India Currents, February 1990
Talking about Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), Robert Palmer of the
New York Times wrote, "The extraordinary fluidity and assurance
of his rhythmic ideas and phrasing set a pace and a standard that
would have left most of the international stars of Indian music
far behind."
Nikhil Banerjee was one of the three outstanding sitar players
who dominated North Indian music for almost 30 years. Ravi Shankar
became famous as the first to expose the West to Indian classical
music. The other sitarist of this trio, Vilayat Khan, represented
a long and distinguished gharana of instrumentalists.
While Ravi Shankar was the modernizer and Vilayat Khan the traditionalist,
Banerjee chose a path somewhere in the middle. While always a
purist in music, he performed internationally from the beginning
of his career to the end.
Banerjee's relationship to Ravi Shankar was that of guru-bhai
('brother' by way of a common teacher) as they had both studied
with the late Allauddin of Maihar. He also learned vocals and
tabla with Jnan. Prakash Ghosh.
Banerjee spent five years in strict training with Allauddin Khan.
"What is interesting is that Baba played many instruments,
but sitar was not one of them. Mostly his way of teaching was
singing; he used to sing and we used to follow," Banerjee
recalled in his interview with Ira Landgarten.
Banerjee was a master of the meend, the bending of the string
over one fret to produce an entire musical phrase with one stroke
of the plectrum. In the slow movements of a sitar recital meend
is prominent, particularly in the alap and vistar section of the
slow gat.
"When any musician is recording, he becomes self-conscious
and he cannot give his best," Banerjee used to say. "But
it is also true that we have lost many great musicians; now at
least the next generation can get some sort of idea of their music
from these recordings. I think that recording live concerts is
a much better way."
These two tapes from Raga Records capture the ambience of a live
performance (on the air) with the sound quality difficult to achieve
in a concert hall. These historical archival recordings date back
to 1967-68, when Banerjee came to the West Coast, sponsored by
the American Society for Eastern Arts. These .concerts were broadcast
live by KPFA Radio, Berkeley.
The first tape from 1967 features two ragas. It opens with an
alap in Raga Chandrakauns, a midnight melody. The gat that follows
is also a night raga, Khamaj, in a rhythmic cycle of roopak tal
(seven beats) and teental (16 beats).
Raga Monomanjari on the second tape is Banerjee's own creation.
He combines two popular but contrasting ragas, the joyful late
night Kalavati, and the somber early evening Marwa, with great
delicacy and grace.
Tabla accompaniment by Pandit Mahapurush Misra (1932-1987) is
of the highest quality. Pandit Anokhelal, Misra's guru, was renowned
for the clarity and sweetness of his tabla solos and accompaniment.
These tapes are not like other commercial recordings you may have
seen. These are audiophile reproductions produced by lovers of
Indian music for the discriminating listener.
If you are interested ask Raga Records for their 1985 interview
with the artist conducted by Ira Landgarten. It provides a fascinating
look into the personality and music of Nikhil Banerjee in his
own words.
© 1990 India Currents