Bhaskarbuwa's guru prepares kadhee for him
naniwadekar
Govindrao Tembe had contributed articles to the Marathi
monthly 'Manohar' over the twelve month period from
August 1938 to July 1939, under the title 'Maajhaa
Sangeet-Vyaasang' (My Musical Odyssey). The twelve
articles were published in book-form, with the same
title, in 1939. Its second edition, edited by Vamanrao
Deshpande, was issued in March 1984. Vamanrao contributed
a scholarly introduction to it and added biographical
notes about some important figures with the help
of his friends.
Tembe is widely regarded as the greatest harmonium player
ever. Faiyaz Khan used to say of him : 'dil bajataa hai
dil, baajaa nahii.n bajataa'. The only singer whom Tembe
accompanied on harmonium after he had established himself
was Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale. In his early years, he had
accompanied Vazebuwa as well. Tembe treated Bhaskarbuwa
and Alladiya Khan Sahab as his gurus. I am presenting the
translation of an anecdote in the book (pp 91-93), for
fun's sake.
- dn
---------------------------------------
A Banjo player named Kaukab Khan visited Mumbai and heard
my harmonium recital. He asked me who my guru was. I
named Bhaskar-rao Bakhale. Soon he met Buwa. Next day,
Buwa asked me : "I was happy to hear the Banjo player
praise you. But why did you tell him I am your guru? You
have been a famous harmonium player since before we met.
Besides, you never practise taans diligently enough and
you don't sing in the open throated manner as suggested
by me. Then how can I be called your guru? .... And why
do you take cheezs in the difficult raags from me? Even
we vocalists find those raags tough to handle. How are
you going to play them on harmonium?" "I take them only
for my pleasure. I treat it as a special gift to me.
Whenever I hum them, I can see you singing them."
My generous guru was touched. But he protested : "But you
don't learn from me the way I might want as a guru."
Mangeshrao Telang was a Been-kaar. His brother
Purushottamrao was a connoisseur of music and had heard
all the leading artists of the day (this was around
1910). He used to say : "Buwa's singing does not have the
(pallid) taste of Maharashtrian curd-rice. It is more a
delicacy like korma." This of course meant that Buwa's
singing had thoroughly mastered the style of Muslim
singers in the north. (It used to be said that the first
two Marathi singers to shut up the boastful muslim lobby
were Bhaskarbuwa and the natyageet singer Keshavrao
Bhosale who could also present khayal.) I knew curd-rice
well enough but I didn't know what korma was all about.
(A pedantic point - the word used is kadhee-bhaat which
is not exactly the same as curd-rice. Secondly, kadhee is
not to be confused with curry.) I was very curious and
asked : "What is meant by your singing having the korma
flavour?" He said : "Dada Purushottamrao enjoys making
such jokes." I persisted : "But what is korma?" Guru
Bhaskarrao laughed and let me in on the secret :
"Mussalmans enjoy a dish called korma which is prepared
by adding hot and spicy condiments in the preparation
of mutton."
I joked : "Looks like you have tasted it." (The 1910s
were a brahminical era when the teenagers didn't
celebrate their birthday in the Pizza Hut. Even
Govindrao, hardly one to deny himself life's pleasures,
had not tried korma.) Bhaskarrao's memories were stirred
and he said with some feeling : "Not korma; but my guru
once treated me to kadhee made specially by him in Badoda
(Vadodara) and that kadhee had the same punch which is
supposed to make korma special. Let me tell you a story
about that kadhee -
"I was studying under Faiz Mohammed Khan Saheb in Badoda.
One day I couldn't go for taleem as I was engaged in a
function in my house. When Ustad asked me about my
absence, I told him about the religious function (called
paksh, the occasion to remember the relatives who are no
more.). He asked me about the common menu for that
function. Among other items, I named kadhee.
"Khansahab said : "Abe Bamman!! What do you Brahmins know
about making kadhee? Let me treat you to it." After
taleem, he put on clothes and using a stick for support,
started slowly towards kum(b)har-wada (potters' colony).
I accompanied him. I was vexed at the prospect of eating
kadhee prepared by a mussalman. But how could I have
refused my ustad's prasad? I was also confused why he was
taking me to a market where earthen pots were sold to
prepare kadhee. He bought a maTakaa and asked me to carry
it. Khansahab slowly leading the way leaning on his stick
and I following him with a matka in my hand was quite a
spectacle. He bought some other items on our way home. He
asked me to clean the matka and then left it hanging by a
rope. He added half a bottle of rose water to it. By the
time I returned for my taleem in the evening, the rose
water had been absorbed by the matka. Then he added milk
to it, left it to ferment and told me to come back the
next morning as usual for taleem.
"Next morning he was cutting onion. He cut it so fine
that it looked as if there were petals of a flower
scattered before him. He asked me to practise two paltas
and came out after 90 minutes with kadhee. And what
kadhee!! It should really be called khaare masaale ki
kheer. I have never tasted kadhee like that again. Though
it was kadhee, it had the khushbo of korma. Such a man
was my guru. He wasn't just a vidwan but had many tricks
up his sleeve. It is because of him that there is the
khushbo of korma in my singing. Else you might suspect
that I eat korma."
I said, "Bhaskarrao, to be able to sing like you, anybody
would be prepared even to eat korma daily."
Buwa said : "But that korma won't carry the touch of my
guru's hand. How lucky I am!"
I said : "I am no less lucky that I have a guru like you."
=======================================
Pinaki Sengupta
prepare gosht for him in the beginning (probably to test
his sincerity). And now he cooks for Bhaskarbua! We _do_
have a rich culture. Please keep posting such nice stories.
Pinaki.
"naniwadekar" <not_thi...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<alkhl6$1qtdcc$1...@ID-75735.news.dfncis.de>...
Rajan P. Parrikar
Bhaskarbuwa in a mehfil, accompanied by Balgandharva.
To the extreme right is 'Lokmanya' Bal Gangadhar Tilak -
http://www.sawf.prohosting.com/bakhale_tilak.jpg
Bhaskarbuwa and Govindrao Tembe -
http://www.sawf.prohosting.com/tembe_bakhale.jpg
Source: Shaila Datar's book DEVAGANDHARVA, a biography
of Bhaskarbuwa.
Warm regards,
r
naniwadekar
Pinaki Sengupta <pin...@physics.ucdavis.edu> wrote -
>
> What a wonderful article! IIRC, Bhaskarbua's guru made him
> prepare gosht for him in the beginning (probably to test
> his sincerity). And now he cooks for Bhaskarbua!
>
Shaila Datar told me Bhaskarbuwa had four gurus in classical
music. Out of those four Khan sahabs, I know three names.
He learnt under Faiz Mohammad Khan in Badoda. His first
few months under him were difficult. FMK taught him very little.
Purushottamrao Telang (called Bal-shastri) held a senior post
in Badoda Durbar. He warned Khan Sahab to give proper
taleem to the young Bhaskar. Even after taleem started, FMK
would send Bhaskarbuwa to do grocery and teach his own
sons rare bandishes. Khan Sahab's wife protested. IIRC she
threatened to stop cooking until Bhaskar was treated fairly.
(Maybe that gave Buwa a chance to try cooking gosht.)
From this point, taleem went ahead without any hitch and
Khan Sahab imparted knowledge without stint. He even
advised Bhaskarbuwa to move on to his next guru, Naththan
Khan, after he had taught all he could.
The next guru was Agrawale Natthan Khan (not to be
confused with Alladiya Khan's nephew). He was with
Mysore Durbar. A great singer, he used to visit Buwa
in Dharwad on his way to Agra from Mysore for his annual
visit, to give him taleem after Buwa moved out of Mysore.
Naththan Khan's son, Vilayat Hussein Khan, continued his
father's tradition of vidya-daan. Buwa's last guru was, of
course, Alladiya Khan.
Before deciding to devote himself to khayal gayaki, Buwa had
learned Natyasangeet from one Pingalebuwa and Bhaurao
Kolhatkar, affectionately called 'bhaavaDyaa'. Buwa was
teacher to Govindrao Tembe and Bal Gandharva. Also to
Master Krishnarao. The grapevine has it that Dinanath wanted
to learn under him. But there was, in today's parlance,
a scheduling conflict. It also looks as if Fate enjoys giving Lata
more and more grudges to bear. Dinanath learnt under Vazebuwa
for some time. Bhaskarbuwa died in 1922, when Dinanath
was still very young. Buwa's contribution to natya-sangeet is
monumental. For that reason, I was tempted to cross-post the
translation on rmim, but its flavour is a bit too exclusively classical.
Rajan Parrikar has posted link to two images. How apposite that
Lokmanya Tilak can be seen in one of them today, on Ganesh Chaturthi.
The Ganesh Festival was Tilak's brainchild and started in Pune in early
1890s. Its centenary was celebrated in 1992. By the way, Bhadrapad
Shuddha Chaturthi is celebrated as Ganesh Chaturthi. Some URLs
wrongly assert it to be Ganesh's birthday. The Ganesh Jayanti (at least
according to the Maharashtrian calendar) is Maagh Shuddha Chaturthi
and falls around February.
Shaila Datar worked on the biography of Bhaskarbuwa for 16 years.
Her mother-in-law was Buwa's daughter. Her husband, Sudhir Datar,
is also a singer. A two cassette set is available in which the Datars
sing the original bandishes, followed by the natyageets based on them
by Buwa. More about the cassette release later. I will cross-post the
information about it (the cassette release) on rmim. For now, the readers
may want to do a google search on 'shaila datar sawf'.
The first thing to catch one's eye in Shaila Datar's house is the
tanpura used by Buwa. It is still in use. Looks beautiful. I am told
it sounds great. There is a nice story about it, too.
- dn
imppio
In the first picture showing BalGandharva, Bhaskarbuwa and Lok. Tilak; there
is a date : 1st October 16. Which would date the picture nicely to 1st
October 1916.
I thought I would point this out.
cheers,
imppio
"Rajan P. Parrikar" <my_las...@spamyahooremove.com> wrote in message
news:all37...@drn.newsguy.com...