Excerpts from "The music room" by Namita Devidayal

advaita · **Joined:** Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:38 am **Posts:** 23

Came across this article in The Hindu about TOI journalist Namita Devidayal's debut book about classical musicians particularly of Jaipur Gharana. It is very touching and promises a lot of insights into the extraordinary life of some of the finest Hindustani classical musicians, their role in upholding the traditions of classical music and the challenges they faced.

Here is a small peek,

"....And these were the musicians who laid the very foundation for a prominent style of music. What’s more, there don’t seem to be any recordings of Khansabhib or, for that matter, Kesarbai. Was there no attempt to record their voices? Namita rues, “Alladiya Khan lived in the pre-recording era. So there is no trace of him other than the marvellous compositions and compound ragas that he left behind. As for Kesarbai, I am discovering that there are people who secretly recorded her and have carefully preserved her music. It may have seemed eccentric that Kesarbai never allowed any one to record her music, forcing people to surreptitiously place tape recorders under the carpet when she performed. But her reasons were compelling; she believed that her music was not cheap and she hated the idea that LPs would be sold for nothing in some store...'

Read the full article here
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2007/09/23/sto ... 120500.htm

Barnali · **Joined:** Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:08 am **Posts:** 121

advaita wrote:

"....And these were the musicians who laid the very foundation for a prominent style of music. What’s more, there don’t seem to be any recordings of Khansabhib or, for that matter, Kesarbai.

Thanx for the article (though full article link is not working)... cant say about Khansahib as still hv not heard his rec. But Kesarbai, true they could hv done... Rec. was very much available then... i myself hv two tracks of her. Uploading them for all......they are small excerpts and not full tracks.

Kesarbai - Raag gauri...

http://www.zshare.net/audio/506597506fe2d563/

Kesarbai - Raag kafi kanada

http://www.zshare.net/audio/50659898d41bde0b/

advaita · **Joined:** Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:38 am **Posts:** 23

^^ Thanks for the audio tracks Barnaliji,(Edited my above post hope the link is working now)

Anuradha · **Joined:** Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:53 am **Posts:** 1774

advaita wrote:

It may have seemed eccentric that Kesarbai never allowed any one to record her music, forcing people to surreptitiously place tape recorders under the carpet when she performed. But her reasons were compelling; she believed that her music was not cheap and she hated the idea that LPs would be sold for nothing in some store...'

Thanks for the article Advaita..

The quoted part caught my eyes.. Its true that even now many music lovers dont prefer their voice to be recorded.. There are so many classical music singers who dont even give concerts just for this very reason!! Thanks for this article, I got to listen Kesarbai songs..

Bhaskar · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:18 am **Posts:** 1050

Thanks Advaita!!!! That was really a very very nice article. After a long time read something really refreshing.

Thanks Barnalidi for the tracks. That was a rare treat too.

advaita · **Joined:** Sat Oct 25, 2008 12:38 am **Posts:** 23

Some more excerpts here
http://swaratala.blogspot.com/2007/09/alladiya-khan-kesarbai-legacy-in-sepia.html

indraD · **Posted:** Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:46 pm

thanks a lot for the link BD and advaita for the article.

Narendra Kusnur · **Joined:** Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:43 am **Posts:** 177

Have read the book. Really good insight into the lives of three vocalists - Dhondutai Kulkarni, Alladiya Khan and Kesarbai Kerkar. A must-read for those who love Hindustani classical music

Excerpts from "The music room" by Namita Devidayal

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