Hiru Ganguly, tabaliya
Bhaskar Ghosh
Anybody know about CD's or audio cassettes featuring tabla solos or
accompaniment by Hirendra Nath (Hiru) Ganguly ? I guess he does not
record any more, so most of his available recordings should be pretty
old.
I remember the times when i listened to him playing live. Those were
unforgettable experiences. I wonder if people on this newsgroup have
heard him play (i never see him mentioned in discussions) - to me his
slow and medium teental form the culmination of tabla playing -
Ecstacy ! Bliss ! I don't have words to describe the richness of his
playing.
Since he is also one of the most interesting and selfless
personalities in the world of Hindusthani classical music (he does not
take money for his performances since his guru taought him that his
art was not for sale ...., is an established lawyer in professional
life) I wonder if more informed people would like to discuss him and
his art.
Even now, I remember the evening when I first heard him play. The 81
year old Hiru-babu played with Gyan Ghosh and V G Jog - and the grace,
control and beauty he gave in his playing were phenomenal. The
sweetness of his strokes ! The control over the bayya ! At the
beginning I couldn't help wondering if the frail old man could even
sit straight and play for 2 hours - I guess at the end of the evening
when i went to offer him my pranams, I was convinced that the truth
was otherwise.
God bless Hiru-babu.
- bhaskar.
--
===============================================================================
Bhaskar Ghosh "Tomar pujar chholey,
gh...@cs.yale.edu @yalecs.bitnet Tomay bhulei thaki"- Robithakur
===============================================================================
Arthur Levine
doing. Any better ideas?
Art
Bhaskar Ghosh
In article <1993May19.2...@leland.Stanford.EDU> bud...@leland.Stanford.EDU (Corvin Russell) writes:
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Path: cs.yale.edu!yale.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!headwall.Stanford.EDU!nntp.Stanford.EDU!buddha
From: bud...@leland.Stanford.EDU (Corvin Russell)
Sender: ne...@leland.Stanford.EDU (Mr News)
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
References: <1tbj9s...@ELVIS.NA.CS.YALE.EDU>
Date: Wed, 19 May 93 20:31:33 GMT
Lines: 104
(BEAUTIFUL AND INFORMATIVE ARTICLE DELETED)
Dear Corvin.
thanks for your beautiful posting on Hiru-babu. It is a real pity that
people outside Calcutta don't know much about him. I guess the times
when he used to perform regularly outside Bengal were in the 1930's to
the 1950's, and in the last twenty years or so he hardly ever
performed in large gatherings even in Calcutta - so i guess it's
natural that people from our generation would have heard so little
about him. However, Gyan Ghosh wrote a beautiful book (came out in the
Bengali weekly "Desh" in the mid-80s) reminiscing about great
personalities in Hindusthani Classical music - and i remember him
recounting the exploits of the young Hirubabu in some depth.
Now that i think of him, i realise all the more what a saint he is -
like a lotus in the mire of the Indian classical music scene - where
thirst for quick popularity and quicker money seems to the driving
force these days. Anyway, that may just be the cynic in me talking.
My guru was a shishya (disciple) of Keramatullah Khan Sahib, and i
remember him saying that the self-control and unselfishness of Hiru
babu's character would come out beautifully in his playing. When he
accompanied singers or instrumentalists - he was completely
unobstrusive and dynamic (in the sense that he could come up real-time
with kaida's, tukra's and chakradhar's matched with the style of the
principal and he could vary his style remarkably depending who he was
playing with) - and in this adaptibility and restraint he could be
matched only by Keramatullah Khan Saheb himself. Also, though he was
not from the Benaras gharana (eg. Kanthe Maharaj, Kishen Maharaj) he
could also be brilliant in accompanying dancers - though he seldom did
that in public. This really amazes me because accompanying dancers and
singers require very different skills.
It is a pity his recordings are not available. Next time i am back in Calcutta,
i will search for those in the music circles i know.
To end on a silly note : Hiru-babu, when i saw him, was toothless and
used to wear dentures. Everytime, he was engrossed in his playing and
was playing a long solo piece, his mouth would open up and his
dentures would be pushed out slightly, and as a young boy i found it
hilarious !!
- Bhaskar.
PS. Corvin, - I am also an amateur tabla player. I would like to meet
you when i am in San Francisco and would love to hear you play. BTW,
you mentioned Nikhil Ghosh - i seem to recollect one of his sons being
an up and coming tabaliya in the late 70's. He had, what we said in
Bengali, a "mishti haat" (literally : a sweet hand) and i remember he
was surpringly good in his working of the kani (the edge of the
tabla). Do you know about him ?
Corvin Russell
>
>Anybody know about CD's or audio cassettes featuring tabla solos or
>accompaniment by Hirendra Nath (Hiru) Ganguly ? I guess he does not
>record any more, so most of his available recordings should be pretty
>old.
great grand-guru. He learned from the incredible, legendary
(this time the superlatives are deserved) Khalifa Abid Hussain Khan from
1919 to 1936. Along with Khalifa Wajid Hussain, Hiru Babu was the most
prominent disciple of Lucknow's greatest tabla player, and was treated
like one of the Khalifa's children.
Now in his mid-eighties (he's 86, I believe), Hiru Babu is one of the last
great masters of tabla, and, with the passing of Khalifa Afaq Hussain, the
pillar of the Lucknow gharana. Since his return to Calcutta in the
1930's, Hiru Babu has taught and performed tabla, though as you point
out, never for money. He is, as you say, the ideal type of a saintly
musician. Among living musicians he I believe he is the only one to whom
Ali Akbar Khan Sahab (and many other senior musicians, no doubt) can be seen to
do pranaam. He is so respected.
Though I have never heard him play, to judge
from my guru's playing and what my guru has said of Hiru Babu, I'm
sure he's brilliant. I am just thankful that through Hiru Babu, my
dAdA guru and my guruji, I am able to learn such incredible material, like
I've never heard played by any other tabliyas, except Khalifas Wajid
and Afaq Hussain. I'm sure Hiru Babu deserves a lot of credit for
keeping the standards of our gharana pure, preserving the essence of
the old tradition of tabla playing which virtually everyone else *alive*
(except Kishan Maharaj, Sharda Sahai, Jnan Babu and some of his students,
Nikhil Ghosh and perhaps Sabir Khan, in my honest, though limited, opinion)
now seems to have forgotten. If the Lucknow style survives through the
next couple of generations, a lot (if not most) of the credit must go to
Hiru Babu.
You're lucky to have seen him perform. I myself only hope that by the grace
of God I will be able to go to Calcutta and do pranaam to Hiru Babu
and my dAdA guru, Santosh Krishna Biswas (who is older than his teacher,
at 88) before they pass away.
As far as recordings go, I do not believe Hiru Babu has made a single
commercial recording. And private tapes of him will doubtless be
jealously guarded!
Although this century's Lucknow tabliyas have excelled almost to a
man in all genres of tabla playing, there is something very magical
about tabla solo in the Lucknow tradition. If you can see my guru
(Swapan Chaudhuri) perform tabla solo, by all means take the opportunity.
He is in Calcutta for the concert season. Every once in a while
he also gives solo recitals in North America. Although I cannot claim to
speak impartially, after hearing his tabla solo there was nothing else for me.
It's excellent, the real stuff that you will rarely see now. Although they're
not the same as concert performances, Swapan Da also is going to have
2 solo cds come out shortly (both superb), and has already released
an excellent solo cassette in India.
>
>Since he is also one of the most interesting and selfless
>personalities in the world of Hindusthani classical music (he does not
>take money for his performances since his guru taought him that his
>art was not for sale ...., is an established lawyer in professional
>life) I wonder if more informed people would like to discuss him and
>his art.
Abid Hussain Khansahib also told Hiru Babu that he needn't play for
money since he (Abid Hussain) would take of Hiru Babu if he needed it.
Abid Hussain was famous as the greatest tabla player of his time, and
since it was the age of court patronage, he had amassed considerable
wealth. I believe that Abid Hussain, quite unusually, even made some
provision for HB in his will, since he loved HB so much.
My memory about this is hazy, though, so I'll have to double check to
make sure it's true.
Corvin
Shiv Naimpally
|>
|> My guru was a shishya (disciple) of Keramatullah Khan Sahib, and i
|> remember him saying that the self-control and unselfishness of Hiru
|> babu's character would come out beautifully in his playing. When he
|> accompanied singers or instrumentalists - he was completely
|> unobstrusive and dynamic (in the sense that he could come up real-time
|> with kaida's, tukra's and chakradhar's matched with the style of the
|> principal and he could vary his style remarkably depending who he was
|> playing with) - and in this adaptibility and restraint he could be
|> matched only by Keramatullah Khan Saheb himself. Also, though he was
|> not from the Benaras gharana (eg. Kanthe Maharaj, Kishen Maharaj) he
|> could also be brilliant in accompanying dancers - though he seldom did
|> that in public. This really amazes me because accompanying dancers and
|> singers require very different skills.
I think Lucknow gharana is the original gharana for accompanying Kathak.
Let us not forget that Benares 'gharana' is a fairly recent creation
(started by Pandit Ram Sahai, Sharda Sahai's grandfather) and is not as
old as the other gharanas.
Your point is well taken though - it does require different skills
to accompany instrumental, vocal and dance. Each type of music has
their own requirements for tabla accompaniment. Very tabla players
are adept at all 3. Zakir and Swapanda are those rare tabla players
who can change their style to match the artist they are accompanying
and are equally good accompanying instrumental, vocal, and tabla.
|> PS. Corvin, - I am also an amateur tabla player. I would like to meet
|> you when i am in San Francisco and would love to hear you play. BTW,
|> you mentioned Nikhil Ghosh - i seem to recollect one of his sons being
|> an up and coming tabaliya in the late 70's. He had, what we said in
|> Bengali, a "mishti haat" (literally : a sweet hand) and i remember he
|> was surpringly good in his working of the kani (the edge of the
|> tabla). Do you know about him ?
Perhaps I could comment since Padmabhushan Pandit Nikhil Ghosh is
my guruji. Baba (as we usually call him) has 2 sons, Nayan and Dhruba.
Nayan is the tabla player, and has played with the likes of Pandit
Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee, Buddhaditya
Mukherjee, Shahid Parvaiz, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Shivkumar Sharma, etc..
He has severalrecordings: with Rajeev Taranath (on Rhythm House), with
Shamim Ahmed (on Magnasound), Salamat Ali (Magnasound) etc..
Few people know that he is also a very talented sitarist. He plays
sitar regularly on Bombay AIR but because his father is a tabla
player, he is known and gets concerts more as a tabla player. He
did play in a Sitar Sammellan (with Anindo Chatterjee on tabla)
a few years back and is starting get more concerts as a sitar player.
In his younger days he was very much influenced by Vilayat Khan
(who I beleive did teach him briely) but later he became influenced by
Nikhil Bannerjee. IMHO he is better than quite a few of the
Imdadkhani sitarists that we have been discussing lately.
Baba has another excellent student as well - Aneesh Pradhan.
Aneesh is well known in Bombay, having played with many artists
there but he has started playing with the likes of Amjad Ali,
Buddhadev Das Gupta, and others and is now Shobha Gurtu's regular
accompanist and can be heard on several of her recent CD releases.
[Corvin: Swapanda heard Aneesh play tabla solo in Delhi - he was
quite impressed he said].
Ramesh Gangolli
(Bhaskar Ghosh) writes: >
>PS. Corvin, - I am also an amateur tabla player.I would like to meet
>you mentioned Nikhil Ghosh - i seem to recollect one of his sons being
>an up and coming tabaliya in the late 70's. He had, what we said in
>Bengali, a "mishti haat" (literally : a sweet hand) and i remember he
>was surpringly good in his working of the kani (the edge of the
>tabla). Do you know about him ?
>
No doubt you are talking of Nayan Ghosh, who is an excellent player. He was
in the US about eighteen months ago, and played a few gigs with Ram
Narayan. You are absolutely right about his mishti haat on the tabla, but
you should also hear him on the Sitar where it is even more so. I have
heard a _very sweet_ recording of Rageshree (mislabelled in error as
Bageshree) where this quality is abundantly clear. Although the recording
is not technically very good, it is quite clear that the playing is superb.
Reminiscent of Nikhilbabu at his incomparable best. I hope we get a chance
to hear him in person soon.
Ramesh Gangolli.
--
Ramesh Gangolli (gang...@math.washington.edu)
Dept. of Mathematics GN-50
University of Washington
Seattle WA 98195.
Don Robertson
510-763-8898.
joshibha...@gmail.com
kindly mail me
i will be thankfull
he was my grandfather's guru
i belongs to his students generation.