Music and memories
JITENDRA PRATAP
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Jyotin Bhattacharya's sarod recital provided euphonic glimpses of the Maihar tradition.
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Pandit Jyotin Bhattacharya.
Pandit Jyotin Bhattacharya came over to Maihar to learn to play on the sarod from Ustad Alauddin Khan (universally known as Baba Alauddin).
Baba, by that time had become quite old and feeble and invariably used to get quite tired after imparting lessons to some of his pupils who had joined him only recently. However, Jyotin was rather lucky to receive Baba's favour. He virtually became Baba's personal secretary and handled all his mail and correspondence.
In addition, he also became a tutor to Baba's grandchildren, particularly to Ashish Khan the eldest son of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
The other grandchildren in his charge were Ali Akbar Khan's second son, the late Dhyanesh Khan, and daughter Shree, besides the late Shubhendra Shankar, the son of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Annapoorna Devi.
Sarod recital
Bhattacharya's sarod recital was presented by Baba Alauddin Khan Music Foundation Music School at The Poorva Sanskritik Kendra at Laxmi Nagar in the vicinity of the Scope Tower complex, which is not a very conveniently approachable venue, particularly for the elderly and the weak.
The Baba Alauddin Khan Music Foundation was established last year by Bhattacharya's sitarist pupil Aroop Ratan Mukherji in association with M.L. Deepak and Seema Deepak. The Foundation also conducts music and dance lessons at its Mata Durga Devi Music School, besides organising music and dance concerts from time to time. In addition, the Foundation also presents Ustad Alauddin Khan Awards to most of the veteran artists. In the year 2005 these awards were presented to Pandit Jyotin Bhattacharya, Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar and the Kathak exponent Jitendra Maharaj. This years' recipients were the noted danseuse Sonal Mansingh, sitarist Pandit Debu Chaudhury, the Gwalior vocalist L.K. Pandit and the sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who was, however, conspicuous by his absence.
It was a short and compact recital in raga Zila Kafi that Pandit Jyotin Bhattacharya presented with a brief alap-jod followed by a slow tempo composition set to the 14-beat Ada Chau tala. He was ably accompanied on the pakhawaj by the noted eye surgeon Anil Choudhury of the RML hospital.
Prominent contours
A fast Teen tala piece played towards the end had prominent contours of the raga Kafi itself. Paucity of time and the adverse weather conditions which damped the tonal quality of the sarod however did not deter Bhattacharya from releasing quite a few of the Senia-Maihar gharana's notable nuances.
Jyotin Bhattacharya has to his credit a couple of books written on his guru. One only wished that he had been somewhat benevolent towards some of his senior colleagues who were rather kind and helpful to him.
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