Pandit Indudhar Nirody has been conferred with the Akademi Award for the year 2014 by Kendriya Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, for his outstanding contribution to Indian Classical music, who is a top grade artiste of repute and who has relived Pandit Vishnunarayan Bhatkande by digitising his (Bhatkande’s) work into DVDs.

Panditji came to Mysuru in the year 2001 as an individual artiste but today, he has become an informal institution around him with disciples and admirers. He is not only respected but loved by them. The outcome is the monumental work of documenting the work of Bhatkande using the information technology tools — a great step forward in tune with 21st century need.

Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, a distinguished musicologist of the twentieth century, became the Euclid (Geometry) or Vyasa (Vedas) of Hindustani Sangeeta Paddati by documenting the compositions of the great musicians of his time and before, into six volumes under the head ‘Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati: Kramik Pustak Malika.’ A total number of 1,896 such compositions, including his (Bhatkhande’s) own addition of lakshana geetas and surawats (Saragams), have become a boon to practitioners of Hindustani music including performers, teachers and students.

The best available technology during his time was the paper which he used to document the knowledge available in oral tradition though not the ideal medium for music as music lies in sound and not in letters. Nevertheless, it did serve the great purpose of transferring the knowledge to the posterity by the musicians as gurus and performers ever since. Pandit Indudhar Nirody, an octogenarian, with an analytical musical experience and mind, and a top grade AIR artiste as well, who is trained by stalwarts like Pandit S.C.R. Bhat, Pandit K.G. Ginde, and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, has relived Bhatkandeji by transferring all the compilation of Bhatkhandeji onto a pair of DVDs entitled Samarpan by singing with an appropriate accompaniment and a good recording studio.

The quality of the end product is superb in terms of the quality of voice and the accompaniments are clearly heard with a rich voice of Panditji obscuring his age.

It was the team of five, including the technician-cum-studio owner Vidwan A.P. Srinivas, an accomplished Karnatak Music violinist, Swarasankula President Dr. M.S. Bhaskar, a neurosurgeon by profession, who is a Hindustani vocalist in his own right. The harmonium support was by Pandit Veerabhadraiah Hiremath, tabla by Pandit Bheemashankar Bidnoor for some and Pandit Ramesh Dhannur for some others.

The unique feature of the venture was that all people engaged in the project are musicians; hence, the quality of the end product is very good. Swarasankula, a Sangeeta Sabha in Mysuru, though not very rich in terms of resources, is very rich in progressive thinking and was instrumental to realise this project. It was the passion and perseverance of the entire team that drove the project forward as it took about four to five years being stopped intermittently due to some unavoidable circumstances.

I know Panditji well, who is guru saman to me and keep visiting him often as we both stay in the same locality in Mysuru. He is a very modest and warm person who shuns publicity to the extent that he flatly refused to include his name in the invitation of the DVD releasing occasion on Mar. 15 at Mysuru.

He gives all the credit to his gurus and he says he is only an instrument to realise their dream. He is contended with this ‘Samarpan’ to his gurus and to the world of Hindustani Music. At the age of eighty, he is well-versed in using the editing software of the audio recording which he was busy with when once I went to his residence. Full of zest for life and learning attitude at the age of eighty.

I have always wondered with the way Indian Classical music is ‘managing the change’ adopting itself to the time without losing its identity and character. Incorporated western instruments like violin, guitar and others making them play Indian Classical Music; adopted technology starting from finer public address system through using portable electronic tanpura and teaching distant learners using skype. The reach of Indian Classical music is global today.

Taking it still further, Pandit Nirodyji has documented the work of Bhatkandeji using Information Technology tools for the posterity. How I wish if our younger generation passionate about Hindustani Classical music would carry Bhatkandeji’s creations with them in their pockets with earphones into their ears!!

Our Samarpan of congratulations to Pandit Nirodyji on his getting the award and kudos to Panditji and his team for reliving Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande using the IT tools with their Samarpan to the world of Hindustani Classical Music.

—Dr. G.N.M. Dixit, Trustee of JSS Sangeetha Sabha, Mysuru

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore /Home> Feature Articles / Wednesday – June 24th, 2015

Mysuru :

The well-known artist, who has specialised in Ganjifa paintings, Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat, was invited by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, to participate in the celebration of International Day of Yoga held from June 21 to June 27, 2015 at Rabindra Bhawan, New Delhi.

Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat was the only artist to be invited from Karnataka to exhibit his works related to yoga, while only the works of others from all over India were exhibited on the occasion.

Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat had exhibited 14 art works of his, among them were eight yoga related Ganjifa paintings and another six were line-drawings that were made at the venue. Bhat is specially known for using natural colours in his Ganjifa paintings.

The week-long exposition of various kinds of yoga related paintings and line-drawings was called ‘Yoga Parva’ which took the viewers through centuries of art expression informed by yogic discipline found in dance, music and the visual or literary arts.

According to Helen Acharya, Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, the work on this project began soon after the declaration by the UN of June 21 the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, as the International Day of Yoga.

Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat was born in 1957 at Udupi and grew up in the precincts of the temple city where his father was a priest. He studied at the well-known Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Bengaluru and then an Institute at Kottayam where he mastered techniques of mural painting and making of natural colours. His works are inundated with mythological narratives inspired by the temple sculptures. Many of his Gods and Goddesses are drawn strictly as per the description given in epics and scriptures and are drawn in his unique style which is easily identifiable as that of Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat. He is a resident of Mysuru and has done proud to the city and the country as an artist.

He is also recognised as the first person to revive the dying art of Ganjifa miniature paintings using natural colours. Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat’s paintings are also exhibited at the Museum of Sacred Arts, Durbuy, Belgium.

On the occasion, the Sangeet Natak Akademi has brought out a 223 page souvenir titled ‘Yoga Chakra’ with all the paintings and other artefacts exhibited at the centre. It also carries two works of Raghupathi Bhat which are produced above (‘Vishwaroopa’ and ‘Arjuna Surrenders to Krishna’). In the one titled ‘Arjuna Surrenders to Krishna,’ it may be noted that he has used Kannada calligraphy which is also his specialty, because he is the only artist in Karnataka who uses Kannada letters as a work of calligraphy, as commonly found when Arabic or Urdu letters are written.

The other pictures produced here are also in the Museum of Sacred Arts, Durbuy, Belgium.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore /Home> General News / Wednesday – June 24th, 2015