Subject: Re: Great Masters 20:
From: "M. V. Ramana"
[email protected] (Rajan P. Parrikar) wrote:
Rajan, Thanks for posting this profile and the many others that you have.
Please keep it up.
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>
> Pandit Ratanjankar with his life of almost ascetic simplicity, his
> dedication to and personal sacrifice for the propagation of classical
> music, and indifference to publicity and money, was quite an extraordinary
> personality in this era when the majority of professionals hanker after
> fame, wealth, and a following. The mantle of the great Chaturpandit
> Bhatkhande could not have fallen on worthier shoulders.
Is Chaturpandit a (standard) title? Are there others who are referred
to by this title or is it only Bhatkande? What does the "chatur" in
Chaturpandit mean?
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> Throughout the day and late into the night, Annasaheb lived in a musical
> world of his own, engrossed in ancient music classics, and composing new
> rare-combinations like Marga-Bihag, Kedar Bahar, Sawani Kedara, Rajani
> Kalyan, Salag Varali, Sankara Karan etc. He also experimented on new types
> of compositions like Varnams from Carnatic music with Hindi Sahitya
If I remember correctly, according to the biography of Swati Tirunal
written by Prof. Venkitasubramonia Iyer, many of the Hindi
compositions were tuned by Pt. Ratanjankar, probably at the request
of the Travancore Royal family.
> At a time when the majority of north Indian musicians looked askance at
> Karnatak music, Shri Ratanjankar was one of the very few who studied deeply
> the theory and ragas of the Karnatak system, appreciated its great
> traditions, and adapted much from it to enrich the Hindustani system.
Quite true. What is also true is that he had much respect for several
Karnatic musicians, one of them being Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer.
The late music critic N M Narayanan (NMN to his friends :-) mentioned
an incident when Viswanatha Iyer sang Darbari Kanada at the Music Academy
(probably in a viruttam) and Pt. Ratanjankar was stunned by the
facility and imagination with which Viswanatha Iyer explored the Raga.
Ramana
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