The well-known sitar player Sanjoy Guha is now serving as a faculty member at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London. He learnt music from a number of highly reputed musicians including Pt. Radhika Mohan Moitra, Pt. Deepak Chaudhury and Vidwan M. Balamurali Krishna.
Tags
Satyabrata Guha, Balaram Pathak, Sitar, Pahari Sanyal, Debika SAnyal, Usha Ranjan Bandyapadhyay, Vocal, Himubabu, Studnt, Kashim Bazar Rajbari, 1972, 1973, Rabindra Sadan, Amir Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Saoni Kalyan, 73, 74, Swapan Chowdhury, Sarala Memorial Hall, Gokhel College, Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Hiru Babu, Radhika Mohan Moitra, Keshav Chandra Bandyopadhyay, Tabla
Vidushi Subhra Guha is a leading female vocalist of Agra gharana. She was a scholar of ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata and later she was nominated as a Guru in the Sangeet Research Academy.
Tags
Guru-Sishya parampara, K. G Ginde, Srikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar, Bandish, Bhatkhande Music college, Faiyaz khan, Lucknow, Raag Viyog-Barari, Sunil Basu, Sangeet Research Academy, Raga Chayanat, 1994
Language
Bengali
Vidushi Subhra Guha speaks:
Hand-written Notation of Pt. K.G. Ginde. [Courtesy Subhra Guha]
Verbatim:
I believe in ‘guru-sishyaparampara’. Pt.K.G.Ginde was the disciple of Sri krishna Narayan Ratanjankar, S.N.Ratanjankar. He was an ocean of learning, how can I describe him, he could see the bandishes differently. When I sing a bandish I can feel it clearly. Gindeji started his learning at the age of ten, his father had left him with Ratanjankarji and told him to raise him up as he sees fit. So, he passed class ten from Lucknow and for twenty-eight years he lived with Ratanjankarji, never leaving his side. I saw Gindeji very closely; he had few demands in life, bare minimum things without luxury. He had a simple cot to sleep on, a wooden table-chair for his studies, no fancy things. He had a very poor income as the principal of Vatkhande college, I think now it would be a large sum compared to then. Anyway, I want to depict two incidents here to remember him.
Pt. S.N. Ratanjhankar
Gindeji knew every bandishes of Ratanjankarji and he wanted to publish it. It would be a great help for everyone, but when he asked the publishers they demanded a large sum which he didn’t have, so he started to write them down. I want to show you the book; it was unbelievable that it was handwritten. He used a simple scale and pencil to write down the bandishes. He spent days in a table with a pen, pencil and rubber and produced six of this. We can imagine how much reverence and dedication to his guruji can made him do this. You have to see it to believe the different swar were written using scales and eraser. His entire being was dedicated to this job, to immortalize the work of his guruji. Sunil Basu also learnt from Ratanjankarji and whenever they met they used to discuss their guruji. Every time my guru Gindeji came over to my place they used to remember his guruji and Ustad Faiyaz Khan and they would cry with all the emotions. We were quite novice then and my fellow disciples would laugh behind his back and asked me whether I got bored with the same topic every day. I too, was quite young then but now I can understand that the love behind this. They didn’t discuss the same incident every day, but the same topics would come up after some time. The gandhar his guruji sang in some programme, or some other songs and they used to cry over these. I was so overwhelmed to see them crying that I joined, I never heard any of the discussed persons and I never knew them personally but still emotions were high and I flowed through it. I now understand that to achieve proper leaning from a perfect guru is a boon and the devotion would come automatically.
After twenty-eight years Ratanjankarji asked Gindeji to live on his own, to start a life and career. The day he left his guru’s house in Lucknow he went to return all bank passbooks and other documents of Ratanjankarji which he always kept and maintained. Ratanjankarji was furious, you want me to keep a tab on you? And he tore them up, he was so upset himself. He then gave Gindeji a new composition, a new raga named Viyog Barari. He never sang this raga, he would get so emotional. I heard from Sunil uncle that Ratanjankarji was a very strict man. He was almost devoid of emotions. It’s rare to see him smile and they never seen him crying. But that day as Gindeji was leaving he was singing this raga and crying. All the people present there were crying helplessly. This is the ideal relation between guru-shishya which I am talking about.
The story I was talking about, the hand-in written notations of the bandishes of Ratanjankarji. Gindeji wrote them himself with such meticulous perfection and then he came here in Sangeet Research Academy and presented the six volumes to them.
Hand-written Notation of Pt. K.G. Ginde.
He then said that I would be ever indebted to my guruji. If I reborn ten times and he wear his chappals made by my skin, I would still be indebted to him. But I have tried to give back a little bit and this is my humble offering. These six parts of the compilation of his bandishes are all here and I am quite content to leave this world. I think my job is done here.
Pt. K.G.Ginde
Within seven days, he had a little anomaly in his heart. Then suddenly within a month of his submission of his life’s work he passed away suddenly. He was eating and humming raga chhayanat, suddenly the spoon slipped and he fell too. No chance for a doctor to do anything. I think a proper sadhak (monk) could only achieve such level.
Kolkata residence of Dr. Rajib Chakraborty, Swinhoe Street, Kolkata 700019
About Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty
Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty is a renowned Sarod player, a music composer, and also involved in a large number of experimental projects internationally. He received several awards for his experimental work in music.
Tags
Radio, 1975, 1974, 1960, Television, National Programme, Tuesday night Concert, 1970, Listener, Classical music, Compile, Compere, Artists, 1978, Tape Recorder, Record Player
Language
Bengali
Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty speaks :
Metadata is generated by Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Dhirendra Nath Das is the son of Krishna Chandra Das who was a well known confectioner, entrepreneur, businessman and Bengali cultural icon of the early 20th century. Dhirendra Nath Das is an Indian classical Music connoisseur and patroniser. He was also a committee member of Tansen Sangeet Sammelan and Sadaranga Sangeet Sammelan.
Tags
Rangamahal, Natya Mancha, 1940’s, Ali Akbar Khan, Allauddin Khan, Ravi Shankar, All Bengal Music Conference, Bhupendra Krishna Ghosh
Language
Bengali
Dhirendra Nath Das speaks:
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Associated to All India Radio, Kolkata. He presented several eye-opening discussions on Indian classical music. A poet, writer, and music connoisseur.
Tags
Mahajati Sadan ,1955-60, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mian Ki Todi, Gurjari Todi, Taan, Bandish, Tarapada Chakraborty, Halak Taan, Dhaibat, Meer, Gandhar, meend
In classical music circle a commonly used word is mood or mijaj. In Bengali, we use this word negatively, as someone having a bad mood but in music world it is connotative of his aesthetic sense and beauty of rendering his music. They have a humour of their own which cannot be perceived by common people but when they convert it into their music it became tangible and we can see their world a little.
Mahajati Sadan
I will tell you one such story. I cannot confirm the year, but we can say, 1955-60. Ustad Bade Ghulam ali Khan was performing in Mahajati Sadan. It was almost dawn and he was singing Gurjari Todi and he was a master in that raga. I can still hear his voice “bhor bhai tori bat kataka piya”. It was such a difficult Bandish. There is perhaps no one tossing the Bandish itself, except one. Pt. Tarapada Chakrabarty once sang us the difficult Bandish of “Mahmod Shah durbare Niyamat Khan diyat taan”. This song had a Halaak taan which creates waves of ocean in our heart. Now this song I was referring, Bade Ghulam Ali saab was creating the taana as a mountain stream in rain, coming down upon us in full force. He was creating magic through Gurjari Todi, he went to dhaibat from madhyam, suddenly a cow mooed out of nowhere and the whole magical mood was shattered. But here we are talking about a master and he suddenly changed his tone and through a meer he went from Dhaibat to Gandhar and somehow, he manages to mix his tone with that mooing sound. And the magic was recreated. Everyone cheered because the beauty remained unchanged.
Now I want to discuss something, in our classical musical texts it was said that every note was formed from some animal sound. But I believe it is a tendency in our culture to mark everything through a metaphor. I have recorded personally the different animal sounds to prove that. But it is not true. I have the recordings of cuckoo’s song; it goes from one note to another. Now in this case, gandhar was supposed to be the sound of a goat. Goat and cow are both herbivores, that much we can conclude but only a single sound cannot be identified as a note. You have to have a reference point to denote or identify a note. But anyway, Ghulam Ali Saab had that aesthetical knowledge and training to combine his voice that with the mooing and it was a delight to hear that ethereal music on that pre-dawn moment.
Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay, Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Date
28th September, 2016
Place
Tarashankar Sarani,Tala,Kolkata
About the speaker
Associated to All India Radio, Kolkata. He presented several eye-opening discussions on Indian classical music. A poet, writer, and music connoisseur.
Tags
Akashvani, Radio, Taan, Raag, Jog, Bandish, Baroaa, 1968, 1967, Latafat Hussain Khan, Agra Gharana, Faiyaz Khan, Bialayat Hussain Khan, Sarafat Hussain Khan, 1960, 1962, Behug, Mulatani, Kheyal, Kirana Gharana, Roshanara Begum, Gwalior Gharana, Bade Ghulam Ali, Narendranath Mitha, Shovona Debi, Nitai Bose, Mustaque Ali khan, Nirmal Guha Thakurata, Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Puriya, Tarapada Chakraborty, Halak Taan, Gamak, Meer, Meend, Boltaan, Dinkar Kaikini
Language
Bengali
Sri Debabrata Mukhapadhyay Speaks :
Text Version:
I first started to listen to classical music from All India Radio from 7:40 to 7:50 p.m. One day suddenly an ethereal voice hit me and his tana was like a tidal wave. he was singing raga Jog “sajana mora ghar aye”.
Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan
He was the best yogi in that raga, he was none other than Latafat Hussain Khan. Another raga was his fort as far as I can remember, raga Baroya, “prem baje mori payeliya” was the lyrics of the kheyal. It was in the year 1968 or 69. He was in the peak of his career then. The records though were earlier ones. His voice taught me the strength in rendering a raga. Some people criticise him for his rough and husky voice, but I think beauty lies not only in softness and sweetness but also in strong masculinity. I think the beauty of Himalaya is not ultimate but the Grand Canyon is also beautiful in its own way. The voice of Latafat Hussain Khan reminds me of the tough granites of Grand Canyon. It was a very typical trait of Agra gharana, it was in the singing of Faiyaz khan too. I know the staunch fans of Faiaz Khan would beg to differ but I think the roughness and strength were the beauty of these singers. Bilayat Hussain Khan was another name in this line which I want to mention. Sharafat Hussain Khan changed himself a little from the common Agra gharana traits, still the beauty of the learning remained the same. Sharafat Hussain Khan had a record which I first heard in 1960 or 62. It had raga Behag in one side and raga Multani in the other. Behug had the lyrics “hajarat ali tum ho mahabali”, a typical kheyal of Agra gharana and Multani had the lyrics like “hari eri ariri, elo durjan me kaha Kasur”. These two songs, sung at the age of twelve, had a sweet young voice yet it had the fire and speed that was amazing. Then Kirana gharana recorded the same ragas by a twelve-year-old, she was none other than majestic Roshnara Begum. Those days are over now, the battle between ghranas and gurus are past. It is unfortunate that we lost the traits of different gharanas. The strength of Agra gharana, the beauty of Himalaya in Gwaliyar Gharana, the beauty of rose garden in the voice of Ghulam Ali Khan are all mixed up now. Even the time of the ragas are not considered now-a-days.
I was first introduced with Latafat Hussain khan in the house of famous writer Narendranath Mitra. His wife Shovana aunty was a very good singer. Nitai Basu was there, he was a disciple of Mustaque Hussain Khan and he liked me a lot. Nirmal Guhathakurta was also there. Latafat Hussain khan was chatting with them in a friendly manner. It was in Mohan Kanan, the year was 1967-68. I was introduced casually with him, I was awestruck. I first perceived him as a very big man wearing a white coat and white churidar, his dark face was reddened by betel leaf. He laughed and chatted merrily with a weird grin. His chat was mixed with Urdu Shayri which I couldn’t followed well but everyone was effusive. This went on for a while, I asked him some questions, the mood was set and then he took the stage. He started with raga Puriya. I remembered the small record of Ustad Tarapada Chakraborty with raga Puriya. But it had the very different flavour, it was full of sweet and mellow tragic note, we know this sadness which Puriya brings with it. But the rendering of Latafat Hussain was unique, we are in an unknown territory, the tragedy, the misfortune brought out by him was like a princess prisoned in a casement and her heart-wrenching catastrophe singing her heart out. But it was not a she and the singer was not a paragon of beauty. But he created his magic in such a way, we were all mesmerised. When he finished his performance, I suddenly discovered he was not at all a big man, he had quite a simple stature but the greatness of his genius made him a giant for me. He then sang some more songs including raga Jog. His introductory tana was so strong that it seemed to pull the very soul of ones existence. It was called Halak taan, it was a signature of Agra gharana, so also gamak. Gamak was originally a meer but they mixed boltaan with it to extend its merit. It was quite a lost heritage now. Sharafat Hussain Khan and Dinkar kaikini were the last of them.
