Hello Friends,
Updating my blog with a beautiful Kayda - "Dha threk dhitath katha gadingena.."
It is an amazing composition and recited by none other than Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Pump your speaker volume high!!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Sandeep Sagar
Updating my blog with a beautiful Kayda - "Dha threk dhitath katha gadingena.."
It is an amazing composition and recited by none other than Ustad Zakir Hussain.
Pump your speaker volume high!!
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (February4, 1922- January 24, 2011)
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
According to Hindu mythology first there was nothing. There was silence and only that was sound. Was it the big bang or after the bang when sound converted itself into some beam of light. Sufis and Rishis for eternity and science now pay testimony to this...its 'Ooom'.....
All sound is imperishable. It’s everlasting. Every song that a bird sings, every string of an instrument, that creates these sounds, and all melodious voices of great masters, in short are stored in atmosphere somewhere to be retrieved one day by one or some machines and reproduced on some devices.This may look science fiction but nobody can deny the fact that sound of an artist, melody of a singer, beat on sitar or a santoor lives in our memories.
All sound is imperishable. It’s everlasting. Every song that a bird sings, every string of an instrument, that creates these sounds, and all melodious voices of great masters, in short are stored in atmosphere somewhere to be retrieved one day by one or some machines and reproduced on some devices.This may look science fiction but nobody can deny the fact that sound of an artist, melody of a singer, beat on sitar or a santoor lives in our memories.
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
A member of the Kirana Gharana Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi (February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition renowned for the Khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs).
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
Real rattan of democratic India and the most recent recipient of Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, was awarded to him in 2008.
Bhimsen ji was amongst extraordinary fraternity of All India Radio. Like Pandit Ravi Shanker the Sitar Maestro and famous Music director of yesteryears Anil Biswas, he rose to heights after starting from AIR prior to independence.
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
Joshi ji first performed live in 1941 at the age 19. His debut album, containing a few devotional songs in Kannada and Hindi, was released by HMV the next year in 1942. Later he moved to Mumbai in 1943 and worked as a radio artist. His performance at a concert in 1946 to celebrate his Guru Sawai Gandharva's 60th birthday won him accolades both from the audience and his guru.
AIR has always remained a temple. Every Music artist big or small has respected tradition of auditions or Voice Test. Even some of the celebrated voices from sub-continent who did not face these auditions and as such were never included in the list of approved artists.
It has always been considered a great honor to be an A Grade or A+ Artist from AIR. This seems why personalities like Bhim Sen Joshi, Allah Rakha (Abbaji), Ustad Bismillah Khan and others always felt pride in claiming to be AIR auditioned.
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
"Mile Sur Mera Tumhara".
"Ek sur" (One Tune) (languages of India), or "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" as it is better known promoted national integration and unity in diversity.
Mile Sur was telecast for the first time on Independence Day 1988, after the telecast of the Prime Minister’s speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort. It quickly captivated India, gaining huge popularity.
Even singer maintained their unique style in Hindi, Kashmiri, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, Assamese, Oriya, Gujarati and Marathi languages.
Bhimsen Joshi, M Balamuralikrishna, Lata Mangeshkar, Suchitra Mitra and others created a classical symphony of musical variety that has since been seen as the most revered cultural attempt of weaving diverse cultural moorings into a single thread.
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
Panditji as Bhimsen Joshi is fondly known worldwide by music lovers and fans had been quite sick for a long time. But now, he is no more. The death of the most legendary Hindustani Classical vocalist has left a void amidst us. The number of awards and all the innumerable accolades that he has got cannot do justice to the matchless genius of Panditji who, without a doubt, was the most influential vocalist of his generation.
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| Copyright T. Narayan |
Classical music lovers who are mourning nation-wide today and one is sure there are many others inspired by him who would be unable to reconcile to the reality of his loss.
Has Bhimsen Joshi’s voice joined to float from the Himalayas riding across the Gangetic plains to reach far into the depths of the Indian Ocean? They never die...
Friday, January 7, 2011
Abbaji -Ustad Allah Rakha
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| Abbaji (Photo:C Chandramohan) |
Once in a great while, there emerges a musician who, through his genius, injects that
certain spark necessary to elevate an instrument to another level of expression and
appreciation.
For tabla, ..Ustad Allarakha was such an artist, having brought his instrument a stature and respect never before enjoyed. A disciple of Mian Kader Baksh, the great guru of the Punjab gharana, Ustad Allarakha was, in his lifetime, the most celebrated exponent of this style.
Ustad Allarakha was born in 1919 in Phagwal, a small village in Jammu, the eldest son in a family of seven brothers. From his childhood, it was clear that he was special. Though his family were all soldiers and farmers, his interests lay elsewhere. For hours he would watch the travelling natak company perform their dramas, especially interested in the tabla player performing with the company. At other times, he would sit by the river, seeing a face on the water, and a voice inside him would tell him to seek this man out.
appreciation.
For tabla, ..Ustad Allarakha was such an artist, having brought his instrument a stature and respect never before enjoyed. A disciple of Mian Kader Baksh, the great guru of the Punjab gharana, Ustad Allarakha was, in his lifetime, the most celebrated exponent of this style.
Ustad Allarakha was born in 1919 in Phagwal, a small village in Jammu, the eldest son in a family of seven brothers. From his childhood, it was clear that he was special. Though his family were all soldiers and farmers, his interests lay elsewhere. For hours he would watch the travelling natak company perform their dramas, especially interested in the tabla player performing with the company. At other times, he would sit by the river, seeing a face on the water, and a voice inside him would tell him to seek this man out.
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| Ustad Alla Rakha (left) ,Pt.Ravishankar on Sitar |
This inner voice, at the age of eleven, led him to Lahore where he met the man with the face in his dreams. Mian Kader Baksh then became his guru and began his formal training in the art of tabla playing.
Soon the young Allarakha became the toast of every musical gathering in town and was offered
a post at All India Radio, Lahore, where he worked for six years, after which he was
transferred to Delhi and then to Bombay. Since Allarakha had also received extensive vocal
training from the legendary Patiala guru, Ustad Aashiq Ali Khan, he arrived in Bombay
prepared in both the rhythmic and melodic aspects of music.
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| "Zakalla" |
In Bombay, his talent as a composer brought him in touch with the film world where he scored music for over twenty-five films with great success. He had many silver jubilee hits like "Maa Baap", "Ghar Ki Laaj", "Sabak", "Sati Anusuya", "Khandan", "Madari", "Alam Ara", "Jagga", "Bewafa" and many others. This, however, did not take him away from his tabla.
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| Rare picture/Amir Khan,Abbaji(tanpura) |
He continued performing in major festivals all across the country and eventually chose to give up films and exclusively pursue his classical career. As an accompanist, he enjoyed a rare versatility, being equally at home with vocal music, instrumental music, Kathak dance, and as a soloist. His thirty-year association with Pandit Ravi Shankar was well known for its hallmark accomplishment of bringing Hindustani music to the far corners of the world, receiving the highest accolades from audiences and critics abroad.
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| Ustad, Pandit & Palghat Raghu(Mridangam) |
His consistently brilliant performances made the tabla a familiar percussion instrument the world over. As a performer, Ustad Allarakha was famous for his improvisations, his exceptional qualities of freshness and proportion, and his exquisite tone production effected by a technique which he continued to refine until his death. Moreover, he developed a playing style which is a virtual reference for tabla players of the present generation.
He was the recipient of many awards and titles including Padmashree, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the Indo-American Achievement Award, the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar and a first-ever gold disc for a classical recording, to name but a few.
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The late legendary Ustad Alla Rakha Khan Qureshi’s favourite time of the day for teaching
his eldest son all the nuances of the tabla was late night segueing into early morning. And in one of his moods one night, the ustad had said to the young Zakir Hussain, “Son, don’t try to be an Ustad, just try to be a student and you’ll get by just fine.” |
In 1985, he founded the Ustad Allarakha Institute of Music to train young tabla players in the tradition of the Punjab gharana. Also at this time, his duet performance, always popular in India, with son and chief disciple, Zakir Hussain, grew to international prominence with regular world tours. He toured worldwide with Zakir, and also in trio with his younger son Fazal Qureshi, until 1996, when he decided to limit his touring to India. For the last four years of his life, he concentrated on teaching and traveled often in India, usually to
accept awards and appear at major classical festivals.
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| My Guru Shri. Sathish Babu with his Guru |
His rapturous tabla solo performances still in demand, he continued to perform until the end of his life.
Ustad Allarakha died on February 3, 2000, truly one of the most pivotal and influential artists to have emerged from India in our time.
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| 3rd Feb 2000 |
Courtesy: Moment Records
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