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SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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Flautist Mohini Mohan Pattanaik wins Sahara India Lifetime Achievement award.
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Photo: Shyamhari Chakra
Class apart Mohini Mohan Patnaik.
Puri, 1954: A nine-year-old boy was playing on the beach when he heard a captivating melody of flute. He saw a vendor playing the piece of bamboo to lure his buyers and the boy bought one instantly. “But why can’t I play like you?”
asked the innocent child. “You have to learn to play it properly. Try and you will,” pat came the answer. And that was the beginning of the boy’s lifelong affair with the flute. The boy grew up to be known as flute maestro, composer and guru Mohini Mohan Patnaik who has groomed the largest number of flutists in India. Ironically, the self-made master, winner of this year’s coveted Sahara India Lifetime Achievement award, did not have a teacher!
“My father, a zamindar of Puri, wanted me to be a lawyer. Music was a strict no in the family. And there was none from whom I could have learnt even secretly. But my heart was with the flute. So guided by eminent vocalist Kasinath Pujapanda on the basics of music, I had to start myself. Once I had an opportunity to watch Hariprasad Chaurasia playing. I keenly watched his fingers and could sense my mistakes,” recollected Mohini Mohan, a former professor at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Asia’s oldest college of performing arts in Bhubaneswar.
Following schooling at Puri, the teenager shifted to Orissa’s capital city of Bhubaneswar on the pretext of joining a job that he did. “But it was sheer riaz for six years following which I passed three audition tests in light, light classical and classical from All India Radio. I also completed my masters in music from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad by then,” narrated the flutist who is also an avid santoor player.
Mohini Mohan’s teaming up with legendary Odissi dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi took him on several trips abroad starting with Japan in 1970 besides numerable performances inside the country. Later, ICCR sponsored his solo shows abroad.
“Bansira Sandhya”, an annual flute festival presenting all his disciples on a single platform and the newly launched Flute Academy in Bhubaneswar are the two important achievements in his career spanning over four decades.
The maestro who has made significant contribution to Orissa cultural scenario has so far been ignored by the state government in acknowledging his contributions. “I do not bother for recognitions. My scores of disciples are my real awards. Moreover I feel honoured by the love and respect that I receive for my performances in India and abroad,” remarked the veteran artiste who has decided to utilise the prize money of Rs.1.1 lakh that he received with the Sahara India Pariwar lifetime achievement award this year for development of the Flute Academy.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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