Pt. Anindya Banerjee is an eminent Sarod and Sursringar player of Maihar gharana
Tags
Ramakrishna Mission, Golpark, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, 18000/-, 19000/-, Artist, Organiser, Ulhash Kashalkar, 5000/-, 8000/-, vocalist, Tabla player, United States, Concert, Samta Prasad, Reception, Lahara, Disciple, 1977, Audiences, All night concert, Ali Akbar khan, Vilayat Khan, Duet, Girija Debi, Nikhil Banerjee, Netaji Indoor Stadium, Allauddin Music Circle, Stage
Language
Bengali
Pt. Anindya Banerjee speaks:
Verbatim:
I had a very odd experience while organizing concerts for Ramkirishna Mission, two or three I’ll mention, one is, it’s basically based on monetary things,
M.S.Gopalkrishnan
Once M.S.Gopalkrishnan refused to take some extra money, what happened, he was suppose get rupees eighteen thousand or rupees nineteen thousand or something, but instead in order to make it round off and we wanted to pay him rupees twenty thousand, but he refused to take that, and we said that we have made this voucher so we can’t cancel it, but he said no no, he was adamant, he said you make a new voucher and then I’ll accept it. So we had to give him the exact amount. Which is a very rare thing because in most of the time the artists want to grab as much as money from the organizers.
Second thing happened also with Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar. He agreed to sing with five thousand rupees, but he we had fund so gave gave him,eight thousand rupees, three thousand rupees extra, which he also refused, he said “no, I can’t take that extra money and on top of that this is a very religious institution, I can’t take extra money from them”. So there were two other musicians, one very famous vocalist, who took first class air fare, he did not come and he used the ticket, and he never talked about that thing and never returned that money, which is very bad. Same thing also happened with one very famous Tabla player who resides in U.S.A. He didn’t come and next time he said last year while coming to this concert I had to pay so much extra money, so please give me that money. But actually he didn’t come and didn’t spent any kind of money but we had to sent because he was such famous artist. So in organizing concerts, this kind of things happens.
It happened with Samta Prasad ji also, we organized a concert with three very famous Tabla player’s solo, again in Ramkrishna Mission, so Samta Prasad ji came two years earlier than the concert and he stayed at Ramkrishna Mission guest house, he thought that this guest house is like a hotel, So he used to call at the reception at a very late night and asked for Paratha and Boti Kabab or something like that, and though it was prohibited but he used to have drinks there, then one day he fell sick, actually he fell sick after playing his Lahara, then we found that he consumed almost two k.g.s of Kaju Badam ( Cashew Nuts) and we came to know that from his disciples that their Guruji consumed that amount of Cashew Nuts, so we had a big problem in cleaning the room and so these things also happens organizing concert.
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Vilayet Khan
We also had a big fighting with the audience in 1977. We organized a night long concert of Ali Akbar Khan Sahab and Vilayat Khan Sahab duet, and also Girija Devi and Nikhil Banerjee at Netaji Indoor Stadium. We had a music circle called Allauddin Music Circle, on behalf of that we organized that concert. You know that the stage there is oval shaped and so everyone could not seat in front, because all tickets were sold out so many people were seating at the back side of the artists, which they didn’t like, and they kept on shouting that ‘you have to turn, you have to turn’, which couldn’t be possible and as we were the part of organizers wearing batches so people can find us and they started abusing us and somehow we have announced on the stage that it is not possible so please bear with us and just listen them playing but they kept on shouting that no we want to see them too and not only listening we also want to see their face and mood and expressions of the artists, so we were almost beaten up by the audience but somehow we were rescued so this is another part of organizing a concert.
Pt. Asit Kumar Banerjee is an eminent Rudra veena player and representative of Dagarbani Dhrupad in Kolkata
Tags
Jibak Chatterjee, Radio, Conference, Piyal Bhattacharya, Dagar Gharana, Karnatak Veena, Bhimadev Chatterjee, Ansuman Singha Roy [Kaustav], Veena, Vocal, National Programme, Gopal Chandra Paul, Arati Banerjee, Prabir Setari, Ganenbabu, Rabindra Bharati University, Koustav Singha Roy, Germany, Veena, 1980, Zia Mohiuddin Khan Dagar, Asad Ali Khan, Asit Kumar Banerjee, The Way of Music – The Book with Cassette
Some part of this recording gives us an opportunity to listen to a musician’s thoughts those are far from common. So, we thought to share these rare reflections generated from a highly dedicated musician’s mind. – Editor
On later inquiry Smt. Rajyasri Ghosh told that the incident happened around 1990. – Editor
Translation:
This incident that I will narrate was from the Sangeet Research Academy at Tollygaunge, where I was a scholar. We used to have a class on Raga Analysis there, and on that particular day, were discussing about the Raga Behag. Pandit Vijay Kichlu was conducting the session that day, and there was also present among us, personalities like Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Nibruttibua Sarnaik, A.T. Kanan, Malabika Kanan and Gijira Devi. So the session started with Faiyaz Khan Saheb’s Alap of Behag, after which the discussion took a turn to the different phrases of the Raga Behag. Each Raga comprises of a minimum of 3 to 4 phrases. After Faiyaz Khan’s Behag, Nissar Hossein Khan’s Behag was also touched upon. Some would do the notes as Ni Sa Ma Ga, some Ni Sa Pa Ma Ga… and we were all immersed in the talks. After some time, Amir Khan’s Behag was also talked about, which is a very different type, and we were discussing how we should analyse a Raga, and which phrases should we consider, since Amir Khan’s Raga was a distinct one.
Pt. Jasraj
At last, we talked about Pandit Jasraj’s Behag, our leader said “wow this is listenable”. So, Nibruttibua Sarnaik said, “you invite him to perform here, we pay thirty thousand rupees to listen to him and people comes to listen to him only, why are you criticising him?” Saying this he went out of the room, leaving everyone.
SAP- Lab, Dept. of Instrumental Music , Rabindra Bharati University
About the speaker
Pt. Sanjoy Bandopadhya is an eminent Sitar Player and Ustad Alauddin Khan Chair Professor in Dept. of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.
Tags
Manas Chakraborty, Solo Concert, September 1975 , Tarapada Chakraborty, Sukumar Samajpati, Kala Mandir, Tabla, Keramatulla Khan, Sarangi, Sagiruddin Khan, Harmonium Jayanta Bose, Puriya, 1975 – 78, Swarmandal, Vistar, Abdul Karim Khan, Subjective appreciation, tarsaptak Sa, Frequency, Suddha Kalyan, tanpura, Recorded Music
