Sudeshna Banerjee
The country knows him as an eminent painter, a significant torch-bearer of the revivalist movement started by Abanindranath Tagore and developed by Nandalal Bose. Barely a month after he turns 80, a new facet of his accomplishments will be unveiled when Ramananda Bandyopadhyay’s first album of songs, Surer Anubhab, will be released on Friday.
A Visva-Bharati pass-out, Ramananda was trained by Santideb Ghosh. “Music was in the air in Santiniketan. In Kala Bhavan, we were encouraged to sing in the classroom. I remember Kinkarda (sculptor Ramkinkar Baij) singing Aj taray taray dipta in front of the sculpture studio. On seeing me, he stopped and said: ‘Bakita gao (Sing the rest)’. We all had to attend Baitalik (morning prayer songs). A music period was also scheduled for us which Santida took.”
The training was hardly structured. “Santida played the esraj and we sang along. Even now, I do not know notations.”
Young Ramananda was part of Visva-Bharati’s drama troupe as dresser. “We used to tour other states with productions like Notir Puja, Tasher Desh etc. Mohordi (Kanika Bandyopadhyay) used to sing. Santida insisted that I attend the rehearsals. The time coincided with my football practice, leaving me itching to slip out. But later I realised how watching the rehearsals helped me.”
He also had to hold the scale on the harmonium for the singers. Possibly not trusting him to stay focused, Ashesh Bandyopadhyay, a teacher, stuck two matchsticks under the Sa and Pa reeds so they stayed pressed. “All I had to do was bellow. The moment I stopped, getting engrossed in watching the play, he would rap me with the esraj bow.”
The other musical practice he recalls was singing in a group at the house of ” mastermoshai” Nandalal Bose on his birthday.
Five years at Kala Bhavan instilled in him the habit of singing while painting. And when his wife Krishna lost her mobility, he started singing three Rabindrasangeets to her daily. “It has become a kind of a ritual for four-five years. I make the morning tea and read her whatever I have written the night before and show the painting I have done for her. Then we have tea and I sing for her.”
He was unsure about going public with his singing. “But Biswa (Roy, the proprietor of Bhavna Records) persisted till I yielded.”
Weeks of practice followed. Ten songs were chosen, including Oi asontoler matir pore, “a Santida favourite”. The album, which bears a sketch by him for each song, has his wife’s illustration of Notir Puja on the cover.
The album will be launched at Calcutta Press Club at 5pm on Friday by Soumitra Chattopadhyaya and an hour later at Raj Bhavan by governor K.N. Tripathi.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Sudeshna Banerjee / Friday – June 19th, 2015