| Told by | Smt. Meena Banerjee |
| Obtained by | Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee |
| Date | 21st February, 2017 |
| Place | Smt. Meena Banerjee’s residence , Rani Kuthi, Kolkata |
| About the speaker | Renowned Music Critic, Musicologist and Music Connoisseur |
| Tags | 1998,1999, Ali Akbar Khan, SRA, Vijay Kichlu, Auditorium, Omkar Dadarkar, Scholar, Ulhas Kashalkar, Behag, Bihag, Guru |
| Language | Engllish, Hindi, Bengali |
Smt. Meena Banerjee Speaks :
Text Version:
That time this was around 1998 or 1999 not later than that. So once Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Sahab came to SRA. He stayed very close to SRA. His house was here in Tollygunge area only. So he came to visit SRA and everybody was on his toes because such a great musician came to visit SRA and see how the young musicians were faring.
At that time Mr. Kichlu was there and he was very excited and he took Khan Sahab to you know, all over SRA. He must have visited earlier also.
– In 1998 or 99?
– In 1998 or 1999 not later than that because in 2000 Mr. Kichlu retired and left SRA. So when Khan Sahab came this was during the day time so even we were also call that you come and sampling the auditorium. You know there is a compact hall there. There legendary musicians had performed and even youngsters performed, even now. So Khan Sahab was made comfortable. He was sitting there and all of us were around him what he says, we were hanging on you know, each and every word he was uttering. So he was telling about his younger days and all, we were laughing and all. Suddenly he said let me hear someone. So Mr. Kichlu immediately called Omkar, because he was newcomer and somehow he had made a mark s a very talented student of SRA, talented scholar of Ullasji. So Omkar came and Mr. Kichlu asked him to sing. He said ‘abhi to mujhe Bihag hi aata hai. Guruji se hi sikha hai’ (at present I know only Bihag. I learnt it from Guruji). So Khan Sahab was quite for some time then he said –‘tab rehne do, Rag rege jabe’(then you better let it, or Raga would be angry).
Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Picture Courtesy: Google
http://bengalclassicalmusicfest.com/project/omkar-dadarkar/
Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.