Pt. Late ASUTOSH
BHATTACHARYA: Nació, el 17 de marzo de
1917, hijo y nieto de una familia de famosos doctores bengalíes,
en medicina ayurvédica. Desde niño
mostró un interés especial por los instrumentos de
percusión, por lo que comenzó, a los ocho años,
su formación musical en pakhawaj, instrumento de percusión
del sur de la India. Unos años después, escucha en un concierto
a Ustad Kanthe Maharaj, uno de los grandes intérpretes de
tabla de Benares Gharana, y decide que quiere aprender tabla
con él. En 1938, a los 21 años, comienza a ser reconocida
su gran destreza como tablista, realiza su primera actuación
como acompañante del gran maestro Ustad Allaudin Khan, llamado
"el abuelo de la moderna Música Clásica India" y conocido
en occidente por ser el guru de Pt. Ravi Shankar (de quien
Kaviraj fué compañero en la escuela), al igual que
Ali Akbar Khan (hijo de Allaudin) y Nikhil Banerjee.
Siguiendo los pasos de la tradición familiar, viaja a Delhi
para atender sus
estudios de medicina Ayurvédica, en el Ayurvedic College,
durante 5 años.
Al mismo tiempo que acude a clases, estudia y hace prácticas
en la clínica de su maestro, mantiene su practica de tabla,
da clases los domingos, además de
actuar en conciertos y en la All India Radio con Ravi Shankar,
Ali Akbar Khan y Vilayat Khan, entre otros…
Después de completar su carrera, regresa a Varanasi, donde
abre su propia
consulta médica. Allí continua profundizando en el aprendizaje
de la tabla con su Guru, practicando alrededor de 6 horas
diarias, además de seguir dando
conciertos e impartiendo clases, de tabla, a un gran número
de discípulos.
En este momento de su vida es cuando decide que la medicina
será su profesión y la música su pasión, por lo que nunca
recibe dinero por sus actuaciones. Por ello no ha realizado
ninguna grabación profesional, aunque quizás, se puedan encontrar
algunas grabaciones en los archivos de All India Radio.
Una de sus creencias es que la música debe ser una experiencia
divina, que
sólo puede surgir después de años de intensa práctica y devoción.
La música
debe ser como una ofrenda a Dios y hay que dejar que la inspiración
aparezca espontáneamente, lo cual, solo puede ocurrir cuando
uno esta completamente
libre y en comunión con su instrumento, debido a una
práctica intensiva y una devoción intensa. A menudo comenta
que la música clásica India actual es muy ostentosa, rápida
y difícil, pero carece de la profundidad de antaño... |
PANDIT SHANKAR GHOSE:
Hailed as one of the all-time greats of Indian Classical Music,
Pandit Shankar Ghosh has, for more than four decades now, regaled
audiences all over the world with his unique "baaj" of
Tabla playing. Universally regarded as an innovative genius, he
has, besides, performing with the greatest of master musicians of
this century, added a whole new dimension to the art of solo Tabla
playing. His many compositions have become an intrinsic part of
classical Tabla playing.
Pandit Shankar Ghosh trained mainly with the great Guru of the Tabla
Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh. His other teachers included Ustad Feroz
Khan, Pandit Anath Nath Bose and Pandit Sudarshan Adhikari.
Pandit Ghosh’s illustrious
career has had many highlighted moments. One such moment, which
marked a major movement in his musical life, was when; in 1962
he visited the United States of America with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
From then onwards, for the next ten years he was to experiment
with the percussion form with a variety of great musicians in
the west. All the while, as he toured with Ali Akbarji, he also
musically joined hands with immortal bands like the "Grateful
Deads"(whose drummer Mickey Hart was Shankarji’s student)
and performed with the renowned saxophonist John Handy. In fact
it was during this phase that the germ to create the all-drum
orchestra Music of the Drums (later re-christened as the Calcutta
Drum Orchestra) took seed in his mind.
The concept of an all drum orchestra
was unique in itself though especially Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh
had previously conducted before, experiments with drums. However,
the form was the ensemble and not the orchestra. The orchestral
dimension was brought in by Shankarji who created such a wonder
that his orchestra held audiences mesmerised for three hours,
drum-struck in the world woven by the master percussionist. Memorable
performances of the orchestra were the 1982 ASIAD finale and the
performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London for the BBC PROMS
100th year celebrations.
Listing the great artistes that
Shankarji has accompanied over the last forty odd years would
read like a who’s who list of the Indian Classical Music
world. It would be enough to say that there was no area of our
music, be it instrumental, vocal or dance that Shankarji did not
excel in and which was not enriched by his keen sense of artistry.
Throughout his career he has been
bestowed with awards galore. The latest to hold pride of place
are the ITC award and the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan award.
Shankarji has innumerable recordings
available worldwide. Of late he has ventured into composing music
for stage productions as well as theme albums.
Finally, Shankarji has secured
a place for himself among the greatest Guru’s of all time
through his wide influence as a teacher of Tabla all over the
world. This is amply exampled by the sheer number of students
of his that are top rung tabaliyas today.
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Mi guruji Pandit Ashutosh Bhattacharya
con su guruji Pandit Khante Maharaj
Mi Guru en la actualidad
Pandit Shankar Ghose
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