| Told by | Pt. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Obtained by | Suranjita Paul |
| Date | 01 July, 2016 |
| Place | Sangeet Bhavan, Emerald Bower Campus, Rabindra Bharati University |
| About the speaker | Pt. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay is a highly renowned sitar player and academician. |
| Tags | Ravi Shankar, Tarapada Chakarborty, guru, father, Peejush Prasanna Bandopadhyay, Hiren Roy, sitar, 1960, Chitta Prasanna Banerjee, Bhismadev, Vishmadev Chatterjee, Radhika Mohan Maitra |
| Language | Bengali |
Sanjoy Bandopadhyay speaks :
| Told by | Subrata Roy Chaudhury |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14 December 2014 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Pt. Subrata Roy Chaudhury 6, Canal Street, Kolkata 700014 |
| About Subrata Roy Chaudhury | Well-known sitar player, scholar |
| Key words | 1961, Hafiz Ali Khan, Khoka Maharaj, Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhury, sarod, Amjad Ali Khan, Bageshree, southern Kolkata, Kesarbai Kerkar, Ahmedjan Thirakwa, Dover Lane, Alla Rakha. |
| Language | English |
Subrata Roy Chaudhury speaks:
Verbatim :
In the year 1961, that was my first waking up all night, and not staying at home all night. In 1961 I was eighteen years old, I was born in 1943 and I think in our conservative household, I wouldn’t say conservative, because we were quite liberal but staying out for the night was out of the question. They were all angry with me but this was my first staying out, and I didn’t have money as a student to buy the ticket, Birendra Krishna Roy Chaudhury told me you wear the volunteer’s batch and attend the concert. Help the people to sit and chase and you get a free ticket and you can hear all the maestros.
I remember he purposely told me to focus your attention to Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Sahab. He rarely gives concerts and doesn’t play for more than five seven minutes. But we shall compel him to play more, and Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhury whom Hafiz Ali Khan Sahab fondly call ‘khoka maharaj’ told him that you’ll have to play and he said “yes yes yes, I would play Bageshree” . I remember that since it was Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhury’s conference, Hafif Ali Khan Sahab sat on the stage, tuned a sarod, Amjad Ali Khan Sahab sat beside, and I was playing the Tanpura probably, because I forgot about it, but recently I saw something few days ago, Hafif Ali Khan Sahab’s documentary with Amjad Ali Khan Sahab and I found my picture playing Tanpura, with the father and the son and Hafiz Ali khan Sahab first said that “I am playing on the request of Khoka Maharaj, and khoka Maharaj was such a knowledgeable person, that many great ustads came to teach him, but actually didn’t teach him but learnt from him. By various questions and answers they actually learnt acchyubh Ragas, unknown ragas from him.
But Hafiz Ali Khan Sahab immediately replied – “ key yeh to main hi hoon” ( This is me and nothing but me). Then kesarbai said no we would like to like to listen to you. Then Thirakwa sahib stood up and said I also came to listen to you , “ Main bhi aaphi ko sunne aya, aap bajaiye’. So Hafiz Ali Khan Sahab looked at Thirakwa Khan Sahab and winked and said – “ Arey main to bajaunga “ ( I will most definitely play.) is you come to stage and play table with me. And Thirakwa sahib immediately went back stage and told the secretary that if I get my item money I will play. I will go and adjusting my budget that is not possible, and then Amjad Ali Khan Sahab took over and played. He was born on 1945 o in 1961 he was just sixteen years old. But what brilliance, ‘Ekhara Taan” and brilliant Sarod, sparkling Sarod, and that was time when he became famous. He was immediately booked for Dover Lane and once later where he played with Ustad Alla Rakha Khan and created a sensation. All pretty girls were there looking out for him to sign their autographs because such handsome musician is very rarely seen on the stage playing classical instruments.
Verbatim by : Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Picture Courtesy: Google
http://swaratala.blogspot.com/2015/08/ustad-hafiz-ali-khan-last-interview.html
Edited & Designed: Ms. Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University
| Told by | Subrata Roy Chaudhury |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14 December 2015 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Pt. Subrata Roy Chaudhury 6, Canal Street, Kolkata 700014 |
| About Subrata Roy Chaudhury | Well-known sitar player, scholar |
| Key words | Nikhil Banerjee, Mushtaq Ali Khan, Barkatullah Khan, Lynton Street, practicing, John Gomes, Chittagong, Pathuriaghata House, All Bengal Music Competition, , Radhika Mohan Maitra, Rajshahi, Chakraberia Road, Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhury, Harmonium, Allauddin Khan, Mosque, Ravi Shankar, Jod, Ladi-Jor, Gamak-Jor, Ali Akbar Khan, 1950’s, Annapurna Devi, conservative society, Enayetkhani baaj, Maihar baaj, Calcutta Gharana. |
| Language | English |
Subrata Roy Chaudhury speaks
| Told by | Jon Barlow |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14 December 2014 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Jon Barlow 91/1B Bondel Road, Kolkata 700019 [Ballygunge Phari] |
| About Jon Barlow | A man in pursuit of Indian Classical Music for more than fifty years. Learnt sarod, vocal music, music collector, music craftsman, photographer, artist, music theorist. |
| Tags | Ali Akbar Khan, 1963, Sydney, Maihar, David, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, 1971, Radhika Mohan Maitra, sarod, Umar Khan, Kalighat, Burma Teak, Siddhartha Roy Choudhury, Tun, Picnic Garden Road, Tanpura, Box-Tanpura, Imrat Khan, Nibruttibua Sarnaik, V.G. Jog, Dilshad Khan, Bablu, Hemen Sen, craftsmanship, Manas Chakraborty, instrument making |
| Language | English |
Jon Barlow speaks
| Told by | Samir Chatterjee |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 29 December 2014 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Samir Chatterjee, 15A Gobinda Mondal Lane, Cossipur, Kolkata |
| About Samir Chatterjee | Eminent tabla player, thinker. To know detaisl click here |
| Tags | Audience, Tansen Music Conference, Kishen maharaj, Darbari Kanada, Dhamar, Lady sarod player, 1970’s |
| Language | English |
Samir Chatterjee speaks:
Told By: Samir Chatterjee
Text Version :
This is about how compromising Calcutta audience were when it comes to real good music. You remember ‘Tansen Music Conference’ – right? We would all eagerly wait (for) year around when the festival come about and people would gather to listen some of the most renowned and able musicians. I would refrain from mention the name of the musician but she was a Sarod player and she came with one of the most renowned Tabla player from Benaras Gharana (Pandit Kishan Maharaj Ji) . They were on the stage. She started playing raga Darbari Kanada.
She was young to handle the raga and it sounded like, she used the alap section only to introduce the raga and went straight into Dhamar.
After a couple of rounds of Dhamar, brilliant Dhamar from Pandit Kishan Maharaj; few members of the audience actually walked up to the stage and asked her to stop and remind her that if you have chosen raga Darbari Kanada you should do proper justice by doing a proper alap, we can wait for the Dhamar.
It was such a strong message and for us as young students of music to see that happening in front of ours it was educable. In those days in the first couple of rows would be filled up with musicians and they had the time, they had the interest and the patience to listen to other musicians they would come. Today we don’t see that happens at all. Musicians just come for their own item, they would play and leave. They would not even wait for or stay on for next performance. But, in those days (whether) they had no performance they would still come and listen and first 3 or few rows, you know and remember, when Ustad Vilayat Khan Sahab played, half of the auditorium was always filled up with musicians. So this was one of such learning lessons.
Another occasion you remember what kind of embarrassment was it when the organizer decided to do a zugalbandi with Ustad Bismillah Khan sahib.
Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay : But it was a good example of Rebuking Audience. Raga Darbari Kanada; this is never a fighting ground. Thank you for the wonderful story.
Verbatim by: Mousumi Das
Picture Courtesy: Google
Edited & Designed: Ms. Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
| Told by | Jon Barlow |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14 December 2014 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Jon Barlow 91/1B Bondel Road, Kolkata 700019 [Ballygunge Phari] |
| About Jon Barlow | A man in pursuit of Indian Classical Music for more than fifty years. Learnt sarod, vocal music, music collector, music craftsman, photographer, artist, music theorist. |
| Tags | 1972, 1973, Sangeet Natak Academy, sound archive, NCPA, Radhika Mohan Maitra, Narayan Menon, Arvind Parikh, recording studio, bandish, stories, anecdotes, D.T. Joshi, Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Vijay Kichlu, Bandish collections, 1974, Peter Row, Ford Foundation, 1979, SRA. |
| Language | English |
Bandish Recording and Archiving: Thoughts during early 1970’s
Jon barlow speaks
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
| Told by | Samar Saha |
| Obtained by | Abishek Chatterjee |
| Date | 17 November 2014 |
| Place | Samar Saha’s residence at the ITC-SRA, 1 N.S.C. Bose Road, Kolkata 700040 |
| On Samar Saha | Eminent Tabla Player. Attached to ITC-SRA, Kolkata |
| Key-words | Rela, Krishna Kumar Ganguli [Natubabu], Hirendra Kumar Ganguli [Hirubabu], Raichand Baral, Anath Nath Bose, Shobhabazar, 1970s, riyaz, practice, attitude |
| Language | Bengali |
Samar Saha speaks
| Told by | Jon Barlow |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 14 December 2014 |
| Place | At Kolkata residence of Jon Barlow 91/1B Bondel Road, Kolkata 700019 [Ballygunge Phari] |
| About Jon Barlow | A man in pursuit of Indian Classical Music for more than fifty years. Learnt sarod, vocal music, music collector, music craftsman, photographer, artist, music theorist. |
| Tags | Calcutta, Radhika Mohan Maitra, Jon Barlow, sarod, Nikhil Banerjee, learning, 1962, 1963, Australia, Ali Akbar Khan |
| Language | English |
It’s just a personal anecdote about chance and I suppose fate. It is the recollection of my first encounter with Radhika Mohan Maitra, when I first visited Calcutta in 1971 to buy a musical instrument. I had been to Maihar in 1968-69 for a few months but found Allaudin Khan very old and frail. I was with my fellow Australian friend Alan Posselt who actually had some lessons with the old man but mostly we learned from Mr David, a Sri Lankan who was charged with the unenviable job of keeping the Allaudin Khan School there up and running and the Maihar Band in practice. It would be fair to call the learning process a bit desultory but we had a great time with visiting with Khansaheb and watching the Maharaja with a pop-gun chasing langurs off the tin sheets that he had covered decaying branches of his palace with. Shortly after this time I was living in London where I made a quite respectable sarod from an Elm wood log that a friend of my father had given me, it was half invented half reconstructed from a few instruments I had seen and though eccentric it was a fair stab in the dark. Studying sarod was important to me but I had no clear idea or instinct about what to do next. All I knew was that I wanted to get a good instrument as the one that I had bought in Delhi was miserable and the first instrument I had made was bizarre. Everyone said you have to go to Calcutta and ask Hemen to make a good instrument, so finally I resolved to do just that. In Australia before leaving I got to know a chap by the name of John Bucklow who had befriended Radhubabu when the latter went to
Australia as the leader of an Indian cultural mission sent by the Government of India in, I think, 1962 or 63. Radhubabu had made quite an impression among jazz aficionados. This just a year or two before Ravishankar and Ali Akbar explored the southern route. Anyway, John Bucklow had given me a bottle of Scotch whisky to present to Radhubabu. I did not know where to stay and went to Grand Hotel. I stayed there for one day. It was of course very expensive for me but I wanted to deliver the gift so first thing the next day, without checking out, I went to Radhubabu at his house in Kali Bari Lane at Jadavpur, to give him his bottle of whisky. He was delighted and asked ‘where do you stay’ and ‘what are you doing’, and told that I was looking for a sarod. ‘Oh, yes.’ and probably told me the names of some karekars. I knew that he was a sarod player but it did not register as an opportunity because I was so obsessed with Ali Akbar Khan that, strange as it may sound, I did not think asking for his advice. He said ‘Mr. Barlow if you want to spend a week or two in Calcutta finding what you need , I have a spare flat and you are very welcome to stay there.’. It was opposite his house on the ground floor and was a nice simple roomy apartment. So he gave me a place to stay and he treated me fantastically well but never suggested that I should learn with him. Radhubabu was a superb cook and was very kind and courteous. He treated me to wonderful food and taught me to eat Ilish [Hilsa] without choking on the bones. I had previously met Nikhil Banerjee in Sydney at the house of Nadine Amadeo who was a great enthusiast for Indian Music and belonged to one of Australia’s prominent musical families. So having settled momentarily in Radhubabu’s flat I went to meet Nikhilda who lived not far away in Jodhpur Park, which in those days was very open with just a few apartment buildings and houses standing in the fields. I told him that I wanted to learn the sarode but didn’t know what to do and that Maihar was certainly not the best place any longer. He asked me where I was staying. I said that I was staying with Radhika Mohan Maitra and explained how it had happened. He started laughing and said that ‘you are laying on the lap of sarod!’ and so with Nikhil Banerjee’s hearty recommendation I requested Radhubabu to teach me started learning with him.
| Told by | Biswajit Bhattacharjee |
| Obtained by | Sanjoy Bandopadhyay |
| Date | 11 December 2014 |
| Place | Sangeet Bhavan, B.T. Road Campus, Rabindra Bharati University, 56A, B.T. Road, Kolkata 700050 |
| On Biswajit Bhattacharjee | Faculty member of the Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, Tabla player of Lucknow gharana. |
| Key-words | 1970s, Tapan Theatre, South Kolkata, Music Conference, Tarapada Chakraborty, Manas Chakraborty, Anil Bhattacharjee, Lucknow Gharana, effect of music, Shiva, Stotra, tears, vocal |
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Paraphrased in English
Told by: Biswajit Bhattacharya
Around 1970, a musically remarkable incident happened in southern part of Kolkata. A musical concert was arranged in Tapan Theatre. It was in Bhawanipur area near Sadananda Road, Kalighat. It was a wonderful evening, and that evening gave the listeners a memorable music listening experience; the reminiscences of the melody are still echoing in the air. Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty along with his son Pandit Manas Chakraborty was rendering khyal. Pandit Manas Chakraborty was accompanying his father with tanpura and also providing vocal support. Pandit Anil Bhattacharya was on the Tabla in a very supportive mood. He was following Sangeetacharya very closely. Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty was completely engrossed in his music. After some time he started Shiva Stotra. He had such a unique and beautiful voice! As he continued with the beautiful melody, his son stopped his vocal rendering and kept aside his tanpura. Pt. Bhattacharya on tabla was spellbound. Sangeetacharya Tarapadaji was so absorbed in his creation that water started flowing through his eyes. There was deep silence all around. The audiences got memerised as they began to feel the ultimate connection with the cosmic energy. They were so captivated in the melody that they also could not restrain their emotions. Instead of the sound of clapping there were weeping and hiccups all over.
This is one of the mesmerizing incidents, which still a music lover love to cherish.
Notes:
Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty: Born on 1st April 1909 in Kotalipara, Faridpur, Bangladesh. He died on 1st September 1995. He was felicitated Sangeet Natak Akademy Fellowship from Sangeet Natak Academy in 1972. He was also conferred State Academy award from Rabindra Bharati University in 1972.
Pandit Manas Chakraborty: Born on 9th September 1942 in Kolkata. He died on 12th Deccember 2012. He was the son and disciple of Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty. He was the torchbearer of Kotali Gharana.
Award list of Pt. Manas Chakraborty:
Pandit Anil Bhattacharya: Renowned Tabla player of Lucknow gharana of Tabla playing. He was the disciple of Wajid Hussain Khan and Chhottan Khalifa of Lucknow Gharana.
Kotali Gharana: Pandit Tarapada chakraborty was the prime architect of Kotali Gharna.
Paraphrasing and notes by Dr. Suranjita Paul, Research Fellow
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.