by K.R. Mohan
Swarasankula Sangeetha Sabha, Mysuru, has organised a function to release the audio recordings of musical compositions collected by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (Chatur Pandit) and launch of website www.swarasankula.com on Mar. 15 at 5.30 pm at Vasudevacharya Bhavan on JLB Road in city.
Sarod Maestro Pt. Rajeev Taranath and Dr. Muddumohan, Director, Department of Agricultural Marketing and a renowned musician, will be the chief guests. Dr. M.S. Bhaskar, Senior Neurosurgeon and musician, will preside.
The audio release will be followed by a sarod recital by Pt. Rajeev Taranath accompanied by Pt. Udayraj Karpoor on tabla.
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande does not need any introduction to the Hindustani Classical Music lovers. He was the greatest Musicologist of the 20th Century, who wrote a thesis on current Hindustani classical music-Shreemallalakshyasangeetam-in Sanskrit and a commentary on it in Marathi. He was the first person to evolve a Notation system for Hindustani Classical music which is adopted by almost every musician of today.
Apart from it, he collected from several established Musicians of that era several musical compositions and published them in 6 volumes under Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati- Kramik Pustak Malika. Apart from the collections made from the musicians, he added his own compositions especially the Lakshangeets and Surawats (Sargams). These compositions totaling 1,896 contain Chota khayals, Bada khayals, Drupads, Dhamars, Lakshangeets, Sargams, Taranas, Thumris, Holis, etc. These have become a treasure to the performers, teachers and students of music.
With the technical advancements in audio recording systems, it was the vision of Acharya KG Ginde who can be considered as the musical descendant of Pt. Bhatkhande that all these compositions be recorded in audio form as well, so that everyone will be able to appreciate the musical form of these compositions by listening to them. With this idea in view, he had started recording them at Sangeet Research Academy (ITC), Kolkata, but could not complete it due to his sudden demise. Since then, this work had remained unaccomplished.
Swarasankula Sangeetha Sabha, Mysuru, ventured to accomplish this project and they have succeeded in completing it and the release of the Audio DVDs of the recordings is slated to be held in Mysuru on Sunday the 15th March 2015. Together with the audio recordings, they would be providing a list and lyrics of all the compositions-categorised Thaat-wise.
This accomplishment has been made possible due to the dedicated efforts put in for six years continuously by some of the musicians of Mysuru. Pandit Indudhar Nirody, one of the senior most disciples of Acharya KG Ginde, and a “Top” grade Hindustani Classical Vocalist of AIR & Doordarshan, has sung all the 1,896 compositions. Pt. Veerabhadraiah Hiremath has given Harmonium accompaniment. Pt. Ramesh Dhannur and Pt. Bhimashankar Bidanoor have provided Tabla accompaniment for the recordings. The latter three named musicians are the products of Shree Veereshwara Punyashrama of Gadag (Karnataka). Vidwan A.P. Srinivas of Resonators Studios, an accomplished Sound Engineer and also a Karnatak musician, helped them with recording all these compositions in his studios.
Composing work relating to the lyrics of the compositions was attended to by Pt. Vyasmurti Katti, a well known Harmonium player and disciple of Pt. Nirody and his students — Soumyaa Bhat and Asavari Waikar. The work of proof reading was done by Pt. Yeshwant Mahale, an established musician and Musicologist of Mumbai.
It is the firm belief that this work will be very useful both to the students and teachers of Hindustani Classical music. Even the established performing musicians will have the opportunity of enriching their repertoire. The rasikas of music will also benefit as they will be able to enjoy by Iistening to, these compositions hitherto rarely heard. This project work is also a unique material worth retaining in the archives for posterity.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Friday – March 13th, 2015