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.
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.
This incident, it happened in the ‘70’s, I think – Ravi Shankar was performing at Kala Mandir. Edward Kennedy, the brother of the President of the United States, had landed at the Kolkata airport for a brief period of time. When he heard that Ravi Shankar was playing at Kala Mandir, he came to the auditorium instead of spending his time waiting in the airport lounge. He sat quite close to us. Ananda, my brother-in-law, was sitting next to me, and Mr. Kennedy was sitting next to him. I still have his autograph. Ananda has asked him for it. Ravi Shankar’s performance was brilliant. At the end of the show, we went and met him.
S.A.P. Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, B.T. Road Campus.
About the speaker
Renowned Sitar Player and Torchbearer of Bishnupur Gharana.
Tags
House Concerts, Manilal Nag, 1960, 1970, 1980, Musicians, Performance, Bagbazar, Naina Devi, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Keramatullah Khan, Meera Bandopadhyay, Prasun Bandopadhyay, Gokul Nag, V.G. Jog
Language
English
Ms Mita Nag Speaks:
Text Version:
When I was growing up in my family, I remember in my childhood, I have seen many house concerts taking place and at that time, my baba Pt Manilal Nag, it was his prime time, that was in sixties, and seventies, into late seventies and even in late eighties and I used to see once or twice in a year, like when there were major concerts, in winter,in or around Kolkata, many musicians from the city and from other cities, they used to come over to the town for their performances, and with such musicians with whom my baba had very cordial relations, because he got familiar with them while travelling everywhere around the countries for many years, so they just used to you know, gossip together, and they used to go to concerts together, and sometimes travelling together so, like it was a kind of a kind of ‘Adda’, musical ‘Adda’.
Naina Devi
My baba just asked some senior musicians and junior musicians and they used to come to our home at Bagbazar, and rendered their performances, so in my childhood like in seventies I remember, Smt Naina Devi ji, I also remember buddhajethu, that Pt. Buddhadeb Dasgupta, but that was off course much later, early eighties. even remember Ustad Keramatullah Khan, and they all came to our houses, I mean our home and the adjacent home where there was a big hall, or hall room on the first floor, so the concerts, when like there was some very very renowned musicians coming, then we used to shift the concerts to that place so that more people can be accommodated, so they came and I also remember that I used to call her ‘Pishima’ meere pishima, that is Bidushi Meera Banerjee, and Pt Prasun Banerjee, Prasun Pishemoshai, like they all had used to have a very cordial and friendly relation with my grand father and my father, and beside that we also used to have house concerts, sometimes the concerts were nightlong concerts, Pt V.G.Jog performed duet in our house concert with baba. So these were really interesting time, may be I don’t remember the music with that in details, because I was too young to remember, but I can recall the atmosphere in the house, and my mom used to be in the kitchen, she was cooking with the other women at the house, and sometimes our lady students, like they were cooking dinner for these artists, sometimes they were arranging, like for their rest, like some artists after concerts used to come to the concerts and relax in one of our bedrooms,
Pt. Gokul Nag
so this was the atmosphere which I have seen in my family and I grew up like this, Other thing that I should mention that these musicians like they really built a ‘Adda’ that was that when they came, they didn’t take any honorarium for their performances. They came as a sort of friendly gesture and off course they had a great respect for my ‘Dadu’ Sangeetacharya Gokul Nag, and they knew my father so well, at most they just had dinner in our house, or we arranged for their transport, so those were really good times and we enjoyed a lot.
S.A.P. Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, B.T. Road Campus.
About the speaker
Renowned Sitar Player and Torchbearer of Bishnupur Gharana.
Tags
Manilal Nag, 1954, All India Music Conference, All India Radio, Tabla, Vocalist, Varanasi,Benaras, Musician, Kishan Maharaj, Shanta Prasad, Birju Maharaj, Amir Khan, Maihar, Ravi Shankar, Uttarpara, Uday Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Sitar, Vilayat Khan, Dagar Brothers, Jor, Alap, Binkar, Dhrupad, Concerts, Organizers, Tansen, Surdas, Veenkar, Sadarang, All Bengal Music Conference, Satin Sen, Park Circus, Manmatho Ghosh, Pathuriaghata, Music Conference, Audience, Classical Music Concert, Patroniser, Jhala
Language
Engish
Ms Mita Nag Speaks
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
My father never wanted me to be attracted to the world of music, and thus I had started listening to Sitar and Sarad and other instrumental music quite late in my life. I started listening conferences perhaps in 1967 or 68.. or perhaps in 1966. It was at the Indira Cinema Hall, where I first had went to listen to a music conference. Most probably it was the Tansen Festival, and there I had heard Nikhil Baneree, Manilal Nag and also Kanai Dutta performing. After listening to Nikhil Da, I remember I had told my father that I will not attempt to learn Sitar, because it was of such unparallel degree. But my father had proposed me a contract that he would give me something f I pursue my sitar practice.
Pt. Manila Nag
I had got the opportunity of experiencing Manilal Nag and Kanai Dutta on the same stage, and I consider myself to be very lucky.I clearly remember Mani Da had played the Suha that evening. This had a tremendous impact on me, and I liked it very much. However later in life, I grew to appreciate Nikhil Da’s performances more. But at that night, at the Tansen Festival, I had really liked the Suha that he had played, and I still remember that.
