S.A.P. Lab, Department of Instrumental Music,Rabindra Bharati University ,B.T. Road Campus, Kolkata.
About the speaker
Sitar Maestro, Chair Professor, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University
Tags
1974, Park Circus Music Conference , Nikhil Banerjee, Sitar, Debiprasad Chatterjee, 1975, Kanai Dutta,Tabla Tanpura Tuning,Bilaskhani Todi,Asavari Todi,
Language
English
Pandit Sanjoy Bandopadhyay speaks:
Tuning and Nikhil Banerjee
Told by: Pandit Sanjoy Bandopadhyay
Text Version:
Long back, it should be 1974/75 or may be 73. I had been to Kalamandir (Auditorium, Theater Road), in ‘The Park Circus Music Conference’. And that was the final day and Nikhilda, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee was the last musician to perform. Earlier musician was Sunanda Pattanayakji. I was looking at my watch. I was sitting at the auditorium but impatiently waiting for the time to come… because I wanted to leave the auditorium at least 45 minutes ahead of time before Nikhilda sits on the stage. I left the auditorium and went to the greenroom and saw a few people over there. Nikhilda (was) tuning his instrument and behind him was Debi da (Pt. Debi Prasad Chatterjee) and Pandit Kanai Dutta was on Tabla. Kanai Dutta was close to me, because I used to go to his house and all. Nikhilda of course was quite known to me. He was almost my demigod! We used to worship him as a kind of demigod for music and was my Gurubhai because he also learnt with my teacher.
Pt. Nikhil Banerjee
He was tuning his instrument; … and sometimes he was putting his finger on the Tanpura and slightly readjusting … and was tuning (his instrument uninterruptedly). Minutes passed, fifteen minutes passed, tewnty minutes passed — by but he was continuously tuning … Kanaida was talking to somebody, kind of whispering… people were silent. Silence was all around…. Then a good looking lady…with ornaments and all…. appeared to be from a well off family…… she came in the greenroom. Kanai da knew her. She was standing before Nikhilda, but he didn’t look (at her), his head was down and (he) was tuning. Then Kanaida asked her,” Do you want to talk to Nikhil?” She nodded. Kanaida gestured, ‘try’. Then the lady bent down and touched Nikhilda’s feet. Then the thing happened—! He just shivered- he jumped up-. He was so much engrossed in tuning that he didn’t have (the sense) that what’s going in the vicinity- what was going on around him. So when that lady touched his feet that (was like) a shock for him. That was the amount of attention and involvement of Nikhilda in tuning. Anyway I was enjoying what was going on.
Then the organizers came because Sunanda Pattanayakji’s concert…..rendering was over . They came (to take him), but they were just standing there. No one had the courage to ask him that it was time for him to go to the stage. Then after talking to their organizer Kanaida asked ,” Is it the time that we go to the stage ?“ they replied ,” Yes, yes”. Kanaida said,” Tell him”. Then the organized said,” Why don’t you request him?” Then Kanaida told him, “?????, ??? ??? ????, ??” [“Nikhil now this is the time to go to stage” ]. Then Nikhilda took his Sitar and went to the stage. I ran fast and went to the auditorium. There again he tuned about 10 minutes and started Bilashkhani Todi, played 2 ½ hours of BilashkhaniTodi, alap-jod-jhala followed by 1 ½ hour of Asavari Todi.
It was a memorable concert and the ‘Ni-Da-Sa’ the starting phrase I still remember. I felt that Bilashkhani Todi got incarnated with one stroke……… amazing experience.
– You have got your learning of dhrupad and kheyal from Agra Gharana but then you got talim from Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay, who was from a different gharana don’t you have any problem to learn?
– I had learnt kheyal from Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay from 1995. Before that my first guru Kalidas Dey, was a very broad-minded person, he used to encourage me a lot. He told me that the style of Agra Gharana, the strength in the gayaki is not meant for your voice. The male strength would not suit you as you also sing rabindra sangeet. You will render the things in moderation, bandish may be of Agra but the alap would be in kirana gharana. Kirana gharana’s style is more mellow and beautiful. You will listen to their gayaki, their notations and sing in your style. My guruji was unique and he taught me to sing in Kirana gharana despite being him from Agra gharana. So, when I went to Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay, he told me that my learning was perfect and he would not have any difficulty to teach me. I know now that if someone learns something wrong the guru had a tough time to erase it. So Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay started to teach me from something I had learnt, he didn’t have to erase. I started learning kheyal from him and he sent me to Aparnadi for Dhrupad. It was his generosity, I must say because he also taught dhrupad. I used to take bandishes from Aparnadi.
Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay
I still learn from Pt. Aloke Chattopadhyay, now Aparnadi has gone. I had a new guru for Dhrupad. Now I learn from Pt. Falguni Mitra of Betiya Gharana. Falgunida is the relative of my first guruji. When I sang for Sursagaar in 1990 Falgunida listened and told me that if you want to learn from me. But he was then in Bangalore and my guruji could not took me to learn from him then. I like Falgunida’s singing a lot, he had a sweet voice and he didn’t do the typical layakari of Dhrupad which is not very popular for masses. Pt. Falguni Mitra’s father was Shibprasad Mitra was also a famous Dhrupadiya.
In Rabindra Bharati University I first experienced how total music should be. Rabindra Bharati had many musical streams like Vocal, Instrumental, Rabindra Sangeet, Dance and Drama. They are all in one building so we were intermingled in every way. If drama stream needs some help in vocals they would come to us. Instruments are a constant help to everyone, in songs etc. The programmes that we were involved then, progressed us a lot in our thoughts. Then in vocal section we had Pt ChinmoyLahiri, Pt Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, Pt Nimaichand Boral, Respected Uma Dey, Respected Usharanjan Mukhopadhyay, Respected Chhabi Bandyopadhyay, Respected Brindaban Banik (Kirtan), Respected Brajarakhal Das- they were all famous in their respected fields.
I am very indebted to Nimaichand Boral and Kaberi Kar, they taught me to love dhrupad. They were both disciple of Dagar Gharana. Nimaibabu was a disciple of Ustad Moinuddin Dagar and Kaberi Debi was disciple of Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar. They taught us alap in a way that we used to forget the timings of our classes, and it would be evening at six instead of five p.m. classes.
In my home I shared these with my Guruji and he told me to hear them well. He used to say “listening to music is the first thing in learning music; if a beat missed it won’t be major thing but out of tuned music is not music at all. You stay rapt in tunes.” I have learnt a lot from these wonderful teachers. How Surafaktal can be sung in Dhrupad, how Choutal or Dhamar can be sung they had taught me separately. It wouldn’t be just if I do not mention It, Uma Bhattacharya, she was the sister of Respected Uday Bhattacharya. She used to attend me, even if I go alone in her classes, although her Gharana (Khandar Bani) was not my discipline. (Dhrupad had a small set of student of 7-8 where as Kheyal had a large number of students).
We didn’t get to learn from Udaybabu but we learnt from Itudi who taught there.
Sri Nimai Chand Boral
You have to learn Thumri and Tappa in learning Kheyal and you have to learn Chaturanga, Tribata, Ragamala, Talmala, Panchamsawari. All must be sung in different style. In Thumri you can sing in Dadra in other rhythm too but not in Dhrupad. You have to sing Surfaktala in that that rhythm, Panchamsawari in that rhythm, Tribata in Teora tala. In Chaturanga there are four parts, meaningless words, sound of pakhwaj, lyrics of the song and Swarguchha. Tribata has three such part. Dhrupad is a vast subject and I had to listen to many accomplished singers here. So, I decided to sing Dhrupad in future. My Guruji said “it’s a good thing that you decided that. It will help you to improve your Kheyal too. By learning Dhrupad the tuning and the four parts of alap, the last part of which is Jhala is like Tana in Kheyal can be practised too. So, Rabindra Bharati introduced me to the world of Dhrupad and let me earn my place in it. Afterwards I achieved first class in Dhrupad from this university. It was in 1983-87 and the classes were held in Jorasnko Thakurbari.
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
1982, Golpark Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Ali Akbar Khan, ravi Shankar, silence
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.
During such a time, Borda Kaku, that is Prasun Banerjee, Pratyush’s father, started an organisation called Aritra in a large British-era house on Bishop Lefroy Road. The hall was a hundred feet in length and forty feet in breadth. Private music programmes were held in Aritra for fifteen years – at least once or twice a month. I don’t think I have missed a single programme at Aritra if I was in Kolkata at the time. We were always eager to go to such places, we wanted to perform, but weren’t getting the chance, it became a meeting place with friends. We would go there to vicariously satisfy our desire to be associated with music. But actually we couldn’t do anything, I can’t do anything even now, but Aritra occupies a special place in my youth. Those performances, that atmosphere of music held a special place for me.
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
Rajeeb Chakraborty, Kaushic Sen, sarod, tabla, Rupak, Jhaptal
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
Vilayet Khan, Yaman, Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Festival, Park Circus, 1978,
