Jyoti Goho is a well-known Harmonium player of Indian Classical Music. He is a Musician Faculty in ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata.
Tags
Station Director, All India Radio, A.T.Kanan, Khamaj Thumri, Begum Aktar, Dipali Nag, Sangeet Research Academy, Recording, Studio, Thumri, Kheyal, Amir Khan, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Rewaz, Talim, Bakul Bagan, Bhawanipur, 1950
A. Throughout this recording Jyoti Goho has referred to his Guru Pandit A.T. Kanan as Guruji. B. This happened after the whole night concert at Mahajati Sadan in 1950. – Editor
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University
Sri Rantideb Maitra’s Residence, Madur Daho, Kolkata
About the speaker
Renowned Music Collector and Music Connoisseur
Tags
Ravi Shankar, Dhrupad, Chowtaal Chautaal, Tansen, Trina Purohit, Sharbari Roy Chowdhury, Robin Pal, Standing Note, Ballygunj, Satya Kinkar Bandyopadhyay, Gharana, Bishnupur, Talim, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Khokababu, Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, Dabir Khan, Khandar Baan, Hari Narayan Mukhopadhyay, Benaras, 1998,1999
Language
English
Sri Rantideb Maitra speaks :
Text Version:
Raviji sitting in front of a portrait of Guru Allauddin.
This is about Pandit Ravi Shankar’s singing, it’s outstanding. So I first heard Ravi Shankar singing a full-fledged Dhrupad, full-fledged you know, Chowtal with a Pakhawaj sangat…num tum, alap full-fledged dhrupad sang Tansen Dhrupad songs, and that was Trina Purohit’s house. She had lot of tape recordings from Sarbari Roy Chowdhury and I also heard something. I was really engrossed with the style of his singing…so beautiful and so tuneful. And the Dhrupad exactly as I knew Dhrupad to be you know that the swiping meends and long standing notes, khandani Dhrupad. So I was amazed that how come Ravi Shankar, if he had been a singer he could have been a very famous singer if he had stop played the Sitar. So I was always thinking that from whom he had learnedhis Dhrupad. What was his talim? So his secretary Rabin Pal was very close to me at a point of time and whenever Ravi Shankar came here he used to stay at that LalaSriram’s house in Ballygung and just full of people gate crashing, try to get his photograph, autograph or getting their LP record signed by him so it was very difficult to talk to him, always surrounded by so many people. I also tried to get him once but I could not enter. Even in spite of the fact that Rabin Pal was with me. Because he was having some press conference or something so I was asking Rabin Palconstantly that please ask Panditji from whom he learnt his Dhrupad.
I said ‘did you ask him’?
– No…
– Did you ask him?
– No.
– Why?
– No, actually I don’t know much about the Dhrupad. If Panditji ask me why you are asking me about Dhrupad, what do you know about Dhrupad then I will not been able to answer this thing that thing. Why don’t you ask that?
I said ‘how can I ask? He comes to Calcutta so less so’.
He said ‘ok go to your chamber’. He came to my chamber and he just dialed a number and said ‘Panditji, some person wants to talk to you and he is a great friend of mine’ and just handed over the phone to me. I was so nervous you know but the first thing that came to my mind I spoke. I said ‘Panditji I am a great admirer of your Dhrupad singing.
He burst out laughing…Ha Ha Ha. This is the first time I’m being complimented for my singing.
I said ‘it’s very true Panditji. I get something from the tape recorder.
– Oh I see.
– I am very fond of Dhrupad…very much you know.
– Whom you heard? Whose Dhrupad have you heard?
I said ‘mostly I listen to Satyakinkar Bandyapadhyay’s Dhrupad.
– Oh….he was such a giant and even after listen to him you’re finding my song up to date or to the mark?
I said ‘very much. It is of the same style.
– Oh….really.
Then I asked him that ‘I have a question to ask you Panditji that how is your style of singing so similar to Satyakinkar babu’s style of singing? It is very important.
What he said opened my eyes. What I thought he said. He said that ‘look why our singing styles would be different you tell me’?
I said, ‘No, but you belong to a different gharana. He is from Vishnupur.
– Well. No, that’s not a point. He said, ‘You have heard me singing Tansen’s song. He had also must be singing Tansen’s song.
I said, yes that’s true.
– Then if both of us had get proper talim , then both of us style must be the same. Because both of us singing Tansen that means both us have got the proper talim. So it should be different?
Then I pressurized him, ‘please do tell me from where?
He was so evasive. He said ‘No I learnt from Babaji’.
I said ‘no, it is not possible. I have heard Ali Akbar Khan sahab’s singing and it got nothing to do with your style. He only sings num tum tum and all sorts of things. I also heard Allauddin Khan’s some snatches of his songs…they got nothing, those are just some alap based Dhrupad like Dagars. But you are singing full-fledged Dhrupad.
– No…actually I must have learned something from Khokababu. Khokababu means Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury. I must have learnt.
I said, ‘No, because unfortunately or fortunately I heard Khokababu’s singing also’. I said, ‘No it is not similar to your style of singing. It is more like KhadarBani style; it is more like Dabir Khan style. It is not.
– Oh I see. So you have heard Dabir Khan.
I said yes one or two Dabir Khan.
– Ok …then I must have you see I was in Benaras, so you have heard about Hari Narayan Mukhopadhyay?
He was you know taking me down you know to a place where I cannot reach. Hari Narayan Mukhopadhyay, yes I have heard about him but there is no recording of Hari Narayan Mukhopadhyay.
Yes that is exactly the point. Then he was very satisfied. I must have you know during my younger days I heard Hari Narayan babu’s Dhrupad so much that this style must have gone into me and must be sing Hari Narayan Mukhopadhyay’s style.
Then I just gave up. I understood that he was not going to really divulge. So, ‘thank you Panditji. My Pranaam. So there we ended.
It is courtesy Bijoy Nandi, the pakhawaj player and the table player, that I came to know more about Indubala, famous Indubala, famous Angurbala and the great Tawaifs of who were living by 1930,s, whom Bijoy Nandi accompanied on Tabla, not Pakhawaj, He accompanied Horimoti on Pakhawaj, Horimoti was also a very very great Dhrupad singer.
Record of Miss Indubala
Now once he told me that look that many household belongings of Indubala is being sold out. So if you are interested you can go and have a look.I said please take me there. He took me to indubala’s house and what I saw is that…
Where was that house?
That was also in Beadon Street and that is also one part of Sonagachi. It’s called something else but its okay, it was a part of the overall, it’s called Garanpara, or something like that, its still there, the house is still there. I have been there three four months back to take some pictures. Now what I saw is that Indubala’s room was full of books. Stacked with books and books and books of various subjects you know, mostly History, Bengali novels, not English, but books of every variety. She was a ferocious reader, and there was the Harmonium, there was the Tabla, there was a Gramophone machine, stacks of Gramophone records, and lots of small size diaries. I said what are these? They said that she used to write diaries on a daily basis. Let me look, I saw that at least twenty-eight or thirty years of diaries stacked somewhere. I asked what are you going to do with these diaries?
Ki korbo? (what to do)
At a price?
Naturally at a price. So I offered them some price and I purchased all the diaries, Indubala’s.
Indubala Devi
So I purchased whatever pictures she had and because she was a meticulous collector of all her programme sheets, and her contracts with H.M.V and her contracts with Maharaja of Mysore, everything she preserved in a beautiful manner, so instead of, those were going to the kabariwalas I thought that I will be slightly better than a kabariwala, and purchased them also. So that was a great acquisition, and there after I read through her diaries and found what a great person she was, and her reading habits and her music habits, how she used to do her riyaz, from reading her diaries. I intend to publish it some day like a autobiography or some sort of things with her pictures, am working on that, and this is how I came into the diaries of Indubala’sthrough this Bijoy Nandi.
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 Devi
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.
Indubala Devi
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.
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,
Sangeetacharya Gopeshwar 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.
Rasaraj Nidan Bandhu Bandopadhyay
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).
Jyoti Goho is a well-known Harmonium accompanist of Indian Classical Music. He is a Musician Faculty in ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata.
Tags
Whole Night Programme, Mahajati Sadan, A.T.Kanan, 1950, Amir Khan, Begum Aktar, Sarafat Hussain Khan, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Jog Kosh, Khamaj Thumri, Stage, Organiser, Artist
Jyoti Goho is a well-known Harmonium player of Indian Classical Music. He is a Musician Faculty in ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata.
Tags
A.T.Kanan, Girija Shankar Chakraborty, Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Jamini Ganguly, Class, Tanpura, Student, 1947, 1948, Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Kolkata, Benaras, Public Performance
Sri Rantideb Maitra’s Residence, Madur Daho, Kolkata
About the speaker
Renowned Music Collector and Music Connoisseur
Tags
1921, Prince of Wales, Eden Garden, Principal Raaga, Musician, Majid Khan, Binkar, Indore, Fida Hussain Khan, Sarod, Hafiz Ali Khan, Sur Sringar, Radhika pRasad Goswami, Gopeswar Bandopadhyay, Sur Bahar, Satya Kinkar Bandopadhyay, Nyas Taranag, Dhrupad, Kheyal, Sitar, Megh, Bishnupur, Nizam , Maharaja of Gwalior, Maharaja of Baroda
Language
English
Sri Rantideb Maitra speaks :
Text Version:
Prince of Wales during a tour in India 1921
In 1921, when Prince of Wales visited Calcutta, a presentation was made to him in Eden Gardens where the six principal Ragas were to be presented by six principle musicians at that point of time. So musicians were chosen from all over India. I think I can give you the names of the musicians from my memory. Mostly Majid Khan, Veenkar from Indore, Fida Hussain Khan, the Sarodiya, then Hafiz Ali Khan who played the Sur Sringar. Radhika Prasad Goswami sang Dhrupad, Gopeswar Bandyopadhyay, strangely he played Sur Bahar and Satya Kinkar Bandopadhyay again strangely he played Nyas Tarang.
You know what is Nyas Tarang?
Naak diye jeta…. Kali Prasanna Bandopadhyay…he was the last Nyas Tarang Player. (Played through Nose and Kali Prasanna Bandopadhyay was the last one to play Nyas Tarang).
Pt. Satya Kinkar Bandopadhyay
Satya Kinkar was Dhrupad singer, Khyal singer, Sitariya but he played Nyas Tarang. He played the raga Megh in Nyas Tarang. So these six Principal ragas, I don’t remember who played which raga but I know he played Megh in Nyas Tarang.
So amazing that out of these six musicians, six best musicians in India, three were from Bengal and from the same gharana that is Vishnupur. We Bengalis forgotten about this but this is on record, this book is available somewhere. This book was published in honour of Prince of Wales. Lot of Rajas I mean Nijam was there, Gwalior Maharaja was there, Baroda Maharaja was there and everybody of note was there at the point of time….1921.
