A worthy tribute to a sarod maestro

The Senia Shahjahanpur gharana style, as we know it today, is largely the result of one man’s efforts to keep the salient features of the style, and the rare compositions of its masters, alive — Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra, also known as Radhu Babu. The titular khalifa (head) of this school is of course the redoubtable living legend Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

Shahjahanpur, a small township near Lucknow, was the base of rabab players originally from Afghanistan who settled there in the 19th century and then took their craft all over India including Rewa, Gwalior, Indore and Darbhanga. The gharana (school of music) came to be called Senia Shahjahanpur — Senia because their masters learnt from ustads descended from Tansen.

Being an aristocrat turned musician, the provenance of what Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra learnt and the grammar of the raga was intellectually as important to him, as the actual music and the notes. His senior most disciple, Padmabhushan Pt Budhadev Dasgupta, too is an engineer by profession and musician later. And for him too, historicity was equally important. Also, being a prolific teacher, he passed this tradition on to several sarodiyas today, many of whom are practicing musicians such as Debashish Bhattacharya, Sugato Nag, Joydeep Ghosh, Pratyush Bannerji, Abir Hosain, Debsmita Bhattacharya and many more.

Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra

Radhu Babu had more than 30 serious students himself, including Pt Narendranath Dhar, the guru of Dr Chandrima Mazumdar; Pt Sanjoy Bandhopadhyay, the guru of Pt Kushal Das and Rajrupa Chaudhary; and many more. Thus was preserved a rare legacy.

Radhu Babu was born 100 years ago in Rajshahi, now Bangladesh. He was a very fine sarodiya, with a distinct style of playing, heavily reliant on traditional sarod craft. His discipleship was from the family that originally amended the rabab to the sarod in its present form.

Radhu babu reveled in playing rare combination ragas like Chaya Bihag, Chaya Kamod, Bhairon Bahar; also obscure ragas like Harshingar, Zila.  He was a master collator and preserved every brandish meticulously, remembering its creator, and also its “jora” (similar composition), if made. He had a dry sense of humour, enjoyed his drink, and was also a good cook. He was a man of strong convictions — he gave up public performances once he turned 60 to make way for younger musicians.

Being very well educated (he had a Law degree in addition to a Masters degree) he led several cultural delegations worldwide through the 1950s and 1960s, meeting and interacting with state heads in China, Iran, and other places. He was also very generous — Ustad Nishat Khan, eminent sitariya, recalls him presenting his sarodist brother Wajahat with a set of ivory sarod khunties (pegs).

To help impoverished instrument makers who relied on him, an aristocrat, for business, he had several sarods made for himself and disciples and then when he didn’t need any more sarods, he experimented and made three new instruments combining veena sursingar sitar and sarod!

His legacy is being remembered in a number of ways — a festival was organised earlier this month in Kolkata, DD Bharti is planning the broadcasting of a rare recording of his on Doordarshan, and much more.

A spontaneous tribute to this great man was played by Pt Biswajeet Roy Chaudhary last week at a concert at the Habitat Stein auditorium — though he had never learnt from the master, Biswajeet regards Radhu Babu as a “great student of our gharana.” (Biswajeet has learned from Ustad Amjad Ali Khan; his father was a student of Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan). He dedicated his concert to Radhu Babu, playing in his style, playing ragas the master enjoyed playing, and also playing several compositions that he had been taught by Pt Budhadev Dasgupta. He played Raga Shri, then Raga Jait Shri, in which the post “jor” progression was not the usual jhala, but Radhu Babu’s speciality, the “bol” work (stroke work) After this he played two compositions that were old Senia gats.

The next Raga Bahar, a seasonal raga played in the Spring season, was again magnificent with two very rare old gats of the Senia Shahjahanpur ustads, ending with a racy new composition made by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan recently. Old compositions are always intricate, with rhythmic play, and are usually very exciting to hear, especially if executed well, as Biswajeet did!

The last offering in Raga Kafi was a favourite of Radhu Babu’s and he used to play several gats in Kafi. The virile sarod baaj, the crystal clear strong strokes and the element of drama — all were so reminiscent of the master! Indeed, a worthy tribute.