| Told by | Prof. Amlan Dasgupta |
| Obtained by | Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee |
| Date | 20th Februray. 2017 |
| Place | Jadavpur University, Department of English |
| About the speaker | Amlan Das Gupta is a Professor of English, Jadavpur University, He has built an archive of North Indian classical music at the School of Cultural Texts and Records at Jadavpur University. He has also offered a course on the history of North Indian Classical Music. Education – University of Oxford. |
| Tags | Mallikarjun Manasoor, Kolkata, January, 1992, Ramkrisna Mission, Tabla, A.T.Kanan, Netaji Stadium, Shukla Bilawal, Jaunpuri, Radio, Bhairavi, Bandish, Drut, Gwalior, Rajsekhar Manssor, Nibhriti Bua, Kesarbai Kerkar, Ulhas Kaushalkar |
| Language | English |
Prof. Amlan Dasgupta Speaks :
Text version:
Malikarjun Mansoor sang, I think, for the last time in Kolkata in January of 19–, I think 1992, the year he died. He died later that year, and this programme was at Ramkrishna Mission. There was Tabla performance after his, morning concert, and there was a tabla performance after his singing. There was lot of people who wanted to listen to the Tabla, lot of people coming into the greenroom, and filling up the corridors, very difficult. So, he was sitting in the greenroom and singing. There was Kanan Sahab, who was there. He was always there when Mansoorji sang, and he was very–, he was not well, because later we knew, that we learnt, that already you know that the disease has started, — he had cancer,– the disease could have been there. He was not well, he was tired, little tired. (The) day before he had sang at, I think at, Netaji, the open air , open air theatre next to, no next to the Eden Gardens, yes, (in) the stadium. So there he had sung, then there was some problem also, because the audience didn’t like his singing, so he had some problem, I wasn’t there, there was something that I didn’t listen to. So he came here and he was singing and he was told that he had forty minutes, perhaps little more than that, fifty minutes to sing a song, that was really sad. So he started with something,
I think he started with ‘Shukla Bilawal’ and went on to sing ‘Jaunpuri’. Now it was not his best. — Whatever he sang was immensely tuneful and even the music that he sang four five months after this , which I have heard later, was his last radio concert made in ‘Dharwar’ months before he died, perhaps weeks before he died, even that was so tuneful, — was so tuneful. But it was clearly not very developed, he was trying to keep things over, he had time for fifteen minutes, at the end I think he sang ‘Bhairavi’ or something. But the thing is that he, we were all sitting there, bunch of, we were young and we had (been) hanging about him for last few days, trying to see him, do you need anything or can we help you with something, I think he saw that and so he finished singing this song, this usual ‘Vilambit’ that he sang ‘U to jaiyo piyake desh’ and he started singing a song which is as follows, its a Gwalior Bandish, its a Gwalior Bandish. It was recorded by some in 78 rpm artist. I have heard it, some particularly distinguished, but this song, ‘Sajana Ghar Lagi Sandiya’. Now we were extatic, we have never heard him singing this song. Later, he went away, we had a recording. So later I shared this recording with other Mansoor follower, Now nobody has ever heard him singing that song and clearly he sung that song for us, for atleast these young unfortunates who were sitting there, I mean he didn’t have time for some mismanagement or people came late or whatever –whatever could be the reason, there was this hourlong, less than an hour concert and he sang this song and this is I think both the unpredictability and greatness of ustadji. I mean, his son Rajshekharji, Rajsekharji told me that he had never heard his father singing this song. So that’s it, I mean they had these immense reserves and we also think about the kind of training that these people had that on spot they pull out a song from anywhere, they’ll sing it, if they feel like it or because they were thinking that there are some people in the audience that they would like it. I don’t think Mansoorji quite enjoy singing in Calcutta because his singing style, kind of singing was not very familiar in Kolkata. We need to understand Nibrutibuaji had not come to Kolkata yet. Many years ago Kesarbai had sung but that was a different thing, Kesarbai’s singing was quite different thing. Mansoorji’s singing had a very heavy influence of Gwalior. Gwalior. Blend of Gwalior and Jaipur, I don’t think it was very popular. In small audience, a very dedicated following but not a very large following. Some people used to visit all his concerts, I have seen them, there were lot of (them). So I don’t think that there was much of a taste.
The taste came later, with Ulhasji and people like (him), they built up this taste. Mansoorji, I think, that’s the reason why he was happy that people who wanted to listen, he wanted to give them something, that is his piece of acts of love and that is music is all about.
Verbatim by: 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.