference point to denote or identify a note. But anyway, Ghulam Ali Saab had that aesthetical knowledge and training to combine his voice that with the mooing and it was a delight to hear that ethereal music on that pre-dawn moment.
Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay, Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Date
28th September, 2016
Place
Tarashankar Sarani,Tala,Kolkata
About the speaker
Associated to All India Radio, Kolkata. He presented several eye-opening discussions on Indian classical music. A poet, writer, and music connoisseur.
Tags
Akashvani, Radio, Taan, Raag, Jog, Bandish, Baroaa, 1968, 1967, Latafat Hussain Khan, Agra Gharana, Faiyaz Khan, Bialayat Hussain Khan, Sarafat Hussain Khan, 1960, 1962, Behug, Mulatani, Kheyal, Kirana Gharana, Roshanara Begum, Gwalior Gharana, Bade Ghulam Ali, Narendranath Mitha, Shovona Debi, Nitai Bose, Mustaque Ali khan, Nirmal Guha Thakurata, Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Puriya, Tarapada Chakraborty, Halak Taan, Gamak, Meer, Meend, Boltaan, Dinkar Kaikini
Language
Bengali
Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay Speaks :
Text Version:
I first started to listen to classical music from All India Radio from 7:40 to 7:50 p.m. One day suddenly an ethereal voice hit me and his tana was like a tidal wave. he was singing raga Jog “sajana mora ghar aye”.
Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan
He was the best yogi in that raga, he was none other than Latafat Hussain Khan. Another raga was his fort as far as I can remember, raga Baroya, “prem baje mori payeliya” was the lyrics of the kheyal. It was in the year 1968 or 69. He was in the peak of his career then. The records though were earlier ones. His voice taught me the strength in rendering a raga. Some people criticise him for his rough and husky voice, but I think beauty lies not only in softness and sweetness but also in strong masculinity. I think the beauty of Himalaya is not ultimate but the Grand Canyon is also beautiful in its own way. The voice of Latafat Hussain Khan reminds me of the tough granites of Grand Canyon. It was a very typical trait of Agra gharana, it was in the singing of Faiyaz khan too. I know the staunch fans of Faiaz Khan would beg to differ but I think the roughness and strength were the beauty of these singers. Bilayat Hussain Khan was another name in this line which I want to mention. Sharafat Hussain Khan changed himself a little from the common Agra gharana traits, still the beauty of the learning remained the same. Sharafat Hussain Khan had a record which I first heard in 1960 or 62. It had raga Behag in one side and raga Multani in the other. Behug had the lyrics “hajarat ali tum ho mahabali”, a typical kheyal of Agra gharana and Multani had the lyrics like “hari eri ariri, elo durjan me kaha Kasur”. These two songs, sung at the age of twelve, had a sweet young voice yet it had the fire and speed that was amazing. Then Kirana gharana recorded the same ragas by a twelve-year-old, she was none other than majestic Roshnara Begum. Those days are over now, the battle between ghranas and gurus are past. It is unfortunate that we lost the traits of different gharanas. The strength of Agra gharana, the beauty of Himalaya in Gwaliyar Gharana, the beauty of rose garden in the voice of Ghulam Ali Khan are all mixed up now. Even the time of the ragas are not considered now-a-days.
I was first introduced with Latafat Hussain khan in the house of famous writer Narendranath Mitra. His wife Shovana aunty was a very good singer. Nitai Basu was there, he was a disciple of Mustaque Hussain Khan and he liked me a lot. Nirmal Guhathakurta was also there. Latafat Hussain khan was chatting with them in a friendly manner. It was in Mohan Kanan, the year was 1967-68. I was introduced casually with him, I was awestruck. I first perceived him as a very big man wearing a white coat and white churidar, his dark face was reddened by betel leaf. He laughed and chatted merrily with a weird grin. His chat was mixed with Urdu Shayri which I couldn’t followed well but everyone was effusive. This went on for a while, I asked him some questions, the mood was set and then he took the stage. He started with raga Puriya. I remembered the small record of Ustad Tarapada Chakraborty with raga Puriya. But it had the very different flavour, it was full of sweet and mellow tragic note, we know this sadness which Puriya brings with it. But the rendering of Latafat Hussain was unique, we are in an unknown territory, the tragedy, the misfortune brought out by him was like a princess prisoned in a casement and her heart-wrenching catastrophe singing her heart out. But it was not a she and the singer was not a paragon of beauty. But he created his magic in such a way, we were all mesmerised. When he finished his performance, I suddenly discovered he was not at all a big man, he had quite a simple stature but the greatness of his genius made him a giant for me. He then sang some more songs including raga Jog. His introductory tana was so strong that it seemed to pull the very soul of ones existence. It was called Halak taan, it was a signature of Agra gharana, so also gamak. Gamak was originally a meer but they mixed boltaan with it to extend its merit. It was quite a lost heritage now. Sharafat Hussain Khan and Dinkar kaikini were the last of them.
Residence of Pt. Manilal Nag, 13G Gobinda Mondal Lane, Kolkata 700002
About the speaker
Manilal Nag is a renowned sitar player and an exponent of the Bishnupur Gharana of Bengal. His sitar recitals have been featured in many National Programmes of Music & Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan since 1954. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards including Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 2001 and
Government of West Bengal’s Highest Civilian Award, Banga Bibhushan in 2015.
Pt. Manilal Nag Talks on His Musical Lineage and Some Tips on Riyaz
Our forefathers had their ancestral home in the town of Bishnupur and later on they settled in the town of Bankura. My grandfather Gobinda Chandra Nag lived in Bankura town only, where my father Gokul Nag was born. I am the fifth generation in my family where music began in an amateurish way since my great grandfather Nafarchandra Nag’s time. His son was Bauridas Nag. My grandfather was the son of Bauridas.
Bishnupur was then a great seat of music. I heard a story about Jadubhatta, who was singing Dhrupad when all activities in the town literally came to a halt. The court proceedings closed as everyone flocked to listen to Jadubhatta.
My father, as a little boy was playing sitar before an audience in Bankura, when his would-be guru Ram Prasanna Bandyopadhyay heard him. He was impressed and accepted my father as his disciple.
My father was always very very strict as a teacher. If I remember his day to day life I saw him immersed in music, in sitar playing, almost all the while. But when he taught me, he was very strict. As a child, I was naturally fond of playing. I used to run out of doors to play with my friends. My father caught hold of me by the ears and made me sit for riyaz.
He sat before me with the tabla. He himself played the tabla and put me to practice for 8 to 10 hours a day. If I ever asked him to show me some technique by the hand he used to insist me that I listen and try to imbibe the sound. “Listen and play, why should I point out?”, he rebuked.
I later on realized how this training of the ears had been a sort of boon for me. In my later years it was so true that I regularly listened to vocal music and imitated the expressions by exploring different techniques on the instrument.
When I am asked how my reputation in playing so singular a jhala came about, I don’t think that there was any special technique behind the practice. I played the 4 stroke Da chi chi chi in a regular tempo foe a long time, emphasizing the third syllable every time, da chi chi chi and so on.
When asked how I could play taans in so fast a tempo, and how it remained melodious all through, I just remember that I practiced a lot of paltas and meends for hours. Another thing, my father was very particular regarding my riwaz with the table. Unlike today when it is difficult to find a laydaar tabla player even once a week for practice, there were many table players in my younger days who simply came to practice with us. They were not renowned artists but they came with their love for music. Four tabla players a day, someone in the morning, another one in late morning, may be again in the afternoon and in the evening. And this went on for days without a break, you could say almost all the days in a year, so that the laya would just get ingrained in your reflex system. Tehais would pop up spontaneously without preparatory rehearsals before concerts. Such tabla players were there during my childhood and boyhood days in Uttarpara, where we lived before coming to our Bagbazar home.
In Bagbazar, Shankarda (Pandit Shankar Ghosh), Shyamalda (Pandit Shyamal Bose) used to come regularly at our home during those early years of my career. Then we used to practice at a stretch for three to four hours.
Paraphrased in English by Mita Nag
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Residence of Pt. Manilal Nag, 13G Gobinda Mondal Lane, Kolkata 700002
About the speaker
Manilal Nag is a renowned sitar player and an exponent of the Bishnupur Gharana of Bengal. His sitar recitals have been featured in many National Programmes of Music & Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan since 1954. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards including Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 2001 and
Government of West Bengal’s Highest Civilian Award, Banga Bibhushan in 2015.
Tags
Laya, accusations, frog, north Calcutta, fighting, abusing, Vilayet Khan, Rais Khan, knife, Tarun Sangeet Sammelan, Sanatan Mukherjee, Alla Rakha, Jog, Tarapada Chakraborty, Sunanda Patnaik, 1964, 1974
Language
Bengali
Pt. Manilal Nag speaks:
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Residence of Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay at Tarashankar Sarani, Tala, Kolkata
About the speaker
Associated to All India Radio, Kolkata. He presented several eye-opening discussions on Indian classical music. A poet, writer, and music connoisseur.
Tags
Nitai Bose, Mustaq Ali Khan, 1965, Arjun Shejwal, Pakhawaj, Akashbani, Rabindra Sadan, Ajodhya Prasad , Pratap Narayan Mitra, Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, Enayat Khan, Stretched Membrane Instrument, Frequency, Baya, Dhrupad
Language
Bengali
Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay Speaks :
Text Version:
Nitai Basu, the disciple of Ustad Mustaque Ali Khan, was a very learned, gentleman and his house was an abode of classical music performed by masters. He liked me a lot and came to visit me often. He didn’t like my way of comparing musical notes with mathematics yet we got along fine. It was in 1965 that I heard Arjun Sejwal’s solo Pakhwaj performance.
Pt. Ayodhya Prasad
I had heard Pandit Ayodhyaprasad and Pratap Narayan Mitra’s pakhawaj but it was quite another experience to hear Arjun Sejwal. Later I came in contact with Ustad Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, but it was another story. Anyway, I was a bit sceptical about solo performance of pakhawaj but it was an opportunity to watch this quite closely, so I went. Arjun Sejwal was not looked like an artist rather he had the physic of a wrestler. His wrist was mascular and strong. It was a tradition in classical music in our country that pakhwaj players must learn wrestling well because they had to carry almost 60 kg weight of their instrument. But his smile was beguiling; he was quite young then, 35 years maybe. The performance was was quite homely and simple. It all happened in a small room of Nitai Basu’s house. Here I first watched the astonishing job of putting whole wheat in a pakhwaj. Pakhwaj is an Indian instrument with stretched membrane loaded at the centre (if I may use the physics jargon). Pakhwaj had a very low tonal quality basically and a thick layer of whole wheat (atta) had to be used. When the left side of pakhwaj was being played it gives a very bass sound and it prepared the serious atmosphere for Dhrupad.
Pandit Arjun Shejwal
Arjun Sejwal played this difficult instrument so easily as if he was doing nothing. A smiling face and his hands flew with practised ease it was a feast to the eyes. The beauty of music is not only in listening but also in viewing. In our ancient script it was written about knowing the soul. Soul is omniscient, so how one can understand one’s soul. So, you should think about it, listen to it, view it and meditate it, the perfect mix of all the external experiences will lead you to know your soul. I think, Indian classical music is just like that.
Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
On Irfan Muhammad Khan
Irfan Md. Khan is an established Sarod Player. The scion of Lucknow Shahjanpur Gharana Sarod player. He represents the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana which has produced eminent Sarod players like Ustad Enayet Khan (1790-1883), Ustad Asadullah Khan Kaukab (1852-1919), Ustad Karamatuilah Khan (1848-1933), Prof. Sakhawat Hussain Khan (1875-1955), also his illustrious father Ustad Umar Khan (1916-1982) and his uncle Ustad Ilyas Khan (1924-1989) the famous Sitar player of Lucknow.
Key-words
Ali Akbar Khan, Umar Khan, Jodhpur, Dagar, daraspiya, inspiration, shagird, R.D. Burman, Joydev, Roshan of Bombay, Begum Jabbar, Palm Avenue, morning concert, 1960, Bilaskhani todi, Dover lane, 1970, Puriya
Language
Hindi
Irfan Muhammad Khan speaks:
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
On Irfan Muhammad Khan
Irfan Md. Khan is an established Sarod Player. The scion of Lucknow Shahjanpur Gharana Sarod player. He represents the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana which has produced eminent Sarod players like Ustad Enayet Khan (1790-1883), Ustad Asadullah Khan Kaukab (1852-1919), Ustad Karamatuilah Khan (1848-1933), Prof. Sakhawat Hussain Khan (1875-1955), also his illustrious father Ustad Umar Khan (1916-1982) and his uncle Ustad Ilyas Khan (1924-1989) the famous Sitar player of Lucknow.
Key-words
Waliullah Khan, waliulla, Manjh Khamaj, Majh, Metiaburuj, Nawab of Jalpaiguri, 1840, Begum Jabbar, Umar Khan, Roxy Cinema, Basushree, Sree Cinema Hall, Basusree, 1953, Marris College, Illiyas Khan.
Language
Hindi
Irfan Muhammad Khan speaks:
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
On Irfan Muhammad Khan
Irfan Md. Khan is an established Sarod Player. The scion of Lucknow Shahjanpur Gharana Sarod player. He represents the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana which has produced eminent Sarod players like Ustad Enayet Khan (1790-1883), Ustad Asadullah Khan Kaukab (1852-1919), Ustad Karamatuilah Khan (1848-1933), Prof. Sakhawat Hussain Khan (1875-1955), also his illustrious father Ustad Umar Khan (1916-1982) and his uncle Ustad Ilyas Khan (1924-1989) the famous Sitar player of Lucknow.
Key-words
Queen Victoria, coronation, silver jubilee, fast gat, flat plate, Yusuf Ali Khan, sitariya, Lucknow, Motilal Nehru, 1887, saw blade
Language
Hindi [also include some English and Bengali sentences.]
Irfan Muhammad Khan speaks:
Paraphrase:
It was Queen Victoria’s silver jubilee coronation in 1887. Ustad Enayat khan was invited to perform on that occasion. In old days only Drut Gats could be performed in Sarod because of their structural build up. Even on those days, in Sarod, there used to be flat plate instead of round metal plate which attached by placing a normal saw blade. Therefore those were very difficult to open up. Ustad Enayat Khan was famous for his fast fingering specially his right hand work was fabulous. The listeners were so enchanted with the enigmatic performance that they could not believe that a person could perform in such a fast speed. They thought that the Sarod might have some mechanism which helped the player to play faster. So they asked for a screw driver in order to open up the plate. But as soon as they open the plate they found hollow inside. Then they could feel the aesthetic rendition of the Sarod maestro.
In those days some eminent musicians were also very proficient instrument makers. Ustad Yusuf khan of Lucknow, the Sitar maestro, used to shape his own instrument. His father Ustad Bahadur Hussain Khan, hugely known as Bhondu Ustad, was an owner of instrument manufacturing shop. Yusuf Khan was so perfectionist that if he noticed any musical note (Swara) sound slightly closed, he started Jawari even before the programme. For this he used to get scold from Shakhawat Hussain Khan, the Grandfather of Irfan Muhammad Khan, speaker of this beautiful story.
Paraphrased by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
