BRIEF biography of Pandit V.G.Jog

[mur...@asl.dl.nec.com]

Here's a brief biograpgy (semi-official, I think) of Pandit
V.G. Jog.

My own comments follow at the end....

Pandit V.G. Jog

Pandit Vishnu Govind Jog, whose name is almost synonymous with the violin genre
in Hindustani Classical Music, is a performer with the unique distinction of
having occupied the top rungs of the Classical Musicians' hierarchy with
three consecutive generations of performers. His career as a highly active
and successful performer has spanned almost five decades.

Born in Bombay in 1922, he received his early training from S.C. Athavale and the
late Ganpat Rao Purohit. Subsequently, he had his training from Vishweswar Shastry,
the renowned musician and musicologist Dr. S.N. Ratanjarkar, and for a short time
from the celebrated Ustad Allauddin Khan.

Groomed in the Gwalior, Agra and Bakhle styles, Pandit Jog's virtuosity, mastery
of ragas and an uncanny realisation of space and time in the construction and
knowledge of rhythm are his hallmarks. At a very young age, he rubbed shoulders
with all time greats at the Bhatkhande College of Music, Lucknow, in the thirties
- the first great attempt at institutionalising traditional music instruction.

An unassuming person of infinite charm, he is also regarded as an incomparable
accompanist. His duets with Ustad Bismillah Khan have met with spectacular
successes in India and abroad. He is gifted with the remarkable ability to
sense the pulse and mood of his audiences, and has toured extensively both in
India and abroad, significantly in East Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom,
France, USA and West Germany. In 1985, he performed to great acclaim under the
auspices of the Festival of India in the USA.

Pandit Jog was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1982.

Presently, apart from innumerable other honorary positions, he serves on the
Committee of Experts at the Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta.

.................

( my own remarks.....ramblings - don't mind)

Panditji has been living in Calcutta for the past 22 years,
in a simple house near Vivekanand Park. I believe he moved
to Calcutta while with All India Radio. He has been
affiliated with the Sangeet Research Academy ever since
it came up in Tollygunge. He lives with his wife, son,
daughter-in-law and grandson. His son, Gopal, is also a
violinist.

When not touring, a typical day starts with Panditji taking a
brisk walk around Vivekanand Park and then reading the Telegraph
while sipping some Chai in his apartment on the fourth floor of
the building. By 8 am, students start arriving and
park in the tiny music room on the first floor. Soon the
sounds of violins becomes quite pronounced and can be heard all
along the street. The little ration shop in the garage on
the ground floor also opens and a loud racket commences.
Dogs bark pointlessly and a group of boys start a noisy game of
cricket. Nothing can distract his students who come from as
far away as Patna, Bhilai, Rourkela, Siliguri, Midnapore and
Jamshedpur. You'll usually find a student from abroad too -
Australia, the US, Netherlands, France, Japan...

Panditji arrives. The students rise and rush to touch his feet.
Without further ado, he attends to each one of them and
gives them a lot of time, correcting what they have
practised lately and writing new exercises and compositions.
Sometimes his son takes over and helps the beginners but
Panditji always writes in the book. By 11.30, several
students have come in, practised and left, with constant
interruptions from visitors and incessant phone calls.

The music room itself is quite something. Its narrow with a
sofa along one side. On the walls are photographs,
momentoes and paintings. As you enter, you would see, on the
right, a great oil painting of Panditji taken in his younger days.
The painter has captured beautifully the radiance of this master
which most people notice when they meet him. Moving along, in
the center, above the sofa, are some photos of Panditji with
Ahmad Jaan Thirakwa and Ravi Shankar. Panditji told me it was
taken on the occasion of a live interview of Ahmad Jaan on AIR
with himself and Ravi Shankar the interviewers. There's a
yellowing autographed photo of Yehudi Menuhin (they have
never met) which Panditji points to his students when he
wishes to impress on them the correct bowing and fingering
technique. There's another photo of Panditji with Laxmi
Shankar and some others. More plaques with accolades are
hung along the wall. On the far side is a beautiful plaque
presented to Panditji on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
At that corner is also an ancient violin case which has a
marigold garland respectfully placed on it. I wonder what
significance it has for him. Next to it is a tanpura.

Moving along the left wall, is Panditji's Padma Bhushan,
presented to him in 1983. Its really quite moving to look at
it and then glance back at his painting on the opposite end
of the room.

Next is some shelf space built into the wall, where he keeps
two tablas and other miscellaneous stuff.

After that a large framed photograph of Panditji being presented
the Padma Bhushan by President Zail Singh.

Finally, a framed certificate dated sometime in 1944 from
Bhatkande College certifying Panditji's contribution to
Indian Classical Music. Its yellowing.

Back to Panditji's routine. At 11.30 or 12.00, he leaves for
lunch and a long nap. Sometimes students linger and
practise. At 2 or 2.30 the next session begins with more
students coming in. It usually not as long as Panditji
sometimes likes to go to SRA for an hour or so and check things
out. By 4.30 or 5, another stream of visitors and well-wishers and
complete strangers starts arriving. Now and then someone
arrives with a request that Panditji play at some tiny town
on the occasion of such-and-such. Its often quite delicate
saying no, since you can sense it means a lot for them to
have someone like Panditji come to their town and perform.

The evenings are for socializing, with Panditji always
making a trip to see some old friend or an ailing student or
attend some performance. He might visit Gyan Prakash Ghosh
or Aminuddin Dagar who lives close by (I went with Panditji
once, thats another story), or attend a performance by a young
artiste who came to invite him personally and for whom Panditji's
presence would mean a lot, or look up a student in poor health.
Sometimes, of course, Panditji has his own performances, so
his student brigade collects, all dressed up in Kurta
Pyjamas. Someone hails a taxi, another tenderly carries
Panditji's violin, yet another escorts him down from the
fourth floor. The ride is always interesting with Panditji
commenting on the horrible pollution and overpopulation of
Calcutta, stopping to point out a building where Vilayat
Khan stayed or where Ravi Shankar gave a performance or
discussing some concert years ago.

On getting back by 9 or 9.30, its already pitch dark in the
road. All the bulbs have been stolen so the street lights
are out. Once someone stole a violin from the music room.
Turned out to be the local thugs who made Gopal (Panditji's son)
first pay 500 buck. The climb is quite a torture plus you never know
if you're going to dash into someone coming down. His family is
watching TV, perhaps a rerun of an old Jugalbandhi of
Panditji himself with Bismillah Khan, but more likely one of
the TV series that are quite popular and addicting. Panditji must know
about the latest cricket score, of course. He's crazy about
cricket. To him, it was a great day when he met Sunil
Gavaskar. He was really disappointed when Gavaskar couldn't
attend his concert that evening. Another thing he loves is
flying kites!

He scolds his grandson Chaitanya for doing something or the
other. He has big plans for him, but first he must study and
do well.

He retires into his room and if he feels talkative, he calls
his student and chats. He bemoans the commecialization of
music (with examples), goes down memory lane. In his room is
a great group photograph at some Music conference in Gwalior
years ago. Panditji is in a nice Sherwani. Hafiz Ali Khan,
Haddoo and Hassoo Khan and other great Ustads and Pandits
are all there. There's a nice photo of his with Mallikarjun
Mansur. Sometimes Panditji will have a little something to
drink and talk and talk with his students hanging on to
every word, quite enthralled by his stories and intensely
aware of how much history they are touching through this
most human of the masters.

Vasudev
--
Vasudev Murthy Any opinions expressed are strictly
mur...@asl.dl.nec.com my own and have nothing to do with
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