The kirtan queen
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Veteran singer Geetashri Chabi Bandopadhyay took kirtan to the lofty heights of spirituality.
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Geetashri Chabi Bandopadhyay is undoubtedly the best thing to have happened to Bengali kirtan. Indeed, she is an icon of this time-honoured ancient art.
Her contribution can never be measured in terms of years spent which though is important. But the greater truth is that she has taken kirtans to lofty heights of spirituality, which is what kirtan actually is.
Even at 82, her voice seemed to have retained its astonishing range as she rendered "Charoone je go thai pai oma tara, Roop lagi ankhi jhare" and Atul Prasad's "Je pathe chalabe" more.
She hails from an illustrious family. Her father Nalini Mohan was a disciple of firebrand Swadesi leader Pulin Das while her mother Amabala Devi was an accomplished singer.
Her rendering of Vande Matram at the age of nine was highly appreciated by Subhas Chandra Bose who listened to her accompanied by Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarojini Naidu. At the age of 12 she cut first record on bhajans for Bharat Record Company.
Trained in kirtan by Nabadeep Brajbashi, she also learnt Khayal, Thumri, Baul and Bhatiali from Sukhendu Goswami. She taught at Rabindra Bharti University for 15 years and received Geetashri from the great Allauddin Khan.
She did playback singing for 50 films and received BMP Award in 1955 as also SNA Award in 1986.
One day in she came in contact with Anandamoyee Maa (and sang for her) and that changed her course of life. She stopped speaking to outsiders from that day. And since then, no one has heard her singing.
DEBU MAZUMDAR
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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