A TRIBUTE TO JON HIGGINS - THE MAN WHO MASTERED CARNATIC MUSIC

“Endaro Mahanu Bhavulu..Andariki vandanamulu” (My salutations to all great people). This Pancharatana Kriti of Saint Thyagaraja is one of the most difficult kritis to render. Not many can render this great kriti with ease let alone with grace. It is a very difficult kriti for even people with knowledge of Telugu (a south Indian language) in which this kriti is composed. Only the masters who have honed their skills in the intricacies of Carnatic Music can render such a marvelous kriti. Jon Higgins is one of them! His silken voice combined with his deep understanding of Carnatic music has made it look so simple!
Jon Borthwick Higgins was born in 1939 in Andover, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He was an American musician, scholar and teacher. He had this rare skill as a non-Indian in the field of Carnatic Music. He attended Wesleyan University and received Three degrees viz: B.A. as a double major in Music and History, M.A. in Musicology and Ph.D in Ethno Musicology.
He founded the Indian music studies program at York University with Trichy Sankaran in the ‘70s, and returned to Wesleyan in 1978 as a professor of music and Director of the Center for the Arts. He immersed himself in numerous cultural activities inside and beyond the university community. He also maintained a deep relationship with his family.
Higgins was a singer of European and Western classical music. He is also recognized as the first non-Indian to perform South Indian classical Carnatic music at a high level of proficiency. He began his Indian music studies in Wesleyan courses taught by Robert E.Brown and T.Ranganathan and was quickly captured by the subtle beauty of the art form. He decided to fully dedicate himself to learning the language of Carnatic music, and went to India on a Fullbright scholarship to learn from T. Viswanathan. Within a short period of time he performed to great acclaim at the Tyagaraja Aradhana, an important music festival in South India. He later continued his studies under the renowned dancer T. Balasaraswati, and wrote his dissertation on the dance music of Bharatanatyam. Higgins returned to India as a Senior Research Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He continued to perform Carnatic music, recorded several albums. He was deservedly honoured with the sobriquet "Bhagavatar" (scholarly musician).
His katcheris (concerts) used to draw full houses and were broadcast regularly on All India Radio. He continued to enthrall his fans till the fate seized him in the year 1984 owing to an accident.
ENDARO MAHANUBHAVULU..ANDARIKI VANDANAMULU
JOH HIGGINS was one such MAHANUBHAVUDU…our VANANAMULU TO HIM!
-Nag.

HELLO BLOGGERS! Time for some fun

Dear Bloggers,
I‘ve been very busy in the office of late. Sorry for the delay. In the meanwhile, let me tickle your funny bones with a few jokes on music, musicians and instruments. Fished them out from ahajokes.com (courtesy to them)

Guitar Jokes:

Q How do you make a guitarist stop playing?
A: Put notes on it!
Q: What did the guitar say to the guitarist?
A: Pick on someone your own size!
Q: What's the definition of a minor second?
A: Two lead guitarists playing in unison.
Q: What is the difference between a guitarist and a Savings Bond?
A: Eventually a Savings Bond will mature and earn money!

Saxophone jokes:

Q: What is the difference between a saxophone and a chainsaw?
A: It's all in the grip.
Q: What is the difference between a saxophone and a lawnmower?
A: Vibrato.
Q: If you were out in the woods, who would you trust for directions, an in-tune tenor sax player, an out-of-tune tenor sax player, or Santa Claus?
A: The out-of-tune sax player! You were hallucinating the other two.
Q: What's the definition of a gentleman?
A: One who knows how to play the saxophone, but doesn't!

Musician Jokes:

A cowboy and a biker are on death row, and are to be executed on the same day. The day comes, and they are brought to the gas chamber. The warden asks the cowboy if he has a last request, to which the cowboy replies, "Ah shore do, wardn. Ah'd be mighty grateful if'n yoo'd play 'Achy Breaky Heart' fur me bahfore ah hafta go."
"Sure enough, cowboy, we can do that," says the warden. He turns to the biker, "And you, biker, what's your last request?"
"That you kill me first."

Fritz Kriesler and Rachmaninov had a recital in Carnegie Hall once. In the middle of the music, Kriesler got lost and turned around to ask Rachmaninov, "Where are we?"
Rachmaninov said, "Carnegie Hall, sir!"

A tourist is sightseeing in a European city. She comes upon the tomb of Beethoven, and begins reading the commerative plaque, only to be distracted by a low scratching noise, as if something was rubbing against a piece of paper.
She collars a passing native and asks what the scratching sound is.
The local person replies, "Oh, that is Beethoven. He's decomposing."

Three men die and go to heaven and queue to meet St. Peter.
St. Peter: Hi, what's your name?
Paul: My name is Paul.
St. Peter: Hi, Paul. Tell me, when you died, how much were you earning?
Paul: 120K.
St. Peter: Wow! Tell me, Paul, what were you doing to earn that kind of money?
Paul: I was a lawyer.
St. Peter: That's great. Come on in. St. Peter then turned to the second man. Hi, what's your name?
Roger: My name is Roger.
St. Peter: Hi, Roger. Tell me, when you died, how much were you earning?
Roger: 60K.
St. Peter: Hey, that's great! Tell me, Roger:, what did you do for a living?
Roger: I was an accountant.
St. Peter: That's very good. Come on in. St. Peter then turned to the second man. Hi, what's your name?
John: My name is John.
St. Peter: Hi, John. Tell me, John, how much were you earning when you died?
John: About $23,000.
St. Peter: Hey, that's fantastic, John! Tell me, what instrument did you play?

LOL! Have a nice time folks!!

-Nag

HOMAGE TO THE GHAZAL KING-JAGJIT SINGH

The most popular Ghazal which held sway in the early ‘80s was “Honton se chhu lo tum, mera geet amar kar do”and the singer, Jagjit Singh. He along with his wife Chitra popularized the ghazals in the 70’s and 80’s. How can you forget the ghazal from their 1976 album The Unforgettables

“Ye daulat bhi lelo, ye shahurat bhi lelo,
bhale chheen lo mujhse meri jawaani
par lauta do mujhe ko woh bachpan ka saawan
woh kaagaz ki kashti aur bearish ka paani”
(Take back my wealth and fame, snatch away my youth, but return me back the monsoon of my childhood; the paper boat and the rain water)

The “Ghazal King” was born in 1941. He was raised as a Sikh by religion. Though his father wanted him to be an IAS officer, fate had something else in mind. Otherwise how would we have had the fortune of listening to his silken voice!
He learnt music under Pt. Shaganlal Sharma,who ran an academy on the first floor of Bakshi Type College, for two years in Ganganagar, and later devoted six years to learning Khayal, Thumri, Dhrupad forms of Indian Classical Music from Ustad Jamaal Khan of the Sainia Gharana school, a distant relative of Mehndi Hasan. Jagjit Singh devoted much of his time on “riyaaz” at a paan shop run by one Thakur Dutt Sharma.

He lived as a paying guest and his earlier assignments were singing advertisement jingles. Singh was first offered to sing in a Gujarati film, Dharati Na Chhoru produced by Suresh Amin. Jagjit singh sang in Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujrathi, Sindhi and Nepali languages. He grew to prominence with his Ghazals in the films Prem Geeth, Arth, Saath Saath, sarfarosh etc. He had 80 albums in his repertoire during his life. His compositions for the TV serial Mirza Ghalib based on the life of the poet Mirza Ghalib, remain extremely popular among ghazal aficionados. He is the only composer and singer to have composed and recorded songs written by the former Prime Minister of India Shri.Atal Behari Vajpayee. Besides ghazals, Jagjit Singh has also sung Bhajans and Gurbani (Hindu and Sikh devotional hymns respectively).

Jagjit Singh was the first Indian composer (and together with his wife Chitra Singh) in the history of Indian music to use digital Multi-track recording for their album Beyond Time (1987).

Together with sitar player Pt.Ravi Shankar and other leading figures of Indian Classical Music and Literature, Jagjit Singh had voiced his concerns over politicisation of arts and culture in India and lack of support experienced by the practitioners of India's traditional art forms, particularly folk artists and musicians. He had lent active support to several philanthropic endeavors such as the library at St. Mary's School, Mumbai,Bombay Hospital, CRY, Save the Children and ALMA.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in the year 2003.

Mother Earth softly awakened her dear child on 10th October 2011 and took him away in a hush to put him securely in the warmth of her womb forever.

We salute the Ghazal King for his contribution to Indian music in general and Ghazals in particular and pay our most respectful homage.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE

-Nag

INTERESTING ANECDOTE ON THE KISHORE SONG "AAKE SEEDHI LAGI JAISE"

“Half Ticket”, a bollywood classic film released in the year 1962 is a hilarious story of Vijay a.k.a Munna played by Kishore Kumar, who travels in a train as a boy on a Half ticket as he has not enough money. This film was based on the Hollywood movie “You’re never too young”. Directed by Kalidas, it also stars Madhubala, Helen and Pran. The music is by Salil Choudhary.

As hilarious as the film is, there is one particular song “Aage seedhi lagi jaise dil pe katariya” picturised on Kishore kumar (dressed as a female) and Pran. I think, this is the only song in the history of Hindi films where a singer has sung both the Male and Female parts (Bloggers may correct me if I am wrong). In other words, the whole song has been sung by the inimitable Kishore for both the male and female artistes!

Lata Mangeshkar was actually supposed to sing the female part for this song. However, due to some reasons, she was not available. Kishore convinced the music directed Salil da that he could sing both the voices. Thanks to Salil da, Kishore sang the song in both male and female voices! Sung with the energy as only Kishore can, this new experiment added an amazing comic effect! You can watch this song on youtube.com. It'll surely keep you in splits.

Hats off to Kishore the Maverick and to Kishore the Genius Singer!

-Nag.

RAVINDER JAIN - THE MASTER OF MUSIC

Who can forget the immortal melodies in the films “Geeth Gaatha Chal” “Chor Machaye Shor” “Chitchor” “Naiyya” “Fakeera” .”Sunaina” to name a few. The man who was born blind but could see through his heart, penning lyrics for the songs he composed…yes, he is the one and only Ravindra Jain. The man who introduced Dr.K.J.Yesudas to the Hindi music lovers, the man who could create pathos (Ghungroo ki tarah) and ebullience (Le jayenge…le jayenge…dilwale dulhaniya…), earthy folk (Geeth gaata chal), classical (Jab deep jale aana, Tu jo mere sur mein) with the same ease. Who can forget the beautiful song “Husn pahadon ka” based on Pahadi raag in the film “Ram Teri Ganga Maili” The man known for his word play (Jal jo na hotha to ye jag jaatha jal in the film Geet gaatha chal and Sajna hai mujhe sanja ke liye in Saudagar), what a beauty!

Ravindra Jain was born in 1944 in the Banswara District of Rajasthan. He took his early music training under Pt.G.L.Jain, Pt.Janardhan Sharma and Pt.Nathu Ram before landing into the Hindi film industry. He is credited for bringing Dr.Yesudas and Hemlatha to the Hindi film music. He was so attached to Yesudas and fascinated by his voice that he would say he wanted to first see Yesudas’ face if he ever got his vision.

Ravindra Jain held sway over the Hindi film industry through the 70’s. Later, he did musical work for Television serials like Ramanand Sagar’s “Ramayan”, “Sri Krishna”, “Alif Laila”, Hema Malini’s “Nupur” etc.

He also composed music for ghazals in singer Suresh Wadkar’s The Morning Sun and singer Pravin Khan’s Deedar. This apart he has also written and composed many popular jain bhajans.
He never got the recognition he deserved. He was nominated several times for Filmfare but got it only in 1985.
For the hindi film music lovers, all it matters is that humming the evergreen melodies composed by this master gives them peace of mind and freshens their spirit.
Ravindra Jain ji – Saadar Pranam!
-Nag.

MARUTIRAO KEER -A KEY ASSOCIATE OF R.D.BURMAN

Dear Bloggers,

I recently read an article posted by Sri.Ankush Chinchankar in Panchammagic.org, which I am reproducing here. With due respects to Sri.Ankushji, I have taken the liberty of posting his article in this site with a confidence that he will not object to the same. For, we, as lovers of old music, particularly of Panchamda, would be enlightened on some of the aspects of Pancham’s music through such articles, which, otherwise, would remain unknown to us.

Sri Ankush ji’s article:

I still remember my childhood when I used to always see three names as Assistants to R.D. Burman, Basu, Manohari and Maruti. When I started understanding music and the musical field I came to know the full names of these three assistants. Basudeov Chakravaty, Manohari Singh and Marutirao Keer.
This must be the first instance when the rhythm assistant was given so much of importance. And why not , Pancham’s music was full of rhythm. I always admired Pancham’s rhythm from the day I started liking him.
I had a chance to meet Maruti Rao in 1978 during the recording of The Burning Train. That was the time I realized how important Maruti Rao was to Pancham. Pancham was very close to him on set as well as in his private life. Pancham used to always visit Maruti Rao’s home at Dadar. Together they created enigmatic rhythms for number of songs at his place.
Maruti Rao started his career as Tabla player. His gurus were Shree Bhanudas Mankame, Shree Bhairav Prasad, Shree Sunder Prasad & Ustad Gamekhan Sahab. Marutirao played almost for all music directors (except SJ as per him). Almost all the tablas heard in marathi filmi and non-filmi songs have been played by him. He started playing for Dada Burman (S.D. Burman) and then with Pancham. There were times when both of them were assisting Dada Burman.
His mastery over tabla reflects in his playing for GUIDE’s “Piya Tose Naina Lage Re”. During those days while rehearsing for Dada in JET Bunglow, Marutirao and Pancham became friends. Pancham and Marutirao had such a great understanding that only Pancham’s sheer eyecontacts were enough for him to give what Pancham wanted. Marutirao remained as his rhythm assistant and close associate right from Pancham’s first film “Chote Nawab”.
Today Pancham has the most fan following amongst all other Music Directors. Majority of the Fans are due to Pancham’s creation of novelty rhythms. Marutirao shares a big credit for this. Pancham and Marutirao used to always look for something new, something creative in the rhythm side. It may be the style of playing or it could be introduction of new instrument. Marutirao once narrated the story of TUMBA, while Pancham and his group had gone for some shows in Africa. There they saw this African Instrument called Tumba. Pancham told Marutirao to watch how that player is playing, his style, his throw and everything. After sometime Marutirao stood up and started playing the TUMBA and the artist along with all other spectators kept on watching Marutirao playing TUMBA for next hour or so.

This triggered Pancham and thus he brought TUMBA to India. The legendary TUMBA played in “Aya Hoon Main Tujhko Le Jaunga” from Manoranjan is a classic example of his rhythmic playing. Shammi Kapoor the director of the film came and hugged Marutirao after the recording.
PanchamMagic was lucky to have Marutirao as one the early guests. It was a golden day (or rather days since he stayed in Pune for 4-5 days) for all Panchamites to meet and hear from horse’s mouth about making of rhythms. For Marutirao it was just normal and always said Pancham always wanted something different and new which I used to make for him. The polite man kept on saying “Ho Gaya, Ban Gaya”. After Pancham’s death Marutirao decided not to play for recording. However his wife expired within a month after that and then he decided that he will never touch Tabla again. PanchamMagic members were thrilled when Marutirao asked to get a tabla for him to play. 4-5 days with him went like 4-5 minutes.
I personally had a chance to go to his house number of times during making of this episode of PanchamMagic. I actually took all my cassettes, CDs and a the player with me his home. Initially he was reluctant to even hear any music but as I started playing the numbers one by one, he remembered each and every song. Morning to evening we both used to listen to various rhythm patterns and he kept on explaining the variety hidden in those patterns.
Marutirao not only played for Pancham but also gifted good musicians to the industry. Such a kind hearted person, did so much for everyone and lived a simple life in his 10×12 ft room in Dadar. His first ‘CHELA’ was Amrutrao Katkar. He taught him tabla but then he asked him to switch over to RESO RESO. Today pick up any song of Pancham and you will hear Marutirao’s chela – Amrutrao Katkar’s reso reso. Homi Mulla in one his interview had specifically mentioned that Marutirao was the one who taught him Duggi Tarang. No wonder that because of Marutirao the whole of Pancham’s rhythm side was filled with Marathi Manus like Anna Joshi, Amrutrao, Manya Barve, Naik, Satnak and many others.
Pancham created a non filmy album “Dil Padosi Hai” with Ashaji and Gulzar Saab. All 14 songs spread over 2 long play records are fantastic. Lets specifically look at the tabla of two songs : “Sham Se Ankh mein Nami Si Hai” the tabla played in this song can be easily recognized as arrangement of Marutirao which is typically from DELHI GHARANA. The song simply get lifted by the uneven steps of tabla. Another song which actually should be part of Guineas Book which was created in 17 matra (or 8 ½ matra) “Joothe tere nain”.
Pancham was always fascinated by fusion and this featured in his work specifically in rhythm side. He used to mix Tabla with drums for western songs or he would use drums for classical songs. Simple example for this would be a very complex rhythm in the song “Tumse Milke Zindagi Ko” from film Chor Police or “Mausam Pyar Ka” from Sitamgar. The best amongst all is “Jab Andhera Hota Hai” from Raja Rani. Pancham was a dreamer and his assistants like Marutirao used to bring those dreams to existence.
Marutirao passed away Jan 2005, leaving his complex rhythms and so many mysteries which are still unsolved. PanchamMagic gives ovation to such magician who made Pancham the biggest magician.

Ankush Chinchankar
panchammagic.org

6th ANNIVERSARY OF PANCHAM MUSIC LOVERS GROUP, WARANGAL, CELEBRATED!

The 6th Anniversary of the popular group of Warangal, PANCHAM MUSIC LOVERS group was celebrated at Pancham Headquarters in a simple ceremony. All the key members of the group viz: Naganathan, Rama Devi, Azgar Ali, Pavani, Jagadeeswar, Reshma, Zaheer and their family members attended the celebrations. A cake was cut by the ladies of the group. This was followed by a “Mehfil” of soul stirring songs belted out by the group members for over an hour and finally culminating into a sumptous dinner. The members reminisced the year 2005 when the group was formed with an intention to promote golden music of yesteryears and how over the years the group has earned a well deserved place in the hearts of music lovers of Warangal. The members also noted with pleasure and satisfaction as to how through all these years, the group members had become an extended family. The group members looked forward to the next programme of the group, which is scheduled in the Winter of 2011.

-Nag