| Told by | Smt Meena Banerjee |
| Obtained by | Rajeswary Ganguly Banerjee |
| Date | 21st February, 2017 |
| Place | Smt Meena Banerjee’s residence , Rani Kuthi, Kolkata |
| About the speaker | Renowned Music Critic, Musicologist and Music Connoisseur |
| Tags | SRA, Jhalapala, Artist, 1998, 1999, Vijay Kichlu, Uday Shankar, Almora, Deepali Nag, Dance, Rashid Khan, Odissi, Pallavi, Pratima Bedi, Lakshmi Narayan Mishra, Tabla, Thumri, Ananda Gopal Bandyopadhyay, Mahadev Prasad Mishra, Purnima Chowdhury, Tanmoy Bose, Birju Maharaj, Kathakata, Arun Bhadury, Ulhas Kashakar, Deepali Nag, Purnima Sen, Abdul Rasheed Khan, Ghazal |
| Language | Engllish |
Smt Meena Banerjee Speaks :
Text Version:
There was a hilarious incident that took place in SRA when I was there. We used to organize event called ‘Jhalapala’. In the performing artists all the artists who were known for their singing or Tabla playing or some other you know forte, they were supposed to switch roles and do something else like a singer was supposed to dance, a table player supposed to sing or vice versa. So the hall was full when we organized this in 1998 I think or 1999. Because Mr. Kichlu was there, was still director of SRA at that time.
Mr. Kichlu we discovered that he was trained by none other than UdayShankarji in his Almora ashram. As a boy he had learnt how to dance. Earlier also I had heard from Deepalidi, Deepali Nag that once they had done Shah Jahan and Anarkali soDeepalidihad become Anarkali and Mr. Kichlu was Shah Jahan. Sorry Jahangir and Anarkali. So on this day we requested Mr. Kichlu to present an item. He said that – ‘I’ll show you how Ram walks, his dignified way of carrying himself and how Sita walks’. And it was fantastic, it was really fantastic. He was in plain white pajama kurta, but then one could see that Sita is walking, lifting her lehenga, covering her head with curni. It was very nicely done.
Then Ustad Rashid Khan was asked to sing sorry asked to dance in given item odissi. He very nicely gave a tribhangi mudra and I was singing the item for him Pallavi and he tried to copy Pratima Bediji. Then there was Pandit Lakshmi Narayan Mishra. He is a veteran Tabla player. He said that he wants to sing Thumri. So he came and sang beautiful Thumri for all of us. AnandaGopalBandopadhyay, he also sang Thumri in that. He is a wonderful singer. Incidentally he is the disciple of Mahadev Prasad Mishraji who used to teach Tabla and Thumri. And Anandada learnt Tabla from him and Thumrihis one of the best known disciples was Vidusi Purnima Chowdhury.
There were many other artists also who were associated with SRA’s activities. One of them was Tanmoy Bose, the aced tabla player. He was asked to present an item and he came up with BirjuMaharajji’s way of talking or doing the Kathakata while dancing. After dance naturally one gets breathless. So Tanmoy presented that so beautifully, you know, catching his breath and then again saying some words…it was beautifully presented. There were so many artists there and we all enjoyed you know, you want artist name like Arun Bhaduri was there, Deepalidi was there, Purnima Sen, then Ullhasji was there I remember and the younger artists were there, all the scholars were there who would learning from various Gurus. There was Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan Sahab. He is well-known poet, everybody knows. His way of reciting the gazals, I am saying reciting not singing…that was also fantastic. So he recited his self-composed gazals and that was also…it still clings on my mind.
Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Picture Courtesy: Google
Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.