Rare Documentary | Pandit Deb Kumar Banerjee | An unbelievable tale of an artist & Harmonium

Kolkata Doordarshan Presents Harmonium & The Legend ( Musical Black Box) Director : Raktima Dutta It is the time when the sun sets to initiate the evening. The Hoogly river flows like an illutionary stream of light and shadow The evening light illuminates the city of joy After a tiring day the city wants to rest in the blissful evening Following the lanes of Patuwa para (Idol maker's lane) , I walk alone looking at the beautiful idols all around till I reach the entrance of a heritage mansion Su

ddenly I hear the mellifluous sound of harmonium coming from somewhere Spellbound by the sound, I climb the stairs of the mansion I keep moving till I see a man sitting with his 11 years old grandson doing their regular harmonium practise (reyaaz) There are no restrictions to this musical corner of the house. Ever smiling face of the man & his magical music greets all the music loving people. I silently take my seat and help myself flow into the magical world of music where all the melodies and

tempos blend together to help me attend tranquility Though I do not want this music to stop but for the sake of my work the session is paused and we start the discussion over a cup of tea and the topic is Harmonium A very common musical instrument generally played as an accompaniment. yet Pandit Deb Kumar Banerjee plays it as a complete Indian classical solo instrument Suddenly my mind questions how is it possible in spite of the various intrinsic restrictions of this instrument? I go down the p

ages of history where I do not find proper information regarding the basis of modern Harmonium It is said that an old Chinese musical instrument named "Cheng" a kind of mouth organ is the ancestor of Harmonium In the 11th century the Mughal emperor was gifted a "Cheng" In the 19th century the modern Harmonium got introduced as a musical instrument in Europe & America different musical instrument making companies started producing thousands of Harmoniums Due to its "easy to play" nature, Harmoniu

m became popular among musicians According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the Harmonium is a kind of a free reed keyboard whose other name is "Reed Organ" Using foot pedals the wind is blown into the chamber to make the metallic reeds vibrate in order to produce melody In 1818 at Vienna, Anton Henkel invented a musical instrument named “Fisarmonica” the predecessor of modern Harmonium Gradually the instrument gets its proper shape in France, Germany and England In the year 1836 Harmonium was fo

r the first time available in America. Pandit Deb Kumar Banerjee says that a member of Punjab royal family named Chandrabhaga Devi saw the instrument during her visit in Paris. Prior to this Harmonium was never seen during any musical performance by the legendary Indian musician including Mia Tansen. Chandrabhaga Devi's Son Pt Ganpatrao Bhaiya was a very famous vocal artist. He for the first time in the history of Indian music used Harmonium in the recital at Royal House of Patiala and introduce

d the style of playing "thumri" One of Pt Ganpatrao Bhaiya 's disciples named Shyamlal Chetri of Rajasthan brought the instrument Harmonium to Kolkata Prior to this Harmonium was never played as a solo instrument though it was seldom used by the vocalists as an accompaniment At times artists like Pt. Bhishwadeb Chatterjee after the completion of his vocal recitals used to play a piece on harmonium as solo In the mean time a person named Dr. Munneshwar Dayal studied Harmonium for few decades to

develop a very special skill of solo harmonium playing Dayal ji belonged to Gaya Gharana studied with Gopi Babu initially and introduced a scientific way of finger movement in Harmonium playing Dayal ji used to play a full Indian Classical raaga on harmonium with all the details Indian Classical music revolves round the scales and musical notes Each and every raaga is meant for a specific time, a specific mood. That is why it binds the artist and the audience with the nature and time in a speci

al way Eminent music director Raichand Boral brought Dr.Munneshwar Dayal to Pt. Montu Banerjee's house At that time Montu babu was studying tabla with Ustad Abid Hussain Khan, Ustad Masit Khan and Ustad Nattu khan though Pt Montu Banerjee played tabla with legends like Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan on a regular basis he was unable to accompany with Pt. Munneshwar Dayal Dayalji taught Montu babu a few fingering techniques to play Harmonium and a legend was born Montu babu was only 16 years old at that tim

e. A rigorous learning of Harmonium started under the strict guidance of Dayalji at Montu babu's place After six months of training he took part in Allahabad Music Conference and stood first Ustad Abdul Karim Khan one of the greatest vocal artists of Indian Music was greatly impressed by the Harmonium playing of Montu babu Montu babu's son Pt Maharaj Banerjee beholds the same heritage of solo Harmonium playing and performs in the same style as his father. In the process of the transformation of

Harmonium from an accompanying instrument to a solo one, the influence of Pt. Montu Banerjee is immense after the 2nd World war for 30- 40 years, Akashbani (AIR ,Kolkata) banned Harmonium as an instrument they said that Harmonium causes problem in transmission in the last phase of 19th century, Dwarakanath Ghosh started a Harmonium making compnay named "Dwarkin' & sons" They started making a lot of Harmoniums. Montu babu's favourite student Pt. Deb Kumar Banerjee inspite of working for a British

company for his livilihood was fully dedicated to music, Harmonium & his guru The worldly problems and the daily hustle bustle was overcome by Pt. Banerjee by his music but he never expected any financial gains out of music. The dawn started with the calmness of raaga "Basant Mukhari" and the simple man unified his heart and soul with his musical black box each evening were spent doing rigorous practise where Pt. Banerjee was often accompanied on tabla by a young doctor Sri Rajat Subhro Banerje

e The relationship between the young and the old, the guru and shishya developed gradually where both of them depended on each other greatly Here starts a new chapter with the birth Pt. Banerjee's grandson Suvendu The young boy shows a lot of interest towards the musical black box the foundation of a new hope starts and the dream of progressing Harmonium further is reignited and a new phase of teaching(talim) starts in order to train the young fingers with the blissful touch of Indian Classical

music the broken heart and the dejected soul finds peace The ever flowing stream of music changes its course in a very subtle way The great musicians surrender their everything to music to get inner peace and to attend the stage of tranquillity Indian music is not associated to sudden changes . Its greatness lies in its subtlety. It revolves round the same place for hours in order to create a trance Music makes us aware of our true selves. It makes us realise what is ours and what is not. A que

stion arises in my mind suddenly. What for is this great music enclosed within the four walls? Will the world never know about the struggle of this legend for his beloved instrument? There are no strings like sitar and sarod in harmonium which makes the art even tough for a Harmonium player This obstacle is overcome to some extent if the Harmonium player knows tabla well It is not possible to play "meed" on Harmonium still Pt. Deb Kumar Banerjee is successful in producing an illusion of "meend"

with his magic touch amidst noisy road the harmonium shop exists where the instruments are tuned by skilful craftsmen with the help of their sharp ears. Pt. Banerjee proved that with proper knowledge, skill and hard work, Harmonium can be played like any other solo Indian instrument He played solo under the prestigious banner of Doverlane Music Conference for 3 consecutive years. But the House recitals, jalsas are closer to his heart where the interaction with the audience is direct His performa

nce attends a different level when he is accompanied by very talented young tabla players like Bickram Ghosh Sri Bickram Ghosh,son of Pt. Shankar Ghosh belongs to the great Farukhabad Gharana At the end of recitals the audiences are lifted to the heights of glory from the depths of despair by the bliss of music as if a fairy with her magic wand has freed our mind from all the worries and agony The heart wants to remain within the spell casted by music my thirsty soul quenches its thirst there is

n't any melancholic lingering now because after today this legendary human being will not be unknown. they will know about his struggle to keep alive a heritage the darkness of winter night has started to wrap me now I still have the vision of those magical fingers, those intricate rhythms , the soulful music The magical music of the musical box keeps on lingering with a touch of "Bhairavi"