Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee • Love songs from Bengal

Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee 

•  E Shudhu Gaaner Din 

Bengali Adhunik Gaan (The Bengali Modern Song) 

The Gramophone Company - Columbia S/33ESX.4268 - P.1980

Side A

A1 Gaane Mor Kon Indradhanu - Agni Pariksha
A2 Akaasher Astaragey - Suryamukhi
A3 Jani Na Phurabe Kobey - Sabar Uparey
A4 O Bak Bak Bakam Bakam - Mayamriga
A5 Tomarey Bhalobeshechhi - Natun Jiban
A6 Teer Bedha Pakhi Aar - Pita Putra


Side B

B1 Tuhu Mamo Mono Pran Hey - Anthony Firingee
B2 E Geene Prajapati - Deva Neya
B3 Du Chokher Bristitey - Sravan Sandhya
B4 Badho Jhulana - Basanta Bahar
B5 Keno E Hridoy - Nayika Sangbad
B6 E Shudhu Gaaner Din - Pathey Holo Deri

I have been very busy lately with completely new tasks and working more than full time in book publishing as editor and graphic designer. This last part has taken most energy away from editing any post and this may explain why there was such a long silence here! I was hoping to keep posting at least a couple of times a week but Alas, no such luck yet. I will not quit posting but unfortunately I have to realize that with my current workload I will be an infrequent poster for still some time to come. Fortunately I have so many very good friends and the following posts were kindly prepared by some of them. You will not suffer since they are of very high quality and I am more than happy to have been given this kind assistance.


First out is a Bengali LP by Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee from my good friends Costis and Arvind who helped out before. It is Costis rip and photos, and Arvind wrote the high quality accompanying notes! It makes me so very happy each time these guys bring in such lovely music and all I have to do is some editing and minor cosmetics. Well, and adding the names to the tracks and track listings... so there is always a little something to fiddle with that also takes a little time but that is also some sort of a therapy while listening to the music. I hope you like it!


Here's what Arvind wrote:

"Did you listen to her before? She has a lovely voice....and the first song is for me, like a balm....soothing after a rough day!" 

This is a beautiful collection of songs by an artist who remains almost unknown outside Bengal, though one, who according to me, deserves much more recognition. Someone rightly said that her voice is like "liquid honey". On this record, she sings a selection of her film songs. Most popular filmi and non-filmi Bengali music from the time when this was recorded falls under the larger umbrella of Bengali Modern Song.


Bengali Adhunik Gaan 
- The Bengali Modern Song

The trend of composing modern song forms the most important musical phenomenon in Bengal during the post Tagore period. Adhunik gaan literally means "modern songs". Although, to outsiders, this may seem an extremely ambiguous way of nomenclature, it has particular motivations. The term Modern is relative – the period implied is from the third decade of the 20th Century to around the 70s when it reached its apex.

Bangla music traditionally has been classified mainly by the region of origin and the creators of the musical genre, such as Nazrul geeti (written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam), ghombhira (unique to a specific area in Bangladesh), etc. However, this prevented the ability to classify any music that failed to fit into any of the classes.

In the period just before Indian independence (Bengal, under British rule, was a part of one massive India that does not exactly correspond to the India of current day), several new minor musical groups emerged, mainly as playback songs for movies. These songs failed to fit into any particular genre, but seemed to be tied together by common theme of "music for the masses". Most of the music tended to be aimed at the mainstream audience - popular catchy tunes with simple words, and music that was inspired by forms of light classical music, folk and Western music. Hence, a miscellaneous category, Adhunik Gaan (or Adhunik Songeet), was created, since, at that time, this music was "modern".

Although over time these so-called "modern" songs have become fairly old, they continue to be called by the same name. Interestingly, this group of song has grown faster than any other, since it is a miscellaneous category that can accommodate anything that fails to fit elsewhere. The common theme continues to exist. So, although the nomenclature itself might not be as insightful, the genre itself is still well-defined.

This modern musical experimentation in Calcutta also formed the background to the modern songs and film music of many other parts of India, most notably that of Bollywood. The main artists who popularized modern Bengali songs, both filmi and non-filmi, and who also gained much of their popularity through them were Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukherjee, Shyamal Mitra, Arati Mukherjee, Kishore Kumar, Sachin Dev Burman, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, Satinath Mukherjee and Jaganmoy Mitra. Many of them went on to become legends as music directors and singers in Bollywood as well, and are household names in India today.

Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee
(Bengali: সন্ধ্যা মুখোপাধ্যায়, Shondha Mukhopaddhae)* (b. 1931)



“I am not anyone’s rival in the world of music because I sing only for myself and singing is my aarti, my pooja.”

If Lata Mangeshkar is the nightingale of India, then 'Geetashri' Sandhya Mukherjee is the golden voice of Bengali music. No Bengali who loves music will ever be able to get over the spell of this honey-voiced singer of Bengal. Her recorded repertoire reaches beyond 3000 songs comprising a versatile range – bhajan, thumri, khayal, Tagore, modern Bengali song, and playback in Hindi and Bengali films. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb once said, “Sandhya is comparable with Sandhya alone.”

Born on October 4, 1931, in Dhakuria, Kolkata, Sandhya never had the chance of visiting her village home in Jeerat within Balagarh district. Dhakuria in those days was far from the glittery space filled with shopping malls and multi-storied building and even the over bridge did not exist at the time. Nor were there the dirt and the slush one encounters today. The sky was open and blue. The earth was filled with trees, flowers, fruits and birds. The chugging sound of a passing train would often drill holes of sound into the silent and dark evenings. A little girl would eagerly stare at the trains passing away through the square of an open window. In the evenings, she would go to the terrace of her Dhakuria (it was then a village) home and sing Krishna bhajans with the immediate family as her only audience. This simple incident laid the seeds of one of the greatest singers Bengal has ever produced.

Why the bhajans of Krishna? Krishna was the reigning deity at the Mukherjee home. Narendranath Mukherjee, her father, worked in the railways and was a great lover of music. Her mother Hemaprabha was a very good vocalist. Bhajans invoking the Lord Krishna were sung every evening during the pooja. Her academic career began at Dhakuria Balika Vidyalaya. She later shifted to Binodini High School.

Hers was the voice the most in demand at every school function. When she was 13 years old, Sandhya put in a stage appearance too, not as the heroine but as a maid! That was the time when HMV (His Masters Voice) released her first gramophone record. The song she sang for the record was Tumi Phiraye Diyechho Jaarey (the one you have turned back), a brilliant debut  for a girl so young.

As her heart lay in music and not in academics so after her matriculation examinations, she stopped formal education and began to pursue her only love – music. Before she completed her schooling, her eldest brother placed her under the tutelage of Santosh Basu Mullick to study classical raga-based music. She then trained under Jamini Nath Gangopadhyay, Gyan Prakash Ghosh, Chinmoy Lahiri, Dhruvtara Joshi, AT Kannan and Pandit Ganpat Rao. But it was Ustad Bade Ghulam Khan who tied the naada around her slender wrist to drill her in the complex and fine intricacies of Hindustani classical music. Though he is no more, Sandhya’s ties with his son sustains till this day.

The rest, as they say, is history. RC Boral, the music director of New Theaters gave her the song Ha Ha Ha Hans Ke Jiye Ja in a film called Anjangarh (1948) when she was just 17 years old. She later sang Ashkon Me Chhipi Mohabbat Ki Kahani in the film Pehla Aadmi (1950), which gave her immense popularity in Calcutta and then moved to Bombay where she earned fame with a duet with Hemant Kumar, Gupchup Gupchup Pyar Karen in the film Sazaa (1951). After these initial successes, she sung for most of the leading composers in Bengal and Bombay, but  she is most fondly remembered for her collaboration with Hemanta Mukherjee, with whom she sang numerous duets, primarily as playback for Bengali films produced from Kolkata.  Hemanta and Sandhya became known as the voices behind the pairings of the Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar and his numerous heroines, most notably being the actress Suchitra Sen, whose singing voice she became.

Very recently, a Bengali television channel had organized a twin recital of golden hits of Sandhya Mukherjee and Manna Dey. Sandhya, 78, and Manna Dey, 90, sang unfettered for two hours to a packed audience that remained enthralled and cocooned in the golden era of Bengali music in cinema and in modern songs.

*Note that "Mukherjee" evolved from the Sanskrit Mukhopadhyay (Bengali: মুখোপাধ্যায় Mukhopaddhae). Mukhopadhyay is from the purer Sanskrit form Mukhyopadhyay (in Sanskrit Mukhya - chief, Upadhyay - teacher, not necessarily a religious teacher). In modern parlance, the two are often used interchangeably, much like other such pairs (Banerjee/Bandhyopadhyay, Chatterjee/Chattyopadhyay), with the latter being used primarily in religious contexts.


Some detailed reading on the history of Bengali music here and here

The languid and dreamlike song the record begins with can be heard on youtube here

Music ▼+

Six Thumri singers - P.1975

Thumriyan
EMI India - ECSD 2748 - P.1975

Side A

A1 Nirmala Devi • Ro Ro Nain Ganwaye Sajna Na Aaye 

- Mishra Shivranjini - Kaharwa Taal 6'38

A2 Hira Devi Mishra • Mora Saiyan Bulawe Adhi Raat 

- Des - Kaharwa Taal 6'53

A3 Girja Devi • Nahak Laye Gawanwa 

- Bhairvin (purab ang) Deepchandi Taal 6'52

Side B

B1 Parween Sultana • Tum Radhe Bano Shyam 

- Pilu - Deepchandi Taal 6'46

B2 Lakshmi Shankar • Shyam Bina Nahin Chain 

- Khamaj - Deepchandi Taal 6'58

B3 Shobha Gurtu • Chhod Gaya Sajan Mera 

- Bhairvin (purab ang) Kaharwa Taal 6'38

I promised long ago already to post more of Hindustani Female vocalists so here is a quick attempt at that. Hope you like what you hear some are better than the others of course. And I have still to post some more of the real greats. We had one record by Kerkar Bai but there are many more worthy singers to post. Do not despair, they will come! Already ripped but in various stages of readiness lies already many LP's in line waiting to be posted by these great singers:
Begum Akhtar, Gangubai Hangal, Roshan Ara Begum, Hirabai Barodekar, Azam Bai, Malini Rajurkar, Girja Devi, Sunanda Patnaik, Siddheswari Devi,
Prabha Atre, Shoba Gurtu, Kishori Amonkar, Lakshmi Shankar, Parween Sultana. Some of them are represented in this post but this is the lighter repertoire of Thumri, so you can expect some of the others to catch your deeper emotions and this hopefully to be pleasant to your ears! Hope you enjoy!

Nirmala Devi

Nirmala (Nazeem) Ahuja (born. 19?? and left us long ago) She was one of the  finest thumri singers following the Patiala tradition under U. Abdul Rehman Khan. She was also the mother of the famous indian cinema actor Govinda. 

We know the above from the kind correction of one of our visitors here, Dr. Kashyap. Thank you for putting us right! Thanks to his mentioning of the cinema actor Govinda, who was her son we were also able to find the following information:

Govinda’s father, Arun Kumar Ahuja, was born in pre-partition Gujranwala, Punjab (now in Pakistan) on January 26, 1917.  He studied in an engineering college at Lahore. Veteran producer Mehboob Khan brought him to Mumbai in 1937 and cast him in Ek Hi Raasta as the leading man. Arun was notable for acting in Mehboob Khan's Aurat (1940). Govinda's mother, Nazeem who was Muslim had converted to Hinduism and adopted the name Nirmala Devi. Arun and Nirmala first met during the making of the film Savera, in which they were cast opposite each other. They married in 1941.

The only film Ahuja ever produced was a flop. Unable to bear the loss, his health failed. The family, living in a bungalow on Mumbai's upmarket Carter Road, later moved to Virar — a northern Mumbai suburb, where Govinda was born. The youngest of six children, his pet name Chi Chi means little finger in Punjabi, the language they speak at home. Since his father was unable to work, Nirmala Devi brought up the children through hard times in Mumbai. 

from Wikipedia (full text here)

(I will try to add dates and more information later as I find them!)

Hira Devi Mishra

I really cannot find any information of substance on this artist more than that she taught at Banares. and some song titles from various films. If you feel like it please help out.

Girja Devi

Girija Devi (Hindi: गिरिजा देवी; IAST: Girijā Devī) (born 1929) is an Indian classical singer of the Banaras gharana. She performs classical and light classical music and has helped elevate the profile of thumri.

Girija Devi was born in Varanasi, India in 1929. Her father played the harmonium and taught music, and had Devi take lessons in singing khyal and tappa from vocalist and sarangi player Sarju Prasad Misra starting at the age of five. She starred in the movie Yaad rahe aged nine and continued her studies under Sri Chand Misra in a variety of styles.

Devi made her public debut 1949 on All India Radio Allahabad, after getting married to a businessman circa 1946, but faced opposition from her mother and grandmother, because it was traditionally believed that no upper class woman should perform publicly. Devi agreed not to perform privately for others, but gave her first public concert in Bihar in 1951. She studied with Sri Chand Misra until he died in the early 1960s, worked as a faculty member of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata in the 1980s and of the Banaras Hindu University during the early 1990s, and taught several students to preserve her musical heritage. Devi often toured and continues to perform in 2009.

Devi sings in the Banaras gharana and performs the purabi ang thumri style typical of the tradition, whose status she helped elevate. Her repertoire includes the semi-classical genres kajri, chaiti, and holi and she sings khyal, Indian folk music, and tappa. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians states that her semi-classical singing combines her classical training with the regional characteristics of the songs of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Parween Sultana

Begum Parveen Sultana (born 1950) is an Assamese Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She is among the foremost classical vocalists in India. She was conferred the Padmashri in 1976.

Parveen Sultana was born at Daccapatty in Nowgong town , Assam, India to Ikramul Mazid and Maroofa Mazid. She went to Mission School . Her father, late Ikramul Mazid was her first guru and he was very strict with her. She also received early training from her grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan, a pathan . She later went to Kolkata to learn to learn music under the guidance of late Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri and from 1973, she became a disciple of Ustad Dilshad Khan of the Patiala Gharana.

Lakshmi Shankar

Lakshmi Shankar (born 1926) is a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Patiala Gharana. She is known for her performances of khyal, thumri, and bhajans.

Born in 1926, Lakshmi started her career in dancing. In 1939, when Uday Shankar brought his dance troupe to Madras, (recently renamed Chennai), she joined the Almora Centre to learn Uday Shankar’s dance style based on the Indian classics, and became a part of his troupe. She later married Uday Shankar's brother, Rajendra (with nickname Raju). During a period of illness, Lakshmi had to give up dancing, and already having had a background of Carnatic music, she undertook learning Hindustani classical music for many years under Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan. Later, she also trained with Ravi Shankar, the sitar maestro. Shankar toured America with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison in 1974. After Ravi Shankar's heart attack she conducted his touring band.

Lakshmi has shown her versatility and adaptability by composing music for Bharatanatyam for the leading dance company Shakti School of Bharatanatyam located in Los Angeles.

Shobha Gurtu

Shobha Gurtu (Hindi: शोभा गुर्टू) (1925 – 2004) an Indian singer in the light Hindustani classical style. Though she had equal command over pure classical style, it was with light classical music that she received her fame, and in time came to be known as the Thumri Queen, and for the ‘Abhinaya’ ang in her full-throated voice 

Bhanumati Shirodkar was born in Belgaum, (present Karnataka) in 1925, she was first trained by her mother Menekabai Shirodkar, a professional dancer, and a 'gayaki' disciple of Ustad Alladiya Khan of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana.

Though her formal music training began with ‘Ustad Bhurji Khan’, the youngest son of Ustad Alladiya Khan, the founder of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana in Kolhapur, from whom her mother was learning at the time, while she was still a younger girl, and seeing her talent, Ustad Bhurji Khan’s family immediately took a liking of her, and she started spending long hours with them. Her ties with the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana were to strengthen still, when she started learning from, Ustad Alladiya Khan’s nephew Ustad Natthan Khan; though she really came into her own under the tutelage of Ustad Ghamman Khan, who came stay with their family in Mumbai, to teach her mother thumri-dadra and other semi-classical forms.

Shobha Gurtu specialized in semi classical forms as thumri, dadra, Kajri, Hori etc., effortlessly adding pure classical passages into her singing, thus creating a new form, and reviving the magic of forms like, Thumri, of which she became a greatest exponent in time. She was particularly influenced by singer Begum Akhtar and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

She also performed music in Marathi and Hindi cinema. As a playback singer, she first worked in Kamaal Amrohi’s film, Pakeezah (1972), followed by Phagun (1973), where she sang, ‘Bedardi ban gaye koi jaao manaao more saiyyaan’. She earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Female Playback Singer for the song “Saiyyan Rooth Gaye” from the hit film Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978). In Marathi cinema she sang for films like Saamna and Lal Mati.

Over the years, she travelled all over the world for concerts, including at one the Carnegie Hall, New York City, performing alongside musical greats and, Pt. Birju Maharaj. She often lend her voice the collaborative jazz albums, of her son Trilok Gurtu. In 2000, she featured in the Jana Gana Mana Video, which was released to mark the 50th year of the Indian Republic, where she sang the Indian National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, along with other leading classical singers and musicians of India.

In 1987, she received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and later awarded the Lata Mangeshkar Puraskar, Shahu Maharaj Puraskar and the Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar. In 2002, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

After reigning over Hindustani classical music genre, for five decades, as the Queen of Thumri, Shobha Gurtu died on 27 September 2004, and was survived by her two sons.

pinched from the Wikipedia

“Words are bound in chains, while happily sounds are still free” — so once declaimed Ludwig van Beethoven. What he said of music in general is specially true of thumri, one of the most enchanting forms of musical expression in the Hindustani tradition.

Aptly described as the expression of the singer's soul and temperament, thumri is purely romantic or devotional in its content. Unlike Dhrupad and khayal, the stress in thumri-singing is not so much on the melodic unfoldment as on the portraiture of the mood enshrined in the lyric. Imagination thus plays a vital role in the rendition of thumri. It calls for a sense of restraint and discrimination on the part of the singer, as the expressive aspect of the poetic theme is basic to its delineation. The singer has to comprehend the lyrical motivations of the chosen song to be able to give full musical expression to the emotion it embodies.

Voice modulation and delicate intonation are two of the many vital features of thumri, and the artiste is allowed freedom to employ a variety of ornamentations such as “meend”, “murki”, “kan”, “khatka”, “zam-zama” and the like in projecting the mood of the theme.

The word thumri is derived from “thumak” (graceful stamping of the foot). It is also said to have been derived from a combination of the terms “thumak” and “rijhana” Thus it connotes association with dance. Thumri came into vogue in the eastern region (Purab) of Uttar Pradesh towards the close of the 18th century as an accompanying song of dance. The object was to make dance movements more expressive and abiding.

Primarily, the emergence of thumri can be said to have symbolised a kind of reaction to its percursor, khayal, in which combinations of musical sounds enjoyed precedence over the poetic aspect of song-themes. But it is equally significant to note that this period also marked the twilight of the Mughal rule. The princely patrons of music, lolling in luxury, now had little use for sombre, dignified musical entertainment. Their obsessive fondness for fun and frolic brought forth a new style that could pander to their whims and caprices in a variety of ways.

Thumri thus found a congenial atmosphere during the reign of Nawab Wajid All Shah of Avadh. He was probably the greatest known patron of thumri, “raas” and the Kathak dance. Every year, he organised a big “raas” show with the sport of Lord Krishna and the gopis as the theme. The Nawab himself, with his consuming passion for poetry and music, took an active part in the presentation. Any talented artiste could participate in this song-and-dance concert with the obvious preponderance of young women among the participants. They depicted their “nrityabhava” and also offered their “mujra” through thumri songs. Thumri thus was once the exclusive preserve of female singers, and came to be conventionally known as a feminine style "par excellence"

A composer of no mean merit, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah wrote under the name of Akhtar Piya and patronised masters of the eminence of Kudau Singh Pakhwaji and Maharaj Binda Din, the pioneering Kathak maestro. The impressive line-up of thumri composers also includes Kalika Prasad who, along with his brother, Bindadin, composed thumris that were suitable for “nritya bhava” and presented them through their dance. Kadar Piya, Daras Piya, Lalan Piya and Chand Piya were other luminaries who pioneered and enriched this form.

Lucknow and Varanasi (Benaras) are the two centres from where thumri evolved into several varieties. In the style that is in vogue in Lucknow know, the subject-matter of thumri is usually an Urdu poem or ghazal, while in Benaras, tappa is more prevalent. “Bol-bant ki thumri” lays stress on rhythm which is “thumak”, while “artha-bhava ki thumri” has more of “rijhana”. The combination of both is found in the “bol-banao” variety. On the other hand folk and Pahadi tunes seem to have influenced the Punjabi variety of thumri, a relatively modern development.

The ragas most commonly suited to thumri-singing are Bhairvin, Jhinjhoti, Khamaj, Pilu, Des, Tilak Kamod, Kafi, Jogia, Tilang, Ghara and Bihari, and the talas which are employed are deepchandi, chachar, teental, sitar-khani, punjabi theka and addha.

The credit for popularising the Purvi style goes to Bhaiya Ganpat Rao, Moizuddin Khan, Pyare Sahib, Zohra Bai, Janki Bai, Badi Moti Bai, Rasoolan Bai, Vidyadhari Bai, Siddheswari Devi and Begum Akhtar. These are indeed the names to conjure with in the field, while Bade Ghulam All Khan and his brother, Barkat All Khan, who achieved a subtle blend of popular Punjabi folk airs with the orthodox features of purvi thumri, gave new dimensions to this singing style.

The six artistes heard in this disc are among the most popular exponents of thumri today. The repertoire will capture the hearts of thumri connoisseurs and bring back to their minds the nostalgic memories of old masters.

notes above from the backside of the sleeve

Music ▼ +

Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan - Raga Chhayanat, Desi Todi, Bhairabi

Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan 
• Raga Chhayanat, Desi Todi, Bhairabi
HMV EMI India - EASD 1427 - P.1984



Side A

A1 Raga Chhayanat - Sagari Ram-Kirpa, Jhanana Jhanana Jhananana Baaje Bichhua 25'48 

Raga Chhayanat - Sagari Ram-Kirpa - Khayal - Vilambat - Ektaal
Raga Chhayanat - Jhanana Jhanana Jhananana Baaje Bichhua - Khayal - Drut - Teentaal 


Side B

B1 Raga Desi Todi - Sanchi Kahat Hal Adha-Rang Ye - Khayal - Teentaal 14'50
B2 Raga Bhairabi - Tarana - Teentaal 10'24




Accompaniment: 
Harmonium - Ghulam Baqar Khan
Tabla - Anando Gopal Bandopadhyay
Tanpura: Ghtjlam Akbar Khan Zulfakar Husain Khan



Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan has throughout been acclaimed as one of the greatest exponents of North Indian Classical Vocal music and today he is indeed the foremost amongst the performing Ustads in the country. He hails from Rampur district which at one time was known to be the blessed abode of classical music and musicians' in North India.

With initial training received from his grandfather Ustad Hyder Khan, Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan was subsequently groomed and nurtured by his illustrious father Ustad Fida Hussain. In the early thirties Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan emerged as an outstanding Khayal and Tarana singer when a galaxy of stalwarts like Ustad Alladiya Khan, Ustad Wahid Khan, Ustad Rajah Ali Khan, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Fayaz Khan, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar and others had been adorning the scene of Indian Classical music.

The rulers of Indian States had till then been continuing with their patronage for nourishment and propagation of classical music. Sir Siyajirao. Gaekwad of Baroda, was greatly impressed by the remarkable artistry of Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan and the Ustad flourished as Court Musician of Baroda for long thirty years.

Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan has developed a distinctive style of his own which savours of a synthesis between two prominent schools of Khayal singing - Sahaswan and Rampur. His unique voice is sonorous and assertive. With innovative phrases and colourful patterns. Khan Saheb renders Khayal like a great architect. He expounds Ragas in a very systematic way and his Taans gliding reposefully through octave after octave are not only accurate but crystalclear as well. His Bol-taans in Tarana are his speciality and the excellence of his virile but polished style of presentation has earned him a very prestigious position in the realm of Hindusthani Classical music.

Listening to Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan is always an experience and a present-day connoisseur might wonder how the performing art of the Old Master could develop so much dynamically keeping pace with the stride of time. The septuagenarian tistad has kept himself alive to the modern trends and his expositions always reflect his progressive outlook and a freshness of creativity.

Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan has been the recipient of many honours and Tamra Patra awards. In 1970 he was awarded Pad ma Bhushan'. He received Fellowship of Sangeet Natak Academy in 1971. Uttarpradesh Natak Academy felicited him with Award and Fellowship in 1972. He was titled as Sangeet Mahamahopadhaya by the Hyderabad Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in 1968. Khan Saheb headed India's Goodwill Mission to Nepal and Afganisthan in 1975. He visited London in 1976 on invitation to perform in an International Conference.

In this album Ustad Nisar Hussain Khan has presented Raga Chhayanat on the first side. The Vilambat Khayal is in Ektaal and the Dna is in Teentaal. The Raga unfolded in a traditional manner, has been elaborated in all its facets with highly imaginative phrases and utter precision. The Taans are lively and amazing.

On the second side Khan Saheb has first rendered a Khayal in Desi Todi set to Teentaal. The sentiment of the Morning melody has been brought out with emotional fervour and keen sense of aesthetics. The Ustad has concluded his recital with a Tarana in Bhairavi and the composition is in Teentaal. The intricate rhythmic patterns and Bol-taons executed in his typical style are not only attractive but give clear glimpses of Khan Saheb's incomparable virtuosity.

Sarengee accompaniment provided by the veteran Ghulam Baqar Khan and Tabla by the young talent Anando Gopal Bandopadhyay are additional attractions of this album.



Music ▼ +

Pandit Narayanrao Vyas - Raag Vibhas, Raag Bihag

Pandit Narayanrao Vyas 
• Classical Vocal - Raag Vibhas, Raag Bihag - P.1988
HMV EMI India - PMLP 3023 - P.1988



Side A

Raga Vibhas
Praat Samay - Khyal - Vilambit Ektaal
Kais Komarva Ja - Khyal - Drut Teental


Side B

Raga Bihag
Kaise Sukh Sowe - Khyal - Tilwada
Abahun Kar Jaani - Khyal - Drut Teental

Ustad Nizamuddin Khan, tabla
A.K. Kunte, sarangi



I am happy to post another treasure. This is again one of the real masters captured in old age His output of 78 rpm's is almost unsurpassed. Here is a discography that will make anyone salivate could we only have some more of those records reissued.

Pandit Narayanrao Vyas was one of the most outstanding diciples of Pandit Vishnu Digambar, who carried forward his guru's mission both as a performer and as a teacher.

Pandit Narayanrao Ganesh Vyas, the younger brother of Shri Shankarrao Vyas (1898-1956), was born in Kolhapur on April 1, 1902. At the age of nine, he joined the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore where his elder brother had already joined the `Gurukul` system of music education initiated by Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar in 1901. He was trained by Pandit Paluskar for ten years, after which both brothers came to Ahmedabad in 1922, where they began to teach in the local Gandharva Mahavidyalaya branch.

In 1926, they moved to Bombay where Shankarrao Vyas chose to enter the film industry as a music director. Narayanrao Vyas, however, chose to remain a teacher and a concert performer. He started performing in music festivals and from 1929 to 1955, he cut over 150 records in the 78-rpm format for the Gramophone Company (HMV) in Mumbai. The recorded songs are classical khayals, thumris and semi-classical bhajans. He often sang ragas using Marathi bandishes. The popularity of his records earned him HMV`s best seller gold medal. Narayanrao used to sing on Radio too. He toured and traveled extensively and sang in prestigious music conferences and concerts throughout North India. He was also proficient in playing the Harmonium, Tabla, Sitar and Jaltarang.

To fulfil the desire of their Guru to spread and popularise Indian classical music, the Vyas brothers decided to start a music academy in Bombay. Thus the Vyas Sangeet Vidyalaya was set up in June 1937, to impart lessons to students both in vocal and instrumental music. The school continues to function to this day.

Narayanrao Vyas was one of the most popular and sought-after vocalists of his generation. He was honoured with several awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976 and the Tansen Award of the Madhya Pradesh Government in 1983. Among his disciples were his own son, Vidyadhar Vyas, his guru`s son, Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar, the legendary Carnatic vocalist, M S Subbalakshmi and several others.

For Narayanrao Vyas, music was not only a means of livelihood but also a way to salvation. He was a believer in the purity of music and remained a traditional singer throughout his life. He remained active even in his old age and died in 1984.




78 rpm discography


Music ▼ +

Oriental Traditional music from LP's & K7 • New blog to keep an eye on!

Do you like some more Mallikarjun?

Well, I have some very good news to share with you! There is a new blog started by one of the frequent visitors to this blog and I can assure you that it will be worth your while following it. the first post right now in my blogroll is from that blog!

Pop over directly to this new blog and get your own copy of

Mallikarjun Mansur - Bahaduri Todi & Gaud Malhar - ECLP 2384 (1968)


What are you waiting for... the files are over there...

Don't forget to say thank you!

Just pop over there and enjoy, and good luck Tawfiq!

Senior Dagar Brothers • Darbari Kanada - 1965 (2 pressings)

Dagar Brothers • Darbari Kanada
Khansahib Nasir Mohinuddin Dagar, 
Khansahib Nasir Aminuddin Dagar


Gramophone Co. Odeon - MOAE 135 - P.1965





(also EMI India - EALP 1291 - P.1965)

Side A




A1 Darbari Kanada - alap 18'55

Side B

B1 Darbari Kanada - dhamar 8'25
B2 Adana - dhrupad 9'33



Finally I get to post this LP by two wonderful singers that could have been enough reason for this whole blog (I am exaggerating just a little bit...) and as I have two copies of different pressings and catalogue numbers I will post both of them. Both of them have merits and shortcomings and the EALP 1291 that I think overall is the best copy, has a flaw in the beginning minute of side one. A "rotation counter" as we used to say, that gives a mild but annoying thud for each rotation, it does however go away rather quickly. There is no such thing on the MOAE 135, but I think there is a bit more surface noice on that one. But since you can have both, you can judge for yourself!

I have yet to hear a perfect copy of this LP if such a thing exists, but suffice it to say, these copies look perfect and have very little wear and are to my ear decent enough but as most vinyl goes, the sound is always a little flawed. OK, OK, Don't get all jittery now! I said most vinyl! I do have a few, a very few if I may add, that are of extremely good quality but that does not make it a norm.

There is unfortunately not many recordings on LP by the Senior Brothers and apart from the Bärenreiter [BM 30L 2018] Musical Anthology of the Orient; India III, [Philips 6586003] North India Vocal Music; Dhrupad and Khyal. Their may also be an AIR Archive LP but I have not seen it!

Fortunately there are also some CD's, like the [Auvidis D 8076] North India • Dhrupad & Khyal and the three CD's  [RAGA 220] Todi, 1957 & [RAGA 221] Bihag, Kamboji, Malkosh, 1955. These early recordings from Calcutta were graciously published, with some good information, by Raga Records. Not to forget the Royal Collection of Mewar on 6 CD's put out by by EMI and the privately issued "unfinished" jaijaivanti, the "registrazione senza fine", when the tape ran out for Alain Danielou. You see how every piece is so very precious that any fragment will cause a big stir among devoted aficionados. Whenever it happens, it really should be on the news! ;-)

Recently there was also this release from the All India Radio Archives (AIR) [AIRH 28] Dagar Brothers "Dhrupad" • Ragas: Gunkali & Jaijaiwanti, recordings from Mid 1960s.
But this is just a rare luck, as they are not in the habit of opening up their vaults very often and we have to look for private transcripts from radio broadcasts and recordings of private mehfils to hear any more by them!

Another discography of most of the published recordings of the Dagars and extensions 

is to be found here

The best is of course if we could find means to do real editions and publish high quality records but awaiting such circumstance anyone is hereby, of course welcome to contribute whatever you have and in whatever shape. Which whatever... It is always good to take inventory!

I will also share some that I and friends have saved over the years on cassettes and open reel, but alas that will still have to wait a while as there is so many things I want to post. I will however post the above mentioned LP's. Hope you enjoy this one (two) they have been sitting here waiting for the right moment to appear and I hope it is now!

Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) and Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000)

Nasir Moinuddin and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar, two of the greatest Dhrupad exponents of the past century, were born in Indore in one of the most illustrious musical families that India has ever produced. Their father, Ustad Nasiruddin Khan Dagar, was the court musician of the state of Indore and was widely regarded as the foremost Dhrupad singer of his age. Nasiruddin Khan was a stern disciplinarian and Moinuddin and Aminuddin began their rigorous talim under his strict tutelage at a very tender age. Moinuddin was blessed with a phenomenal musical memory and was known to repeat as grown-up bits and pieces of music that he had listened to while sitting on the lap of his grandfather Ustad Allah Bande Khan Sahab when he was barely one year old. Aminuddin too had imbibed this extraordinary memory which was tested to the limit in the talim they received from their father as he was loath to repeat any musical phrase more than once. Nasiruddin is said to have had a premonition of his early death ten years before he actually died. Thus he was eager to impart all the musical knowledge that he had perfected to his next generation before his death. As a consequence Moinuddin and Aminuddin received in mere ten years a quality of talim that usually takes more than three decades to acquire. When Ustad Nasiruddin Khan died in 1936 Moinuddin was 17 and Aminuddin only 13. The two brothers then received their next phase of talim under the guidance of their maternal uncle Ustad Riyazuddin Khan who was himself the great-grandson of Baba Behram Khan Sahab—the man widely regarded to be the father of dagar-vani Dhrupad music as it is now practised. They also received training from Ustad Ziauddin Khan, who was a cousin to their father. Finally however, it was the inherent musical genius of Moinuddin and Aminuddin that was responsible for blending these different musical influences into a style that was unique to them. It fused in itself the best elements of the various exponents of the dagar-vani tradition to form a blissfully harmonious style of Dhrupad presentation that would mesmerize the world for the rest of the century.


It was the 1940s that saw the meteoric rise of Moinuddin and Aminuddin on the stage of Indian classical music. After the demise of Ustad Nasiruddin Khan Dagar, the rich and ancient tradition of Dhrupad had fallen into neglect and disrepute but with the rise of these two Dagar Brothers there arrived a new dawn in the sky of Dhrupad and of Indian classical music. Theirs were two voices that would forever change the course of Dhrupad and redefine the foundation of this ancient tradition. In his later years Aminuddin used to joke that back in the 1940s he and his elder brother were usually introduced as two singers who were mad enough to try and sing Dhrupad which was considered a dead form of music. But within a time-span of mere fourteen years Moinuddin and Aminuudin breathed a new life not only to Dhrupad singing but also to the tradition of ‘jugalbandi’. Previously ‘jugalbandi’ or duet singing in the field of classical music had degenerated into a competition between two singers where each tried his best to outdo the other in exhibitionism. The senior Dagar Brothers on the other hand brought back the concept of a harmonious synchronization between the two singers. In a typical performance by the senior Dagar Brothers, the honey rich voice of Aminuddin would draw the audience into a deep meditative mood by gradually descending the notes of the lower octaves and Moinuddin would dazzle the listeners with his ‘alankars’ or ornamentations in the upper octave. Each complimented the other and each of them had a deep respect for the singing ability of the other.


The two brothers, though they were attached to each other with the strongest of bonds, possessed two very different characters; whereas Aminuddin was like a ‘fakir’ or a sage whose music was a form of worshipping the divine, his elder brother had the heart of an emperor who fearlessly treaded through the realm of music and never hesitated from experimenting with Dhrupad and opening up new horizons. Best instances of such experimentation are to be found in the internationally acclaimed ballets that the two brothers composed—namely Malti Madhav, Kumar Sambhav and Shan-E-Oudh. In 23rd September 1946, they gave a memorable performance for Mahatma Gandhi at Bhangi Colony, New Delhi. Gandhiji listened to their alaap and Dhrupad in Rag Ashavari for nearly two hours and was deeply moved by their performance. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Sarojini Naidu and such other eminent personalities also joined the programme. Subsequently by the invitation of Sri Rohit Mehta, General Secretary of Theosophical Society, Varanasi, they joined the Society and formed Bhartiya Sangeet Vidyalaya, which was inaugurated by Dr. B. V. Keskar, the then union broadcasting minister. 


In the 1960s began their series of international tours. After having reestablished the tradition of Dhrupad on firm grounds in the soil of India they took the mission of spreading it throughout the world. In 1961 they extensively toured through USSR and in 1964 they visited Japan. It was in Japan that the eminent musicologist and the then director of UNESCO Dr. Alain Danielou came across the Dagar Brothers and was mesmerized by their music. It was he who organized the first Europe tour of the Dagar Brothers. Moinuddin and Aminuddin created history by becoming the first ever Indian artists to perform in Berlin, Venice and Paris at the UNESCO international festivals. Aminuddin later recounted to his disciples that after they had finished performing in Berlin's Candle Hall a storm of claps and ovations rose from the audience as mighty as a huge sea breaking into waves. The European press acclaimed them as the foremost musicians of India and whereas they had went to give three performances they ended up giving thirty in a span of nine weeks. A review of their performance published in Le Monde of Paris dated 17th November 1964 perhaps best expresses the mood of the western audience: “...we will remain under the deep impression of an art of such greatness and intensity that... we feel touched and moved to the deepest of our being.” 


Merely two years after this international triumph of the two Dagar brothers Moinuddin passed away on 24th May 1966. This was a great set back in Aminuddin’s life. Moinuddin had been to him not only an elder brother but also a surrogate father and a guide whom he referred through out his life as his ‘mahaguru’— that is the greatest of his gurus. Thus, with the death of Moinuddin, Aminuddin became an orphan for the second time. Even till the day of his death he could not stop his tears when singing a bandish in Rag Desi where Radha says to Krishna: "You have gone to Dwarika and it revels in your glory/But you have left me abandoned and alone." Through this bandish, Radha’s grief for being deserted by Krishna became imbued with Aminuddin’s grief at having lost his elder brother. However, in spite of the physical separation, the spiritual bond between the two brothers were so strong that in his later years Aminuddin was able to incorporate almost all the unique features of his brother’s singing in his own style and the audiences who had earlier listened to Moinuddin were often awe-struck at hearing such a close approximation of his voice in the singing of Aminuddin.


After Moinuddin’s demise, Aminuddin single handedly continued with the task of popularising Dhrupad through out the world. In 1971 Aminuddin toured Europe and USA and gave forty performances which met with great success, winning the heart of millions. In 1976 he was invited to the prestigious Shiraj Festival in Iran and then in 1978 to the Rome Festival. Each of these programmes established more strongly his claim as one of the greatest Dhrupad singers India has ever produced. In 1982 the government of India invited him to take part in the guru-shishya parampara programme with his disciples, in London.


Awards and accolades came from various quarters to Aminuddin acknowledging his enormous contribution to Dhrupad and to the field of Indian music in general. The most important among the awards were the Swami Haridas Award which was presented to him in 1979 by the then honourable vice-president of India Sri B.D. Jatti, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1985 and the Padmabhusan award, one of the highest civilian honours in India, in 1986. He was also honoured with a D. Litt degree by Rabindra Bharati university in 1991 and held the prestigious position of Producer Emiritus of All India Radio and Doordarshan between 1986-1989. 


In the last year of his life Moinuddin had given his brother the permission to shift base to Kolkata where Aminuddin was invited by the famous industrialist Sri B.K. Birla to join Birla Academy Swar Sangam as its founder Principal. Kolkata with its vibrant cultural life suited Aminuddin perfectly and he made it his home for the rest of his life. It is in this city that he was able to found a Dhrupad institute that would fulfill his dreams to propagate Dhrupad among the younger generation. He named it Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar Dhrupad Sangeet Ashram in the memory of his elder brother. This institute stands today as the proud legacy bearer of Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar carrying aloft the beacon of Dhrupad music in all its resplendent glory. With the demise of Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar on 28th December 2000 an era came to an end. Though his physical body is no more here, yet his memory will live on forever through the music of Dhrupad to which he has so richly contributed.

unceremoniously snipped from the Dhrupad Sangeet Ashram here

Dagar Brothers  • Nasir Mohinuddin Dagar, Nasir Aminuddin Dagar

(also known as the Senior Dagar Brothers)

Ustad Moinuddin Khan and Aminuddin Khan, sons of the late Ustad Nasiruddin Khan, the doyen of the Dhrupad style, are better known as Dagar Brothers in the music world. At a very early age they were initiated into the art by their father. After the untimely demise of the latter, their uncles took over the young boys' interrupted tutelage and groomed and shaped them as able exponents of the Dhrupad and Dhamar styles. Dhrupad and Dhamar are very difficult to master and hence their exponents are very very few. These styles demand a vigorous voice and highly imaginative but massive mode of utterance and expression. Both brothers have proved to be most eminently suited for the exposition of these styles in the traditional manner.

The Dagar Brothers enjoy an international reputation, having travelled extensively both in the West and in the East, as cultural ambassadors of India. For several years they were on the staff of the Bharateeya Kala Kendra which is run by the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Delhi to impart tuition in classical music.



Side One • Alap — Raga Darbari Kanada.


Tradition demands that before the rhythmic rendering of a Dhrupad or a Dhamar, a complete and comprehensive picture of the Raga is woven with slow and ponderous movements from note to note. This side is entirely devoted to such an elaborate exploration of Raga Darbari Kanada and both the brothers share equal honours for building up an enchanting euphonious structure within the framework of the Raga.

Raga Darbari Kanada is a night melody. It has a very sublime mood and its exposition is usually full of majesty and grandeur.


Side Two • Dhamar — Raga Darbari Kanada, Dhrupad — Raga Adana



This side opens with a Dhamar piece. Usually in a concert a Dhamar is sung after a Dhrupad. But since the composition of Dhamar is in the same Raga as is featured on Side One, i.e. Darbari Kanada, the maestros have preferred to render it as the first item on this side. The performance is confined to a rhythmic cycle of 14 beats known as 'Dhamar Tala'.


This is followed by a Dhrupad in Raga Adana. which is an immensely popular night melody. It has a lively character and the performance is mostly confined to the higher notes of the octave. The rhythm cycle of this composition consists of 12 beats. This rhythm is particularly apt for the accompaniment of a Dhrupad and hence it bears the name of Dhrupad Tala.

The rhythm accompaniment on Mridanga, an oval shaped percussion instrument, is provided by Mr. S. V. Patwardhan, a reputed master of this instrument. The entire performance is marked by melodic and rhythmic jugglery created by the most fascinating mathematical combinations employed both by the singers and the percussion player vying good-humouredly with each other and displaying their virtuosity and proficiency.

equally snipped, but from the back of the record sleeve.

Music ▼ + (MOAE 135)




Music ▼ + (EALP 1291)

Third chance and possibly the best one
is thanks to Tawfiq at the Oriental Traditional Music blog, where we can also consult a French EMI Pathé Marconi pressing of the same thing. Do yourself a good service and take a gander here !

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar - AIR - 1960

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar 
• Rageshri-Kanhara AIR - 1960
EMI India - HMV PMLP 3069 - P.1990





Side A

Raga Rageshri-Kanhara : Alap (1960) 27'26

Side B

Raga Rageshri-Kanhara : Alap (1960) 13'35
Dhrupad: Ganga Jata Shiv (1960) 14'16




Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar (1900-1975) was the second son and student of Allabande Khan and one of the outstanding dhrupad singers of our times. He was also well-versed in sangeeta shastra. He was associated with the courts of Jaipur, Alwar and Indore. His son is Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, another well-know dhrupad exponent.

Reference: Sangeetagyon ke Samsmaran by Vilayat Hussain Khan 

(Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1959)

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar, was one of the most eminent scions of an illustrious house of musicians. Dagar Family traces its lineage to Miyan Tansen, the court-musician under the patronage of the Moghul emperor, Akbar. Miyan Tansen is universally acknowledged as the maestro, who pioneered the contemporary “Dhrupad-Dhamar parampara”, which marked the genesis, evolution and development of the Hindustani “Sangeet Paddhati”, the traditional musk of north India, both vocal and instrumental. And the Ustad carried on the precious heritage and enriched it with dedication and justifiable pride till his death at 75.

Son of the maestro, Ustad Zakiruddin Khan Dagar, one of the ail-time great “Dhrupadiyas” of yesteryears, melody and rhythm coursed through the Ustad’s veins. His father was also his guru, whose magic touch backed by the son's epochal “riyaz”, helped the youngster to rise to enviable fame and glory. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan and a string of other accolades and distinctions.

The Ustad was endowed with a ringing, sonorous voice, and his style carried authenticity and evidence of erudition and scholarship. His ‘Gayaki’ revealed a majestic pace and benign expression. He had an uncanny knack of winning over his audiences as much by his gay, ebullient manner as by his profound, sublime music. With typical dignity and poise, the maestro projected his chosen “Ragas” by means of smooth and soothing “Alap”, while trenchant rhythms and pounding accents characterised his Dhrupad-Dhamar renditions.

Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar passed away at New Delhi on November 20th 1975.


The Music

Raga Rageshri-Kanhara, This “Raga” sounds like an ingenious fusion of two separate but well-known melodies, both rendered in the second quarter of the night. He has invested his chosen theme with all the familiar virtues- musical, rhythmical and aesthetic. It is first presented in prefatory “Alap” and then through a “Dhrupad” composition, an invocation to Lord Shiva.

 culled from the notes on the record sleeve

Music ▼ +

Budhaditya Mukherjee • Ahir Bhairav, Puria 1979

Budhaditya Mukherjee • Sitar 
 - Ahir Bhairav, Puria  
HMV EMI-India ECSD 2601 - P.1979



Side A

A1 Raga Ahir Bhairav - Alap, Jod

Side B

B1 Raga Puria - Gat - Trital


Anand Gopal Bandopadhyay, tabla

Here is another little treat from the extensive collection of His Excellency. I am looking forward to our next meeting, and maybe if he is the right mood he will pick up the surbahar or maybe even the been and strike a few notes to safely envelope us from the hardships of the dusty world. Anyhow here is one of the earliest recording I know of with Budhaditya Mukherjee. Of his total of eight LP's cut, this is his third one and the first on EMI-India, I can post three more records by him later if there is an interest. Hope you enjoy!

You can check his discography here

Budhaditya Mukherjee (1955–) is a Hindustani classical sitar and surbahar player of the Imdadkhani Gharana (school).

read more in the Wikipedia entry about him here

It was in the year 1976. A memorable event indeed. Hailing from the industrial town of Bhilai in Madhya Pradesh, a teenager was found toying with his Sitar with all the efficacies of a Maestro-in-making before a conglomeration of connoisseurs, critics and music-lovers in a major concert at Calcutta. And that was Budhaditya Mukherjee, a student of Engineering — shy, unassuming, looking more like an ascetic than a performing artiste with the glamour of the present day. His second appearance in Calcutta was more astounding, fantastic and sparkling with incredible artistry. He surprised everyone as much with his precocious talent as with his technical fitness and skill. He was immediately greeted as a Sitar-prodigy and acclaimed in no uncertain words that he was a discovery of the age in the domain of Indian Classical Music. Unanimously he was reckoned to be the torch-bearer of the rich cultural heritage of our National Art.

Budhaditya started playing Sitar at the tender age of five under the guidance of his illustrious father Mr. Bimalendu Mukherjee who is an eminent string musician having had his grooming in the style of late Ustad Enayat Khan. He imbibed ‘Gayaki’ style of Kirana School probably from his subsequent association with Pandit Jai Chand Bhatt. But it is Ustad Vilayet Khan, the sitar wizard, who has perhaps influenced him more in the later stages of this young artiste in shaping himself.

Budhaditya has been playing before a cross section of music-lovers stretching from Assam in the East to Gujrat in the West and from Punjab in the North to Karnataka in the South. He has been abroad also. Only a couple of months back he returned from a successful tour in Yugoslavia, Poland, Bulgaria and USSR as a delegate of the Government of India. Everywhere Budhaditya's virtuosity have made his full-house audience responsive. He is now twenty four and forsaking a brilliant career after obtaining first-class- first in Metallurgical Engineering, Budhaditya has opted for music which is his first love.

Budhaditya Mukherjee is now an exclusive artiste of The Gramophone Company of India Limited and for his first album from HMV, he has chosen to play ‘Alaap’ and ‘Jod’ in Raga Ahir-Bhairav on the first side. On the second side he has delineated Raga Puriya with a judicious treatment of ‘Vistar‘, ‘Taans’ and ‘Jhala’. The composition is set to Trital.

Tabla accompaniment of young Ananda Gopal Banerjee is an additional attraction for this album.

unceremoniously snipped from the sleeve notes

Music ▼ +