Told by	Somjit Dasgupta
Obtained by	Sanjoy Bandopadhyay and Troilee Dutta
Date	14 July, 2015
Place	Residence of Somjit Dasgupta Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092
About Somjit Dasgupta	Disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. Preserving rare musical instruments including the instruments belonged to Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. He plays different instruments like Sarod, Surshringar, Mohan Veena, etc.
Tags	Radhika Mohan Moitra, 1935, Bhagawan Chandra Sen, Swami Vivekananda, Lalit Mohan Maitra, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Allahabad, 1937, Anokhelal, jaba, Dipali Nag.
Language	Bengali

Somjit Dasgupta speaks :

Verbatim:

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 Verbatim by: Dr. Suranjita Paul

 Translation:

In 1937, Radhika Mohan Moitra was twenty years old. Bhagaban Chandra Sen had passed away. Bhagaban Chandra Sen was his guru in pakhwaj, he had shielded him, taken him everywhere, and introduced him to other great musicians. This man had passed away. One thing has to be mentioned – Bhagaban Chandra was the disciple of Swami Vivekananda and had learnt both the Dhrupad and the pakhwaj  from him. Bhagaban Chandra Sen was also the friend of Lalila Mohan Moitra, the grandfather of Radhu babu. He visisted their house in that connection. Radhu babu was plating at several programmes during this time. Sometimes, he’d sit down with UstadDabir Khan Sahib. This is how the days were passing. One day, a duet was organised with Allauddin Khan.

I had spoken about this with Ali Akbar Khan. He had saidm “I didn’t play then. I used to play with father because I was still learning. When Radhuda and father sat with the surshringar in our house, I didn’t understand much because I was so young.

So the duet took place during this time.

Was this the duet performed in Allahabad?

Yes. But I am saying this because he called this his fourth award.

Three people performed together in Allahabad in 1937 – the twenty-year old Radhika Mohan Moitra, Allauddin Khan, and Anokhe Lal Mishra on the tabla. It was a sarod duet. At one stage of the duet, Allauddin Khan put his instrument down and said, “The sarod can’t be played after this. You are playing in such a way, I cannot continue! I leave my javva to you.” Then Radhu babu said, “You are older than my father. Both of us should play.” Both of them played after that, but the javva stayed with him as his fourth award.

After this event, Allauddin Khan always used the formal address with Radhu babu. Once Radhu babu got desparate and said, “You are older than my father! Please don’t address me like this.” Then Allauddin Khan sahib replied, “Listen, I have to revere the energy that resides within you. That is what I do.”

Deepali Nag was witness to this. Allauddin Khan was in the ausience at her house when he played the Bageshree. He had said, “The Bageshree can be played like this?” He said to Deepali Nag, “I’ve never heard bageshree played like this. Will you hear me play? Will you hear me play?” Deepali Nag said to me, “I had never heard an artiste, mesmerised by the performance of another, asking another artiste to hear their performance. And I had never heard such a rendition of the Bageshree either.

This is something Deepali Nag said to us in her interview.

 Translated by: Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

http://sarodia.com/generation/pandit-radhika-mohan-maitra/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfJGBOnlYsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru-nxrvGmvo

 Edited & Designed: Dr. Suranjita Paul

Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University