SRFTI witnessed an outstanding melodrama which ran like a chapter of history last Friday. A melodrama of flowing emotions, a play of roaring clouds and an entertaining score of Ray’s music played for the first time in a historical instrument. It was a hyper packed house at the new class room theatre of Satyajit Ray Film & Television institute (an academic institute under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India) as several audience sat on the floor and stairs to listen to the program after not getting a seat. This program is an ongoing series organized by the Department of Sound Recording and Design under “Voices: Lecture Series”, under the leadership of Prof. Sukanta Majundar.
The institute, perhaps for the first time ever, organized a two-day carnival, 25th & 26th July, on a heritage musical instrument “Mohanveena” – created by Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitreya in 1948, one of the musical legend India has ever produced. The first day witnessed the screening of a documentary made in 1990s by Prasar Bharati on the different instruments of Radhika Mohan Maitra entitled “Mohanveena – a Genesis.” A semi packed auditorium watched the 90-minute documentary and it ended with huge appreciation. This documentary was broadcasted several times in the National Network of Doordarshan from 1990s till 2010.
The second day was very eventful. There were two performances from two generations of Mohanveena players. Joydeep Mukherjee (a grand disciple of Pt. Maitra), one of the most decorated musicians of the current generation, bestowed with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2019 and Brooklyn International Award recently from the Arts Society, London, performed raga Megh in his revived Mohanveena. The low-pitched instrument sounded drastically and immersed the audience in absolute melody. Megh is a male raga as per Sangeet Ratnakarwith veer raas. The portrayal of Megh was absolutely in the similar lines – it started with slow tempo alaap and moved to a high speed jhala, making the audience amused. He then played a couple of very popular tunes composed by Satyajit Ray in Mohanveena – “Ese Hirok Deshe, Dekhe Hirer Chomok” and “Pheluda theme music” which received standing ovation from the crowd. He was given great support in tabla by Mrinal Bhattacharya.
The next item was of Somjit Dasgupta, a direct disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra, where he first explained the history of Mohanveena to the audience. “Even though many of you have searched Mohanveena in the internet, yet let me tell you that in the year 1943 my Guruji Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra played a jugalbandi in Sursingar with Ustad Sadik Ali Khan in Veena, he conceptualized a special instrument which should have the tonal quality of the Veena, resonance of a Sursingar and the ability to execute high speed taans like the Sarod. In 1948 he finalized a new instrument which had all the above qualities and on the same year Thakur Jaidev Singh, the then Chief producer of All India Radio named this instrument as “Mohanveena” after the middle name of Pt. Maitra. After that he performed some 22 National programs and countless recordings with this Mohanveena which are the assets of the Akashvani archives now. Today this 76-year-old ‘parampara’ of Mohanveena is still running among his disciples, grand disciples and great disciples,” Dasgupta chose raga Chhayanut – a very melodic raga followed by a composition in Raag Khamaj. Appreciating Dasgupta’s recital Joydeep Mukherjee commented “Chhayanut is the raga of peace. After rains and thunderstorm, the environment becomes calm and peaceful, hence after Megh, Chhayanut just give us a sense of peace.” In this item also Bhattacharya gave a very sensitive accompaniment in tabla, completely different to the previous item. This proves his versatility as a good accompanist.
The last part was an open house where there was a question answer session with the performing artists and the audience moderated by Prof. Prajna Dutta, an ex-faculty of SRFTI. Several questions were being raised including Satyajit Ray’s association with Pt. Maitra, Pt. Maitra’s portrayal of cinema, effect of Pt. Maitra on Satyajit Ray’s musical compositions and obviously the ongoing controversy on the self-naming of the instrument “Mohanveena” by another musician during the 1990s. Some interesting facts came out on the discussion including Ray’s idea of making a documentary on Pt. Maitra but it failed as Pt. Maitra passed away in 1981. While both Mukherjee and Dasgupta avoided gently the ongoing controversy regarding another namesake instrument Mohanveena popularized during 1990s, Bhabani Shankar Dasgupta, a distinguished Sarod player – son and disciple of Padma Bhusan Pt. Buddhadeb Dasgupta, who came as a spectator of the event, exclaimed, “Any instrument except this Sursingar-Sarod blend is just a misnomer. Please don’t get confused. Do remember a patent is on the design and process and not on the name. For name there is trademark which has already been objected and the patent is challenged at the Honourable court. The namesake instrument is a matter of sub judice and no one can’t talk about that publicly. At the same time Radhika Mohan Maitra’s Mohanveena is a traditional instrument and can be freely discussed upon.”
The program ended around 8.30pm.
