The seventh session of the All-Bengal Music Conference sits on board the First Empire on and from Sunday the 29th December next and lasts till Wednesday the 1st January – 1941. There will be in all eight sittings.
The following famous artists will demonstrate classical music and dance at the Conference: –
Khan Saheb Mustaque Hossain Khan of Rampur State, the famous Kheyaliya who belongs to the Gharowana (School) of Enayet Hossain of Rampur.
Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Sangit-Martanda of the School of Late Pandit Vishnu Digambar, (Kheyal and Bhajan).
Khan Saheb Golam Ali Khan, famous Kheyaliya and son of Ali Bux of Lahore.
Srimati Hirabai Barodekar, a disciple of the late Khan Saheb Abdul Karim Khan of Bombay, (Khayal and Thumri).
Srimati Saraswati Bai of Bombay (Kheyal).
Khan Saheb Ziauddin, son of Taksuddin Khan brother of Late Ustad Alabande Khan (Dhrupad and Alap).
Khan Saheb Bhai Lal Muhammad Rababi, a disciple of famous Hindu musician Bhaskar Rao.
Magan Lal, a disciple of Lachmi Narayan, of Panchgachia, Bhagalpur.
Vilayatoo’s Sahnai Party of Benares.
Anokhelal of Benares (Tabla).
Miss Menaka Bai of Bombay, (Dance).
Master Madan, 14 – year – old musician of Delhi Radio.
Sundaram Aiyar, renowened violinist of Madras.
Hiralal, famous dancer of Jaipur.
Khan Saheb Samsuddin of Bombay, (Tabla).
Some of the famous Calcutta musicians will also demonstrate.
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Source:
“Amrita Bazar Patrika [Daily]. Vol: 72; Issue:355 (25 December 1940).” Accessed December 16, 2016. http://eap.bl.uk/database/large_image.a4d?digrec=4266590;catid=226947;r=26962.
Identified by Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee, Research Fellow
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
All artists are known to be a bit moody. Musicians are no exception, as they are always within their Sadhana. Since they cannot see the music and have to attain it through the feeling, they are called Sangeet Sadhaks. So they are moody by nature. Badal Khan was moody and short-tempered too. And all the more was Vishmadeb.
One day, in 1924-25, Badal Khan saheb had come to teach and learned that his disciple was up on the roof, flying a kite. He said, “Don’t call him, I’ll go there myself.” He knew his student’s mood. He went up gently and found Vishmadev’s eyes on the kite in the sky. He took the kite’s spool from his hand .Viishmadev, finding his guru there, was taken a back, but Badal Kahan saheb told him, you go on flying the kite. He kept the kite’s spool in his hands, and started to hum a lesson from there, and his student, with his kite in the sky, was learning , singing along. These ways of imparting lessons were there in those days, but now we have become too much methodical.
Ustad Vishmadev Chattopadhyay
When Baba was a bit older, he used to indulge in physical exercises a lot. One day Badal Khan saheb had arrived when he was doing his exercises. My father could do 500 push-ups at one stretch; something many people could do in multiple sets. So Badal Khan saheb found him doing one push-up after another. When he finished, he found his Guru standing behind him. He said, “beta, if you continue exercising like this, you would ruin your voice”, but praised him too by saying that he had not seen anybody do it like this. We have heard that Moizuddin Khan Saheb did push-ups and squats before he performed at a programme, which finds mention in Amiya Nath Sanyal’s writings. So it was with Vishmadev.
Badal Khan Saheb started teaching music to father. This was at either the Chhidam Mudi lane or the Gulu Ostagar Lane residence.
Pt. Vishmadeb Chattopadhyay
Baba had learned Tappa well before this. But the first thing that Badal Khan did was to stop him from singing Bengali songs, saying that singing those cast a regional influence on his singing, which would prevent him in his endeavour to bring about the pan-Indian character in father’s voice. So Bhismadev stopped singing bangla songs, which opened up the North Indian style before him. Even to a talented artist like Bhismadev, Badal Khan taught only Malkauns for six months. He started teaching in 1923, when father was 14 years old. After the lessons had gone on for six months, my grandfather, Ashutosh Chattopadhyay, noticed that the same song was going on for six months, no new ones. And the fees or ‘Gurudakshina’ that was being paid to Badal Khan saheb was quite hefty even by today’s standards. Each day he used to come, he was paid two rupees, which was the price of one mon (about 37 kgs) of rice. And the rickshaw fare was paid separately. You can calculate how much that quantity of rice costs now. This was paid per day. It also happened, though not within those six months, that Badal Khan saheb had come twice a day, because he had suddenly remembered a song that he had to teach. Anyway, every day he came, Ashutosh Chattopadhyay, who had never taken lessons in music himself, thought that the same song was being taught for six months. Just as Badal Khan saheb had finished his lessons and gone out of the room, than Ashutosh Chattopadhyay said to Bhismadev, “ Will he not give you any other song? The same malkauns has been going on.” Badal Khan saheb had not actually left, as he took some time to put on his shoes due to old age. He came back in and said, “ Ashubabu, Malkauns is such a Raag that let alone six months, even six life spans are not enough to learn it. I am preparing the base now; you’ll see the results after the preparation is complete.” Later, it was often the case that he taught one raag in the morning and another in the evening. And, thanks to Bhismadev’s musical talent, he picked it up with ease. Not everyone he tried to teach thus could do so. He was so talented that often the raag he learned in the morning, he performed at a musical function in the evening. And I am not talking about the song, but the Raag itself.
This anecdotes speaks of Ustad Vishmadev Chatterjee in his child age of 5 years/7 years. He was born in 1909. Therefore 1914 and 1916 have been identified as the time when he was 5 and 7 year old. – Editor
Guru Murarimohan left his earthly body on 1904. Durlabha Chandra started organizing a concert named MurariSammelan on memory of his Guruji from next year. Since 34 years this annual concert used to run smoothly. Not only artists from Kolkata but also artists from Bishnupur, Murshidabad and all over India had come and participated in the concert. After Murari Sammelan annual Shankar Utsav began. That concert used to take place for all night on the occasion of Shiv Ratri at Radhanath Mallick Lane. After then Lalchand Utsav started from 1928. However After the sad demise of Durlabha Chandra, things started falling apart in Murari Sammelan. The way the life of Mridanga expert Durlabha Chandra was wondrous similarly his death was quite absurd that took place at Pathuriaghata in the house of Bhupendra nath Ghosh, a passionate music lover of and founder of All Bengal Music Conference. The date was 24thAshwin 1938. There was a baithak at the Bhupendra nath Ghosh’s place. All famous artists of India had gathered at his place. Great pakhawaj player Shankar Rao Ustad, BrajendraKishor, Gour Chandra Ghosh, Dhrupadiya Gopal Chandra Bandhapadhyay, Girija Shankar Chakraborty, Ayodhya Ram Pathak and also the Maharaja of Nator, Jogindranath Ray and PanditDurlabh Chandra. People were really happy and excited to see Mridangacharya Dulibabu. There were also many young music lovers who had heard the name and greatness of Durlabh Chandra but never seen him performing. Many among them requested Durlabh Chandra to play. His fingers were restless but his disciples did not agree.
Radhika Prasad Goswami
Young vocalist Lalit Mohan Mukhopadhyay started his alaap in the middle of the night. Dhrupadiya Lalit was an acclaimed disciple of Radhika Prasad Goswami and son of Mohim Chandra Mukhopadhyay. Lalit started with Miya-ki- Malhar – ‘He Adi Anth’, the favourite raga of Ustad Mir Mohammad Gaji MiyaTansenji. Durlabh Chandra could not hold himself back anymore. He snatched the pakhawaj from his disciple’s hand.Pakhawaj started speaking getting touch of the known hands “Dha”. A joy wave covered from one edge to another edge. Just like raga, so is the singer, so is the player. Mridang started running after the singer initiating the bol in choutal. The tihai was hugged with fast rhythm steeped in ankles.
Nobody knew and no one had noticed that the raging sensation of the Brahmin’s nerves, which started in the rush is not of the Mallhar rather of Deepak. The veins of the old are beginning to burst. Lalitbabu took the blessings of the old Durlabh and said – “Today my birth is successful.”The oldman Durlabha Chandra blessed Lalit raising both the hands. The old man held his hands and whispered in his ears – “Do you know a secret? You did it. Lalit, you did it.” His eyes were filled with tears. Then he joined his hands and said – “ Then bless me , grant my last wish”.
Durlabha – “ Say, say, what do you want? Today I am Karna”
Lalit – “ I will sing DarbariKaanda. And you have to accompany me.”
He pulled up the laid down pakhawaj. Again, the genius of the genre ranges to conform to the harpist. All the listeners submerged with the melody .Then began DarbariKaanda on Sur fankTaal with the moods of Ustad – “ BajatoJhajMridang”. The blue veined hands raised bols newly in the mridang. The music is fast ranging from peak to peak. The seven swaras are chirping like seven pet birds. He was playing melodious and had become bundled. Suddenly, the ones who were sitting at the side of the front rows started noticing that Durlabha Chandra was playing only with his left hand, his right hand had become still. That was quite absurd. None of them had ever dreamt that the right side of his body was completely devastated by the cruel attack of paralysis. He was tolerating a severe pain with all his body. The wise Brahmin cannot be defeated, so that he takes on the necklace of the suralakshmi, so that the physical pain is neglected by one and the other. He kept continuing the thekain one hand. Suddenly, it was noticed by the vocalist, he said – “ What’s this?” . At the next moment, he collapsed and as if Mridangacharya was offering his last prayer to the Goddess of Music. Coronary Thrombosis affected his last breath. Such death is desirable for music preachers. Such death makes an artist mortal. What is the greater honour any artist can ask?
