| Told by | Tirthankar Benerjee |
| Obtained by | Professor Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14th February 2017 |
| Place | 3/1/1D Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092 |
| About the speaker | Tirthankar Banerjee is a well-known sitar player of Kolkata. He is a disciple of Sitar maestro Pt. Dipak Chowdhury. |
| Tags | Kolkata, Ajay Sinha Roy, Guru, Meghaphone Records, Ustad, Recording, Studio, Kaji Najrul Islam, Raag, Bangal Bilawal, Bilaval, Bengali Song |
| Language | Bengali |
Tirthankar Benerjee speaks:
Verbatim:
?? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????? ???? ????????, ???? ???? ???? ???????? ????, ??? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????-? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ???? ????????, ??? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ????????? ????????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ???????-? ????? ?????, ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????????, ???? ?????? ‘????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????’?
???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ‘?? ?? ??? ?? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ???, ?????? ????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ???’? ??? ??? ???????, ??? ?? ??? ?????, ????? ?? ???? ???????? ??????, ??? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ????
?? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ????????, ???? ???? ????? ????, ??? ???? ???? ?????
Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Translation:
I had heard this incident from Pandit Ajay Sinha Roy, whom I used to call Ajay Kaka and he was also my second Guru. Ajay Sinha Roy had told me that once a musician from the western part of India had come to the recording studio of Megaphone Records to record a Raga. Among the people present in Megaphone Records during the recording, there was also Kaji Nazrul Islam; he used to work at the studio at that time. But he failed to recognize the Raga that the Western singer had performed. So he had said, “You couldn’t recognize this Raga? This is an Indian Raga after all… it is the Bangal Bilawal.
Kaji Saheb couldn’t shrug off the fact that a Western singer had challenged him. So he had said, “No no. Who said that we couldn’t recognize the Raga? It is a very common one, and we all know it here. It is so popular that we even have Bengali songs on it.” Saying this, Kaji Nazrul had at that very moment composed a Bengali song based on the Raga, and sung it to the Western singer, to show that the Raga was known to him. This proved that we Indians are in no ways lacking behind Western singers.
This incident was narrated to me by my Guru Pandit Ajay Sinha Roy, whom I used to call Ajay Kaka.
Translation by: Ankana Das
Picture Courtesy: Google
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazi_Nazrul_Islam
http://www.itcsra.org/TreasurePast.aspx?TreasuresId=4
Kaji Najrul Islam Beganleft HMV for megaphone Company during 1932-33. Therefore the time period has been tagged between 1921- 1947 in this anecdote –Editor
Reference:
“Islam, Kazi Nazrul – Banglapedia.” Accessed April 19, 2017. http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Islam,_Kazi_Nazrul.
Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University