In the ‘60s, there was a concert at Chhatu babu and Latu babu’s Beadon Street address. Shipra Basu was one of the first performers, and, as far as I recall, Pandit Gobinda Bose was playing the tabla. Father was to perform after that. We had gone later. Bachche Lal Mishra was accompanying him on the sarengi and Sandip Deb on the tabla. Sandip Deb was a young man at that time. He would wear a red vermillion mark on his forehead because he was the disciple of Nanku Maharaj of Benares. He still follows these things, I know. Father came to the dais and began to sing. When we were children, we used to hear that when father performed a taan, everyone would swept off their feet. Now, I had a logical bent of mind. I didn’t believe this story. I always thought, what is so special about taan that the audience will be swept off their feet for it? But, I hadn’t seen anything yet.
Ustad Vishmadev Chattopadhyay
On that day, he was singing the Maalkosh, and he was in a very good mood. I remember that performance very well. He was performing a taan which had many twists and turns, it was rolling upwards, higher and higher, and it sounded like a fishing wheel, and when the music reached a crescendo, all of us in the audience moved forward, drawn as if by some magnetic force, and when the music came crashing down, we were thrown back as well. Then I understood what everyone meant by being swept off their feet. It was literal.
Pandit Sankha Chattopadhyay is a reputed Tabla player from Kolkata. His style blends three leading Tabla Gharanas of India, Farukhabad, Delhi and Punjab.
Tags
Listener, Ravi Shankar, Alluddin Khan, Keramatulla khan, Anokhelal Mishra, Ashish khan, Vilabit, Theka, Programme, Rangmahal Theater Hall, Allarakha Khan, Rupak Tala, Kalika Cinema Hall, Tansen Conference, Late 50’s, Samta Prasad
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.
Kazi Nazrul Islam
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.
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
When Gurujifirst came to Kolkata, he stayed in a house as a paying guest which was in 20C, NilmaniMitra Street, close to Darjipara. He was there for few days. It was on his initial days in Kolkata,probably during 1944-45. Then he moved from that place to someone’s house in Bowbazar. The landlord of that house was a lover of music and dance and often visited at classical concerts. So when that man had a discussion about keeping Guruji as paying guest, the man did not like the fact of having an atmosphere of music in his own house, the fact that someone will sing and he will be seen, though the owner himself visited concerts. So, Gurujiknew that the man did not like to have an atmosphere of music in his house.
The gentleman had asked Guruji if he was into music. Then Guruji had replied “No, no I don’t do all that” otherwise the man would not had let him stay. So finally the man had let Guruji stay. Now, Guruji had to practice or he atleast need to something, how to do that now? So, when the gentleman used to go out of the house, in that house there was water pump, so when the pump used to start then a musical sound used to come out of it, at that time Guruji used to practice a bit. He used to practice completely in a naked voice. Other than that he could not practice at all. In the meantime when it was going on like that, one fine day the gentleman told Guruji that there was a whole night concert, “Would you like to go with me?” Guruji said, “Yes”. Then he took him to the concert.
That was Pathuriaghata Street, house of ManmathaNathGhosh. The concert was held there. First was Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab, then was Ravi Shankarji. Both of them did it half-half, whole. At first was Bade Ghulam Ali’s vocal. Everybody was sitting in the hall room wearing Punjabi and dhoti, on those days mug dhoti, and all were lover of music. Guruji was sitting beside the gentleman. When Ghulam Ali Khansahab’s performance was over suddenly Guruji was saying to the gentleman, and before that he noticed that ManmathNathBabu, who happens to be the owner of that place was coming and talking to the gentleman few times. Guruji thought that Manmath nath Babu must be a friend of the gentleman.
Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan
(Guruji asked) – “Well, will you please let me sing here? He is a great friend of yours. Could you please kindly request him to let me sing here?” The gentleman said – “You will sing here. What are you saying? Shut up! .Ghulam Ali Khansahab has sung here and you will sing after that. Yes, don’t speak at all. You have come with me so just quietly be seated.” The gentleman got angry and was shouting. In the meantime Manmatha Nath babu was passing that place. Manmatha Nath babu stood and enquired “What’s the matter? What happened?” Meanwhile, some interview was going on and few people from the audience had gone out to have some tea. The gentleman said “Look! This boy is just desperate. He is constantly saying that he will sing. He has never listened to songs, nothing, now he is saying that he will sing”. ManmathaNathbabu said “Does he want to sing? Alright, he can sing but only 10 minutes. People are having tea now. Let him sing for 10 minutes. What’s the problem? But not more than 10 minutes, Ravi Shankarji will sit after that. Guruji said, “ Yes, 10 minutes will be enough”. He agreed. Now, the accompanists who played with Ghulam Ali Khansahab, all of them denied. They said that they don’t know him and what they would play. They said “ Nahi, nahi, hum log nahi bajayenge”. All of them were denying. So a tabla player from the same para who came to see the concert and well known to the gentleman was being told to accompany with him. He was told, “Play with him, he is saying he will sing and all” . Only a tanpura was put in sync, there was no other instrument, a tanpura and a tabla. He sang the Malkauns which he had heard from Abdul Karim Khan sahab. He completed it within 10 minutes. As soon as he finished, all people were extremely, not only when he finished rather when he had begun then only within 2- 1 minute people started coming in with their tea cups and sat quietly. And audience of those days were quite socialist. They were sitting and quietly listening. And after listening they started developing a curiosity “Where did he come from? What is the matter? Such a great voice”. People started going in front of the stage and started asking him, “What is your father’s name?.Guruji’s father ‘s name was quite known to the people on those days. Audience said, “Oh, you are his son!” Ghulam Ali Khan sahab was on backstage . Ghulam Ali Khan asked the organizer to bring the person in front of him whoever was singing. He did not see Guruji then. Then Guruji went in front of him. Ghulam Ali Khan praised Guruji and said “Your voice is very nice and your taans are very clean. You will do well.” He said all that.
This is wonderful incident that he showed the courge to sing after Ghulam Ali Khansab’s performance. And after Guruji’s performance the gentleman was quite proud. The gentleman said “Yes. He lives in my house.” Actually, everybody was enquiring “Who brought him? From where?”. The gentleman felt very proud.
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.
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
During the early part of 20th century, the Calcutta music scene was, at least the vocal music was dominated by Tawaifs and the Baijis, not that their male counter parts in the sense that the most popular classical singers of that point of time were all tawaifs, I mean you can name anybody,
Angurbala Devi
you can name Malkajan, you can name Gaharjan, you can name Manoda Sundari , Krisna Bhamini right up to Indubala, Angurbala, and everyone, and they were much more popular than their counter parts. Now where did they learn their music from? It’s a two way process, in some cases it was found that the tawaifs they themselves took fancy on some good looking male musicians and taught them music, they mostly learnt from Sarengi players, because Sarengi players use to you know accompany so many artists all over India, and they use to pay the sarengiwalas as per the Bandishes, may be one sarengiwalas has played with Alladiya Khan, and she liked the Bandish and maybe she will pay hundred rupees or fifty rupees or whatever it is, and sometimes they used to employ ustads themselves, and the terms of employment was, that ustad would you know never teach any other ‘Baais’. So it is you know captive ustad.
Raja Jyotindra Mohan Tahgore
Like for example ’Gauri Shankar Mishra’ was captive to ‘Gauhar jaan’ and ‘Gauhar jaan’ only allowed ’Gauri Shankar Mishra’ when she became old and she moved away from Calcutta, at that point of time ’Gauri Shankar Mishra’ teach ‘Indubala’ and even ‘Vishmadev Chattopadhyay’ and lot of people. But till such time ‘Gauhar jaan’ did not release ’Gauri Shankar Mishra’, ’Gauri Shankar Mishra’ could only you know only teach ‘Gauhar jaan’ the Bandishes. Now in the case of the ‘ Dhrupadiyas’ of Bengal the situation was different because they never learnt from any ‘Tawaifs’ because mostly the ‘Tawaifs’ sang ‘Khayal ’and ‘Thumri’, but not ‘Dhrupads’,
Gauhar Jan
and the ‘Dhrupadiya’ of Bengal like ‘Aghor Chakraborty’ ‘ Gopeshwar Bandopadhyay’ or ‘Satyakinkar Bandopadhyay’, they avoided those class of musicians, not that they didn’t like them, they liked their music, but they never you know, they never imitated their style of music, and these ‘Tawaifs’ also, they were very eager to learn ‘Dhrupad’, but unfortunately their doors were shut to the middle class Bengali Brahmin ‘Dhrupad’ singers. So when, Maharaja Jyotindra Mohan Tagore, because Satyakinkar Babu was a employed by lots of the Maharajas at that time, like Maharaja of Natore was there, Maharaja of Lalogola, Maharaja of Pachakot and eventually he became court musician of Maharaja Jyotindra Mohan Thakur after Piyara Saheb left the court of Jyotindra Mohan Tagore. But one of the terms of his contract with the Maharaja was that he will never urge him or force him or to teach any ‘Tawaif’ because all the zamindars and rajas, they had their favourite ‘Taawaifs’, whom they used to groom.
Raja Sourindra Mohan Tagore
Like take the case of Jadumoni who was groomed by Shourindra Mohan Tagore, I mean even Kesarbai had one such, you know mentor, who paid for Kesarbai’s tuitions for Alladiya Khan. In the case of many ‘Tawaifs ‘ they were supported by many wealthy patrons to learn music. But Satyakinkar Babu never you know, taught any ‘Tawaifs’ and that was one of terms of, I mean I gave you social picture of that time also. So in this context it is important.
Can we please have the name of that person, who patronised Kesarbai Kerkar?
Yah, it was Seth Dhulichand, I mean there were lot of patrons but one was Seth Dhulichand, was originally from Kolkata, then The Khetri, Shyamlala Khetri , their shop is still existing, khetri jewellers, Calcutta, bhawanipore, Punya Cinema, khetri jewellers, and there were other patrons from Bombay, I mean I forget their names, but these two were definitely patron of Kesarbai from Bombay(Calcutta).
The first anecdote is about two great musicians, one Sangeetacharyay Satyakinkar Bandopadhyay and The other Ustad Faiyaz Khan, and it happened at the house of Maharaja Jyotindra Mohan Tagore at Pathuriaghata, The Grandson of Sourindra Mohun Tagore (?). I heard it from Sangeetacharyay Satyakinkar Bandopadhyay himself.
Sangeetacharya Satyakinkar Bandyopadhyay
He said that during that time of royal patronage The royal patrons always looked down on the musicians. In the sense that if they are singing they are expected to sing at a posture, sitting on the ground with tanpuras, pakhawaj, table whatever it is and The Rajas and The Maharajas used to sit in couch, and just listened to their music from a elevated position. He never liked that short of arrangement and once at the house of Jyotindra Mohan Tagore when he was a court singer, in fact Satyakinkar Bandopadhyay was a court singer to Jyotindra Mohan Tagore of Pathuriaghata.
Faiyez Khan and Satyakinkar Babu was suppose to sing in honor of The Maharaja of Gwalior and His Excellency Nizam who were visiting Jyotindra Mohan Tagore at that time and He arranged a musical evening of these two great masters
Ustad Faiyaz Khan
and The first artist was Faiyaz Khan, and he sang Alap and Khayal seating on the ground and Nizam and Mahraja of Gwalior and Jyotindra Mohan Tagore they were just enjoying the music seating on the sofas. And when the turn came for Satyakinkar Babu to sing he just refused to sing. He said that I am not accustomed to sing in this manner because I am a worshiper of Goddess Saraswati and I cannot bring her down to that level where Saraswati would be just, you know, seating beneath the feet of a mortal, so he also reprimanded Faiyaz Khan Sahab, he said that he was such a great Ustad, he was such a great master of music, how he can you know, are you not proud enough of you know, of your music, and if you are proud of your music then how you can humiliate the muse of music in this fashion, you should never do this in future, you are quite rich, you can afford not to sing, and he said that I can also afford not to sing and I will not sing. So what happened, there was an altercation Jyotindra Mohan Tagore and Satyakinkar Babu and to avoid any other, you know untoward incidents or embarrassment a makeshift arrangement was made, another spring sofa was brought at par with the Maharajas and Satyakinkar Babu said that you know he used to , he sat on the sofa but unfortunately it was a spring sofa, during that time, and he was, his entire thing went down with the spring, with his pakhawaj player and everything, and it was so uncomfortable, but he said at least you know the pride of music was saved for that day. That was one incident which he told me. This period must 1927-28, during that time.
