| 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 details click here |
| Tags | All India Radio, Karamatullah Khan, Shyamal Bose, 1980’s, theka, change over, handing over, accompanaiment, tabla |
| Language | English |
Samir Chatterjee speaks:
Handing Over
Told by : Samir Chatterjee
This is a beautiful episode, the essence of this could be admiration, love affection and the expression of that is very strange. So, Ustad Karamatullah Khan Sahab was designated for a duty at the All India Radio for a recording session.
He was suppose to play with a singer and Khan Sahab for some reason was late and the singer waited…waited…waited and waited….then finally everyone was ready- other accompanists over there- everything in tune. Pandit Shyamal Bose Ji was around, he was also one of the staffs of that time and when things were heating up a little bit, the musician was almost angry and upset waiting for such a long time, Pandit Shyamal Bose Ji said them,” May I please? Then when Khan Sahab comes he will take over”. So Shyamal Bose Ji tuned the tabla and he started playing. Halfway through the vilambit, Khan Sahab appears. He comes and sees through the glass window and says, ”Oh! Shyamal is already started playing – may I go in please?” [He asked the persons who was recording]. The recordist says, ”Yeah, but we have to shut all doors and so that there is no noise and you have to go and catch up immediately “. ShyamalJi; his nature was if he starts, the music starts, he gets into the music and his eyes were closed. Khan Sahab went in so surreptitiously that Shyamal Bose Ji did not even know this Khansahab coming in, walking through all the floor, which is studio number – 9, which is quite a large studio, designated for Western Music recording, at least one piano I remebre, one or two pianos.
So he walked through the bare area of the floor onto the carpet, standing right behind Shyamal Bose Ji and ShyamalJi didn’t even noticed that Khan Sahab was standing behind him. So Khan Sahab’s only option was to make a physical alert and he chose to stick his big toe inside ShyamalJi’s butt. ShyamalJi woke up and how they transfer the theka from ShyamalJi to Khan Sahab. There was not a single note missing.
With such affection… its rare, very rare. ShyamalJi enjoyed that episode and told us this episode with reverence , that you know…..
Prof. SanjoyBandopadhyay : Do you remember around which time it might happen?
Samir Chatterjee: Definitely not before I joined All India Radio ….I came to Calcutta in 1981…so it was early 80’s.
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Verbatim by: Mousumi Das
Picture Courtesy: Pt Dilip Mukherejee, Renowned Tabla Exponent and Google
Edited & Designed: Ms. Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.