Two youngsters from Baghbazar, an aristocrat locality of the city of palaces or North Kolkata, began their musical journey. One of them hailed from a family of great sitar and surbahar exponents; the other defied the white collar job-tradition of his family. They became friends, spent a lot of their leisure together and shared prestigious platforms on numerous occasions since 1961.
Then, while sitar maestro Manilal Nag, worthy son of the legendary Gokul Nag and proud father of celebrated sitar exponent Mita Nag, dedicated his entire life to preserve and propagate the traditions of the Vishnupur gharana of Bengal, tabla maestro Shankar Ghosh, one of the senior-most disciples of Guru Jnan Paraksh Ghosh, went away to the U.S. to honour the invitation of sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan and became a faculty member in his Ali Akbar College there, only to come back to India after some years and rise to the status of one of the most revered gurus who trained generations of successful tabla players — including son Bickram Ghosh who is hailed now as Bengal’s Zakir Hussain!
The veterans, well into their 70s now, did not perform together in the last 20 years. And when they did recently under the banner of “LiveinIndia”, organised by Bickram Ghosh, their ticketed ‘reunion’ turned out to be completely sold out — a rare feat in the present classical concert scenario. Despite our ‘packaging’ crazy times they proved that they belonged to the era that believed in serving freshly created ideas as they did not grow up on the precooked and stashed stuff; be it food or music. And their on-stage chemistry, replete with amazing anticipation during thrilling saath-sangat (simultaneous improvisation), was sheer magic! Why, then, did they deprive their fans for so long?
The tall, handsome, articulate and outgoing tabla wizard answered, “After my return home from the States triggered by my only child’s Americanised behaviour-pattern, I noticed that everyone wanted to play it safe on the concert platform. Even calculated risks during melody and rhythm’s pathway were becoming rare. A tabla accompanist was pushed into a corner of obscurity and had to wait for the so-called main musician’s nod to go solo. The delighting dialogue between two equally skilled colleagues had become passé. I was not used to this second-class citizens’ status simply because the vocalist or instrumentalist was afraid of his more competent supporting artistes and opted to present predetermined melodic and rhythmic patterns. The joy of creating or innovating new vistas was gone. So, I put my energies into grooming even better tabla players. I was very much in the arena of playing solo all the while; but I had stopped playing the role of an accompanist.”
What then inspired him to revert to the role? “When Bumba (Bickram) started organising events, he promised me to bring such musicians who would help revive the old tradition of classical music with its eternal freshness. Several months back, I first played with (sarod player) Prattyush Banerjee, a much younger but very competent musician. It was a success. This time the response of the audience was even better. It has to be; because you don’t have to be a connoisseur to decipher what is stale and what is spontaneous. Natural impulses never fail to cast their spell.”
His son Bickram has stepped beyond tabla solo and accompaniment towards unconventional ways of entertainment, “You mean the experiments with band, fusion, cheeks-playing, etc.? He also established himself as a soloist and a sought after accompanist; so I knew he was on the right track and trying to win the confidence of different sections of music buffs by stepping down from the high pedestal of classicism. Besides our long musical sojourns in foreign lands have taught us many of their traditional things like body playing. It is a difficult but beautiful art and I could not help admire it. This broad-minded attitude helps growth in all respects. Now, at my age, I am a Skype-savvy guru who can reach out to guide disciples from all over the world while enjoying the comforts of home,” said Pandit Shankar Ghosh with deep satisfaction. And with a good reason. The Shankar Ghosh Academy of Tabla at Salt Lake is a fresh example of this new method of monitoring and teaching.
