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 Somjit
Dasgupta (born1953) preserves the tradition of playing
Hindustani classical music on string instruments belonging to the
family of which the most popular today is the ‘sarod.’ As a
musician he performs on sarod, rabab, sur-rabab, mohan vina and
sursingaar, the playing techniques of which all he inherited from
his late mentor and guru Shri Radhika Mohan Moitra, a famous sarod
player and a foremost musician of our times.
Unlike the majority of professional
musicians, particularly instrumentalists, Somjit Dasgupta does not
come from a family of traditional musicians. He took to music entirely
as his passion at the same time training himself as a painter. As a
child he was fascinated by a large collection of musical instruments
that his grandfather, a gentleman of leisure and taste, had kept in
his estate in the once called East Bengal, then East Pakistan, and
finally now known as Bangla Desh. The collection that captured the
imagination of the little Somjit was however, destroyed in the attacks
of the Pakistani army on the East Bengalis.
Once moved in Kolkata, as a young man
Somjit was an ardent listener at the concerts that flooded the
cultural scene of Kolkata in 60s and 70s. He had began learning to pay
the sitar at the age of 10 from his father and in his pursuit of music
a deep emotional experience occurred when he heard Radhika Mohan
Moitra give a six hour concert in Kolkata. That moment he decided to
take up sarod as his instrument and if possible learn from ‘Radhu
Babu’ as most people called Radhika Mohan Moitra. But to begin with
Somjit tried his luck with Ali Akbar who told him that he was too busy
traveling to be a regular teacher and suggested that no body more
suitable for Somjit than Radhu Babu himself.
Radhika Mohan
Moitra lived close to the Jadavpur University Campus in Kolkata in his
sprawling bungalow, just as behooves a rich zamindar (big land owner)
and had also hired another house nearby for his disciples and guests.
This is where the young Somjit aged thirteen managed one day to visit
and pleaded to be taken as a disciple. To his surprise Radhu Babu
readily agreed, and after consulting the Panchang or the Indian
astrological calendar for an auspicious day, he asked Somjit to come
and start learning after 20 days during which he was supposed to find
himself a sarod as well. Somjit managed to find one and the learning
began at the fixed day in 1973. Somjit was exceptionally fortunate he
was able to learn from scratch from Radhu Babu. For nearly all other
disciples the usual course was to begin under the tutelage of a senior
disciple such as Buddha Deva Dasgupta, who was regularly teaching at
the Mohammad Amir Khan School of Music (an academy that Radhu Babu
used to run to honor his own teacher Ustad Mohammad Amir Khan) and
then graduate to learn with Radhu Babu. But Somjit from the day he
began training stayed at the house of Radhu Babu. He stayed for eight
years till the teacher passed away on
October 15th, 1981. It was learning in the traditional system of total
and constant proximity with the teacher, when not only music and the
total knowledge of the teacher is absorbed by the student, but also
the all the ways of feeling and understanding life and its conduct as
lived by the teacher is also imbibed.
Preserving the Heritage of his Teacher
Somjit plans to project and preserve
Radhu Babu’s traditional wealth of instruments, which even has many
kinds of instruments from other rich patrons of music who had gifted
them to Radhu Babu. This includes a small sitar made around 1800 CE
and another in 1900 CE both presented by the Dhaka nawab to
Radhu Babu. Perhaps this is the oldest surviving sitar, perhaps
played around 1770s, and very small and hardly known as no picture of
it has appeared in any book so far says Somjit.
Somjit says that he preserves all these
instruments for love and not money. Keeping the heritage for its
constant living use, is his is mantra, he tells us. For the time being
he not little beyond preservation but he is thinking of doing
something bigger, such as a thorough restoration of all the
instruments to their playing efficiency. His present financial assets
and a fellowship from the Sangeet Natak Academy, Delhi are merely
enough to keep them ‘in situ’, but for their display and demonstrative
performances by the artists, a larger space to make a gallery would be
needed. Added to this must be, he says, an archive of Radhika Mohan
Moitra's recordings of the radio performances and public concerts
which are very large in number and records of which are spread
All over the world there are a large
number of foreign recordings, some of which have been digitized and
kept at the University of Sydney. The AIR Patna, and also a
sursingaar recording preserve a sitar duet recording. In fact what
needs to be done is a historiography study of the development of Radhu
Babu’s musical career and innovations so that his music is kept alive
by players and not just archived. A Foundation made in the memory of
Radhu Babu devoted to such a task would be the ideal means of
achieving this aim. Somjit is sure that some new and young players are
ready to learn these instruments and if the All India Radio inviting
some of the living players of these instruments broadcasts some
National programs of music, revival would be easy. People would get to
know that contrary to what they think the rabab is still alive and
like the dhruvapada it can be revived.
CDI
Track 1 Raga Allayia Bilaval Alap and
Gat.
Track 2 Raga Gaud Sarang Alap and
Gat.
Track 3 Raga Kafi Gat
CD 2
Track 1 Raga Malkaus Alap
and Gat
Track 2 Raga Bhimpalasi Alap
and Gat
Somjit Dasgupta in his playing of the
rabab has displayed the genuine style of his teacher Radhika Mohan
Moitra . Though by and large this school follows the mainstream 20th
century style of sarod (developed from the rabab playing
as shown above) repertoire as it evolved from the revival of solo
instrumental music, it has a special quality of systematic expansion
(barhat) of the raga. Somjit has very effectively displayed the
stroke-work of the plectrum (java) on the rabab (not
easy to produce on a wooden surface. He has discreetly chosen his
ragas as they are full of depths capable of being deeply explored by a
creative player. The Bhimpalasi has been done in a special manner with
lesser emphasis on pancama as is usual with the vocalist.
The album is indeed a
connoisure’s delight and should certainly enrich a good listener’s
collection.
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