#violin #panditshankarghosh #shankarghosh
Vidushi Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury - Violin
Pandit Shankar Ghosh - Tabla
Raga - Kaushik Bhairavi
Taal - Teen Taal
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PANDIT SHANKAR GHOSH( 1935-2016)
Hailed as one of the all-time greats of Indian classical music, Pandit Shankar Ghosh regaled audiences all over the world with his unique “baaj” of Tabla playing. Universally regarded as an innovative genius, he has revolutionized both the art of tabla solo playing as well as tabla accompaniment. His many compositions have become an intrinsic part of contemporary tabla repertoire.
He created the much acclaimed all-drum orchestra Music of the Drums (later called the Calcutta Drum Orchestra) and he then became regarded as one of the greatest gurus of the subject with more than a thousand students who today pursue tabla as a profession.
Training:
Pandit Shankar Ghosh
trained mainly with the great Guru Pandit Gyan
Prakash Ghosh. His other teachers included Ustad Feroz
Khan, Pandit Anath Nath
Bose and Pandit Sudarshan
Adhikari.
Music of the Drums:
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 Dead”(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 experiments with drums had previously been conducted before, especially by Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh. 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 mesmerized for three hours , drum-struck in the world woven by the master percussionist.
Those who are witness to any of the performances of this phenomenal orchestra will agree that it was an unforgettable experience. Shankar Ghosh was able to keep audiences worldwide glued to their seats for three hours with his orchestra which had no string instruments or vocals (other than tabla bols or syllables recited)
Among the prominent 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.
Accompaniment:
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.
In the fifties, when he made his debut onto the professional music circuit, he was one of the first ever professional tabla
players from Bengal. Fighting against the stigma that musicians (and more specifically tabla players) were subjected to during those days when society was just awakening into a less prejudiced era, Shankar Ghosh left home to run away to make a career for himself, throwing away what his family thought was a golden opportunity to train as an engineer. Struggling
against odds, both financial as well as societal, he managed to slowly carve out a unique place for himself in the annals of tabla history.
Shankar Ghosh was one of the few tabla artists of his generation who had a keen knowledge as well as an affinity with regard to the intellectual aspect of Indian Classical Music .His command over the math and the precision of rhythmic complexities at a time when not many were delving that deep into the subject earned him a great deal of respect from the music fraternity.
He was one of the very few tabla maestros who excelled in accompanying Instrumental,Vocal as well as Dance.
Shankar Ghosh coloured their performances with his brilliant tabla.His
accompaniment career spanning more than four decade.
The Shankar Ghosh style of accompaniment is avidly followed by generations of tabla players who came after him.His reach was such that even his peers were not free from his influence.
Among some of the awards he has received are the ITC award, the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan award the Sangeet Natak
Academy award and the Banga Vibhushan from the government of West Bengal .
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.