The last emperor
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Pandit Ram Das Chakraborty will be missed as much for his sitar playing as for his endearing ways.
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Pandit Ram Das Chakraborty, great sitar maestro of the Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan gharana, passed away on May 4. He was 75. Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, in the direct lineage of the Senia gharana or Tansen gharana, came to Varanasi (at Telianala) in the first ph
ase of the 20th Century, and this gharana of pure sitar flowered here through his three great disciples, Pandit Amiya Gopal Bhattacharya, Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan (son of the ustad) and Pandit Ram Das Chakarborty.
Pandit Chakraborty was the last emperor of this gharana in Varanasi. His great musical experience and his impeccable talent distinguished him from the other sitar exponents in his own gharana. We find Ustad Wazir Khan in the tradition of the Senia gharana. Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan and Ustad Alauddin Khan were disciples of Wazir Khan Saheb.
Hafiz Ali Khan moved to Gwalior and established the Gwalior gharana of the sarod, while Alauddin Khan moved to Maihar to establish the Maihar gharana of the sarod. That lineage came to Varanasi through Ashiq Ali Khan (normally performed in the royal court of Maharaja Banaras). It was established as a sitar gharana by Amiya Gopal and his disciple Ram Chakraborty, a talented personality of great humour. Jolly by nature Ram da, as he was affectionately addressed, became popular in the 1960s and ’70s. He performed at different prestigious venues, accompanied by stalwarts like Pandit Anokhe Lal Mishra, Pandit Kanthe Maharaj, Pandit Samta Prasad Mishra, Ustad Afaq Hussain, Mehendi Hussain, Pandit Kishan Maharaj and others accompanied him on the tabla.
Born (in 1933) and brought up in Varanasi, Ram da could make people laugh in life and make his audience cry in his concerts. His special talent for creating intricate swara patterns during alap and also during the jod portions drew the attention of great stalwarts including Pandit Ravi Shankar. The latter taught Chakraborty’s wife Krishna Chakraborty, also a well known sitar artiste. Krishna first took her initiation from Ram da and then approached Pandit Ravi Shankar at Ram da’s instance. Pandit Ram Chakraborty was a lecturer of sitar in the Music Faculty of Banaras Hindu University for almost 35 years.
The revered guru, elder brother Narain Das, wife Krishna and his sitar, these were his permanent companions in an otherwise lonely existence. Few may have joined his last journey, but he will be missed by his friends and the music circles.
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