A millennial performer of Hindustani Classical Instrumental Music, Joydeep Mukherjee is a national and international performer of Sarod and rare instruments like Radhika Mohanveena and Surshringer. He has revived some extinct instruments of India for stage performances from the stage of oblivion which has received critical response and appreciations across the globe. A regular artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, he is also empanelled with Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India. He is also a voracious experimenter and composer who has transformed songs of Rabindranath Tagore into classical instrumental bandishes.
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Raaga Dakshinatya Basant
This is an extremely rare raaga in Hindustani Classical Music for the spring season. This has been adapted in Hindustani Classical Music from Carnatic Music. In Carnatic Music there is a Raagam named “Basant” which is very different from North Indian Music’s Raaga Basant. However, the Raaga Basant of Carnatic Music is very unique in terms of mood and feeling. When it was played by North Indian Musicians, they named it “Dakshinatya Basant“.
About Radhika Mohanveena
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It was around 1943-44, when the young sarod player Radhika Mohan Maitra played Jugalbandi in Surshringar with Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan on Veena at a private concert in Lucknow which was attended by many great musicians of that time. Post the concert Maitra felt the necessity of a 3-in-1 instrument which would have the tonal quality of the Veena, resonance to that of the Surbahar and sweetness cum faster ‘bol-bani’ playing capability to that of a Sarod. Knowing the difficulty of playing Surshringer, he was trying to find a bridge instrument between Surshringer & Sarod. After some years of experimentation, in 1948, he came up with a design of an instrument which looks like an amalgamation of Surbahar and Sarod. In the new instrument the essence of Surshringer, Veena, Surbahar and Sarod was incorporated. Amazed by its design and sound quality, Thakur Jaidev Singh, the-then producer of All India Radio named the instrument as “Mohan Veena” after the name of Pt. Maitra in 1949. However, post his retirement from the professional stage in 1977 and following his untimely death in 1981, the instrument became almost extinct unless it was revived by Joydeep Mukherjee in 2020.
– global bihari bureau
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