The anguish and ecstasy
ANJANA RAJAN
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In the ongoing series on accompanists, meet harmonium exponent Bimal Bairagi.
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PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM
DEFT FINGERS Bimal Bairagi.
In the music room of a reputed public school of the NCR, Bimal Bairagi's students are busy trying out their tunes. Snatches of "Om Jai Jagadish Hare" and "Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja" can be heard over the gentle roar of the school corridors, which are awash with students making their way at the fag end of a day to the last couple of lessons. The room is large and comfortable, and over a dozen youngsters are trying their hand at the harmonium keys. A large synthesiser keyboard sits on the desk before Bairagi. There is talk of notation reading, practicing songs, and as the class is dismissed one feels these kids are lucky to have a highly qualified musician take them through the basics.
Bairagi, who hails from Kolkata, belongs to a family that had him steeped in music long before it was time to learn his ABC. "My father is a violin player. My grandfather was also a musician," he recounts. "My elder brother learnt the violin, so my father suggested I learn something else. So I took up the tabla. I played for 10-12 years and have taken a Visharad degree in it."
In search of melody
Yet it was melody that attracted him, and Bairagi felt he was still in search of the instrument of his choice. "My tabla guru, Professor Deshapriya Bose, also used to play the harmonium beautifully. On his suggestion, I learnt the harmonium for about six years. Then my brother suggested I should also learn to play the piano." So Bairagi learnt Western classical music, and his "left hand too started playing," he explains, in a reference to the one-handed keyboard technique of the harmonium compared to the two-handed approach of the piano. It was under Surojit Roy that he trained in both the acoustic piano and the synthesiser keyboard.
Some feel the synthesiser as an electronic instrument is no match for a natural instrument like the piano, but Bairagi points out that the artistry depends on the artiste. "No instrument is less worthy than another. Even a dabba (box) can be a musical instrument. You just have to work hard at the technique. Just because this requires one to simply press the keys, doesn't mean it is `easy' to make music," he points out, even as he demonstrates his dexterity over the keys, producing rich chords at high speed.
Bairagi, who came to Delhi in 1998 from Kolkata, has accompanied many leading vocalists on the radio and in stage performances across the world. He also accompanied Soma Ghosh, and her introducing him to the late shehnai vidwan Ustad Bismillah Khan paved the way for his participation in the Ustad's celebrated performance at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Renowned thumri singer Savita Devi and Khayal exponent Meeta Pandit are among the singers he has accompanied, besides Uttara Dutta, Shikha Ganguli, Sucheta Rakshit and Samina Dey among others. Yet despite an album full of clippings and shots of him in capital cities of the world, Bairagi is unable to keep down a feeling of ennui. What is the use of skill and talent, he asks, if the artiste does not get the channel for self-expression?
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