| Told by | Somjit Dasgupta |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay and Troilee Dutta |
| Date | 14 July, 2015 |
| Place | 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, |
| Language | Bengali |
Somjit Dasgupta speaks :
Verbatim:
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Verbatim: Dr. Suranjita Paul
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.
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
Picture Courtesy: Google
https://www.facebook.com/Pt-Dhrubatara-Joshi-221380321255798/
http://sarodia.com/pandit-maitra-instruments/
Edited & Designed: Dr.Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.