Kumar Prasad Mukherjee
Archisman
carries the news of Kumar Prasad Mukherjee's demise.
He was suffering for quite some time now. Unfortunately, I was not in
touch with him for over a year but I'll remember, with ever-lasting
gratitude, that he had deeply influenced my musical thoughts and
sensibilities.
I am a very non-descript listener of hindusthani classical music but I
can say with a fair bit of conviction that he was an erudite
musicologist and critic. I have heard his tapes of 'Lec-Dem' analysing
the gayaki of various gharanas for the SRA and they are brilliant.
Especially his analysis of the Gwalior gayaki, which was profound. I
have also heard him record bandishes at Shri Satyasheel Deshpande's
residence at Walkeshwar for the Ford Foundation Programme. His immense
knowledge on 'raag-daari' was on display that day where he sang a
nom-tom alaap in 'gara' immediately after an equally detailed
'jai-jaiwanti'. Of course, it was followed by his favourite
'gaud-malhar ka prakaar' where he elaborated on bandishes in the
'nat-anga' and 'khamaj-anga' and also, one with a komal-gandhar. I have
also been fortunate to hear him render, one evening at his residence, a
brilliant nom-tom alaap of Puriya where the phrase N-r-s was used with
amazing dexterity. He followed it up with a brilliant 'lalita gauri'
and then a wonderful yaman which had a fleeting usage of the teevra
madhyam. He had the rare combination of knowledge and expression, be it
in writing or singing, though his voice was not of very high quality.
His close friends in Bombay - Shri Babanrao Haldankar and Dinkar
Kaikini thought very highly of him. I have heard some delightful
'jugal-bandis' of him with Dinkar-ji. Though not as wonderful as a
Bhat-Ginde jugalbandi, they come close in terms of exposition and
conceptualisation.
His voice, all through the 90-s, troubled him as did his failing
health. The three by-pass surgeries did not help matters. I remember
how he cancelled his concert-assignment in Bombay in 1997 at the
Vallabh Ashram in Sion, where Bhat-ji stays because of a sore throat
abd fever. However, it did not deter him from asking me whether Bombay
has good 'Lucknowi restaurants serving kakori qabaabs'. (chuckle!)
His writing skills in English were very good but what surprised all
Bengalis was his grasp over his mother tongue. His first book, Kudrat
Rangi-birangi was serially published in the weekly literary magazine -
'Desh Patrika' and later became a critically acclaimed best-seller. As
a book, seeking to make hindusthani classical music more palatable to
half-baked listeners like me, it was hugely successful in it's
objective. Laced with anecdotes and humourous interjections, it
de-mystified the 'gharanedaar reet ki gayaki' to a great extent. The
book has been translated in English and perhaps, hindi but, as all
translations go, the spirit of the literary work was not captured.
He followed it with two smaller-sized books, 'Mehfil' and 'Majlish'.
Then came the book on cricket and music - 'deshi gaan bideshi khela'
and finally a brilliant essay on the deterioration of hindusthani
khayal singing titled, I think, 'Hindusthani Kheyal Shangeeter
Abokkhoy'.
Though he idolized Faiyyaz Khan and the Agra/Rangeela gayaki, I had
seldom seen him imposing his views on others during a discussion. At
least, not with me, though it would have been the easiest thing for him
to do as I was an impressionable 'sponge' then, hanging to every word
of whatever he said. It was he who cajoled me to buy the books of
Vamanrao Deshpande, B R Deodhar, Mohan Nadkarni, Sumati Mutatkar etc.
and form an opinion for myself. He was an avid fan of Kesarbai and
Mallikarjun-buwa and never tired of telling me his experience of
hearing Bai's 'lalita gauri' in the 40's and a bewitching 'basanti
kedar' and 'nand' of Buwa in Calcutta in the 70-s. He used to lament
about the lack of recorded material of Bhaskarbuwa and Alladiya
Khan-saheb. He was a great fan of Moghubai and Sharadchandra Arolkar as
well.
He used to also regret about how 'un-used' the archival audio section
of ITC-SRA was lately, 'till Ulhas came along'. He was very very fond
of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Panditji, too, used to speak about him,
to me, in deferential tones whenever I used to meet him in Bombay after
a recital of his.
His biggest assets were his inquisitive mind and zest for life. Thus,
according to me, his learning never ceased and his enthusuiasm never
faltered, despite his health problems. He was my maternal uncle's
school-mate and insisted that I called him 'Kumar-mama'.
Farewell, 'Mama'. May you meet your childhood idols up there.
For Bengali-reading RMIM-ers, here's a link-
http://www.anandabazar.com/16cal5.htm
Regards-Archisman.
Archisman
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060516/asp/calcutta/story_6227967.asp#2
Regards-Archisman.
Archisman
http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?id=6274
Regards-Archisman.
Abhik Majumdar
post it in other forums (of course, by giving you due credit)?
Abhik
Archisman
Dear Mr. Majumdar,
Of course you can.
Thanks for your kind words. Though on a 2nd reading now, it looks less
of a tribute and more of a compilation of haphazard thoughts.
Regards-Archisman.
tukun
Mr Amit Mukerjee, Executive Director, ITC Sangeet Research Academy, has
invited all musicians and music lovers who wish to listen to the
recordings of Mr Kumar Mukherjee's gharana analysis to visit SRA and
listen to the recordings. In fact, they were always available at SRA.
It seems there is a commercial aspect in releasing the recordings that
SRA is not equipped to handle.
Arpita Chatterjee
Archisman
http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?ID=6274
Regards-Archisman
Abhik Majumdar
My God, "Abhik" only, please!
Have posted it on the HCM forum in Orkut.com. If you happen to be a
member, you can find it here:
http://www.orkut.com/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=55804&tid=2465542157575020098&start=1
(If you're interested in being a member, I could send you an invite any
time)
Many thanks for the permission once again :)
Abhik
Poorva
now, & my parents knew Mr. Mukherjee & his wife very well. I remember
them from when I was a kid. For some years my father worked under him
at Coal India. They had met him before leaving to visit me in this
month. We heard from my uncle in Calcutta today about his death, & I
have been googling for some news. Both my parents are very affected
upon hearing about his death. I showed them what you wrote.
Regards,
Tipu
Archisman
Poorva wrote:
> Archisman, thank you for this very touching tribute. I live in the US
> now, & my parents knew Mr. Mukherjee & his wife very well. I remember
> them from when I was a kid. For some years my father worked under him
> at Coal India. They had met him before leaving to visit me in this
> month. We heard from my uncle in Calcutta today about his death, & I
> have been googling for some news. Both my parents are very affected
> upon hearing about his death. I showed them what you wrote.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tipu
Thank you for your kind words. Mr. Mukherjee was a talented man and I
deeply lament his passing away.
My deepest sympathies are with Mrs. Mukherjee who, herself, is not in
the
best of health.
Regards-Archisman.
Archisman
Archisman wrote:
Adding to my own post. Purchased the book yesterday. It is more or
less, an english version of his popular bengali book - Kudrat
Rangi-birangi.
For people who understand bengali, the original version is a super-set
of this one, both in style & content, for non-bengali readers, the
english version is rich in matter & lucid in style.
Regards-Archisman
Archisman
http://www.itcsra.org/sra_news_views/orbituary/kumar_prasad_mukherjee.html
Regards-Archisman.
sitar_vadak
We are holding a memorial concert of Kumar Prasad Mukherjee at the
Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata on 17th June.
Featured artist:
Vocal: Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar.
Harmonium Accompaniment: Pandit Purushottam Walavalkar.
Tabla Accompaniment: Milind Pote (Pune).
Cards will be distributed from 11th June.
Cards are available at
The Melody
82A & 86A, Rashbehari Avenue
Kolkata
# 2466-2474
Surobani
Hati Bagan
Rabindra Sadan ticket counter
All music lovers and admirers and well wishers of Kumar Babu are
invited to this event.
Regards,
Ramprapanna Bhattacharya
tukun
I was under the impression that the memorial concert was being
organised in collaboration with 'Jalshaghar'. Please correct me if I am
wrong. I have known Mr Kumar Mukherjee practically all my life since he
was in the corporate sector and so was my father.
sitar_vadak
collaboration with 'Jalshaghar'.
I also knew Kumar Babu personally. He was present at a concert of mine
and blessed me.
If you have any personal question please email me.
With Regards,
vvnkis...@gmail.com
Kishore
Arijit
> Hi,I am a retired professor and an admirer of Kumarji. I would like to know if there are any surviving relatives of Kumarji. Thanks,
> Kishore
debuta...@gmail.com
Debu Nayak