A Gandharva incarnate
MEENA BANERJEE
|
Kolkata’s music lovers remember the genius of vocalist D.V. Paluskar.
|
Pandit D.V. Paluskar.
One was not surprised to find a packed Kala Mandir when Pandit Sharad Sathe, under the aegis of Kolkata’s Sangeet Kala Mandir, presented an audio-visual on Pandit D.V. Paluskar recently, because critical appreciation of musicians’ styles
is something a Bengali aficionado enjoys the most. Thanks to Pandit Kumar Prasad Mukherji’s erudite, dispassionate disposition and unique style of presentation, such scrutiny sessions had become raging hits.
Sathe did not venture to evaluate his mentor’s music though. Both he and his sister Kamal Ketkar simply worship their guru. While Sathe, who had accompanied Paluskar during recitals, preserved recordings and photographs, Ketkar compiled memoirs treasured by all who knew their Bapurao.
A few excerpts from this book “Parimal” supported by a slideshow of 35 photographs illustrating various stages of Paluskar’s life and, most importantly, his recorded music consisting of 22 khayals and a few bhajans were the milestones of this nostalgic journey.
Early death
Sathe’s presentation, steeped in reverence, reinstated the fact that the piping voice of Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar resembled a flute dipped in honey and sounded as if he was born without the Adam’s apple. It is believed that a musician acquires a distinct style at around 40. Bapurao never got the advantage of age.
This illustrious son of the legendary Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was only 34 when suddenly an attack of meningitis brought the curtains down, on Vijaya Dashami, October 26, 1955. Yet the records and the two cassettes of 20 minutes’ duration are perfect examples of his amazing virtuosity and technique – simple, neat, polished approach to the raga, sung with awesome ease. Rooted in the Gwalior style, each raga was rendered methodically, covering all the aspects of alap, the entire bandish, bol-alap and taan. What to say of his immortal bhajans! Bapurao belonged to the golden era of the greats like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Gangubai Hangal, Kesarbai Kerkar. With an open minded admiration and rare aesthetic sense, he drew inspiration from their individuality and enriched his own style that bore his inimitable stamp. Ustad Amir Khan, his co-singer in “Baiju Bawra”, had hailed him as “Sher ka baccha”. Eminent violinist D.K. Datar believed that their Bapurao was a Gandharva (celestial singer) who came down to earth for penance.
Lasting masterpiece
His last – raga Shree, recorded in a tearing hurry to facilitate a new experiment by HMV after the invention of tape recording “...remains a masterpiece!” according to veteran music buff Biren Das who had heard Bapurao in person. “He used to enter and leave the auditorium with folded hands and an angelic smile. It lingered on his lips throughout his recital.”
Vidushi Kishori Amonkar finds his music “totally committed”. For Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma “it is the best example of the intrinsic spirituality of our music”, while Pandit Vijay Kichlu exclaims, “….divine voice, perfect uccharan… cast a spell which had something supernatural about it!”
Very rarely does one come across an artiste who is regarded in such high esteem.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
