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
1985, Solo Progremme, Kumar Bose, Promotional Concert, Kamal Ghosh, MegaPhone Company, LP Record, Recording, Practice
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.
S.A.P. Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, B.T. Road Campus.
About the speaker
Sitar Maestro, Chair Professor, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University
Tags
Ali Akbar Khan, Sarod, Tuning, Listening, Strumming, Raga, Music, North Indian Classical Music, performance, 1983
Language
English
Pt. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay speaks :
Text version:
I would like to put forward why I see Riyaz very important. To tell you about that, I must refer to one of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Sahab’s , Ali Akbar Khan Sahab’s TV interview, where he was asked that, “Khan Sahab you are such a great Sarod player, such a great musician, how do you perform so good in music, such a good music and so beautiful music”. He said that ‘when I go to my sarod, it appears alien to me. Then I try to tune that, and if it tunes well then I go to the stage, and seat tight, start strumming, and then everything, if everything goes well, I become the listener. “
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
So I also believe that, this is the way, we the raga music performers, at least from north India, I would say musicians from India excepting the south, those who are doing raga music, I think this is the final message. This is the best message I have ever heard. But here comes why Riyaz is important, Riyaz makes, gives you a level of virtuosity, and that makes you comfortable you know, whatever comes in your mind that gets expressed through you, without any hindrance, without any difficulties. So and to achieve that level of virtuosity, you are free from any worries, that if some expression comes to your mind, it will get expressed, you require to practice , appropriate practice, I would say intelligent and appropriate practicing. Thank You.
Residence of Pt. Manilal Nag, 13G Gobinda Mondal Lane, Kolkata 700002
About the speaker
Manilal Nag is a renowned sitar player and an exponent of the Bishnupur Gharana of Bengal. His sitar recitals have been featured in many National Programmes of Music & Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan since 1954. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards including Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 2001 and
Government of West Bengal’s Highest Civilian Award, Banga Bibhushan in 2015.
Pt. Manilal Nag Talks on His Musical Lineage and Some Tips on Riyaz
Our forefathers had their ancestral home in the town of Bishnupur and later on they settled in the town of Bankura. My grandfather Gobinda Chandra Nag lived in Bankura town only, where my father Gokul Nag was born. I am the fifth generation in my family where music began in an amateurish way since my great grandfather Nafarchandra Nag’s time. His son was Bauridas Nag. My grandfather was the son of Bauridas.
Bishnupur was then a great seat of music. I heard a story about Jadubhatta, who was singing Dhrupad when all activities in the town literally came to a halt. The court proceedings closed as everyone flocked to listen to Jadubhatta.
My father, as a little boy was playing sitar before an audience in Bankura, when his would-be guru Ram Prasanna Bandyopadhyay heard him. He was impressed and accepted my father as his disciple.
My father was always very very strict as a teacher. If I remember his day to day life I saw him immersed in music, in sitar playing, almost all the while. But when he taught me, he was very strict. As a child, I was naturally fond of playing. I used to run out of doors to play with my friends. My father caught hold of me by the ears and made me sit for riyaz.
He sat before me with the tabla. He himself played the tabla and put me to practice for 8 to 10 hours a day. If I ever asked him to show me some technique by the hand he used to insist me that I listen and try to imbibe the sound. “Listen and play, why should I point out?”, he rebuked.
I later on realized how this training of the ears had been a sort of boon for me. In my later years it was so true that I regularly listened to vocal music and imitated the expressions by exploring different techniques on the instrument.
When I am asked how my reputation in playing so singular a jhala came about, I don’t think that there was any special technique behind the practice. I played the 4 stroke Da chi chi chi in a regular tempo foe a long time, emphasizing the third syllable every time, da chi chi chi and so on.
When asked how I could play taans in so fast a tempo, and how it remained melodious all through, I just remember that I practiced a lot of paltas and meends for hours. Another thing, my father was very particular regarding my riwaz with the table. Unlike today when it is difficult to find a laydaar tabla player even once a week for practice, there were many table players in my younger days who simply came to practice with us. They were not renowned artists but they came with their love for music. Four tabla players a day, someone in the morning, another one in late morning, may be again in the afternoon and in the evening. And this went on for days without a break, you could say almost all the days in a year, so that the laya would just get ingrained in your reflex system. Tehais would pop up spontaneously without preparatory rehearsals before concerts. Such tabla players were there during my childhood and boyhood days in Uttarpara, where we lived before coming to our Bagbazar home.
In Bagbazar, Shankarda (Pandit Shankar Ghosh), Shyamalda (Pandit Shyamal Bose) used to come regularly at our home during those early years of my career. Then we used to practice at a stretch for three to four hours.
Paraphrased in English by Mita Nag
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
I remember everything about Vilayet Khan sahib’s riyaz. When, at night, father and I would complete our riyaz and go upstairs, he would start. All the doors and windows would be closed.
What time?
We would finish by 10:30-11:00. I would accompany father. Father would do the riyaz. After finishing, we would go upstairs.
This was in 1935?
No, this was ’44, ’45, ’46 – these three years. The gentleman was so nice…he didn’t cause any disturbance to anybody in the household. Father would go up first when we finished. He used to say, “Now I shall play.” He was so gentle and polite.
It would begin from 10:30pm?
Yes, at night. We would go upstairs by eleven. Vilayet Khan would sit down to play. We were a joint family then. My aunts…everyone called him by name. They used to say, “Look, Vilayet has started to play. Then, early in the morning, father and I would come downstairs to practice. Vilayet Khan would say, “Now you play, I’ll go lie down for a while.” What did he sleep on? He wasn’t fancy at all. He rested his head on the bire of the tabla. He would practice all night. What did he practice? The same palta. The same jhala. It was like he was polishing the music. (Demonstrates). When father went to the washroom at night or to the courtyard, he would see Vilayet Khan sitting in the same spot and playing. Sometimes (demonstrates) it would go up by one point. This was their riyaz.
