Pandit Tarapada Chakraborty - Raga Megh

In my early college years I heard Pandit Tarapada Chakraborty in a Sangeet Sammelan.
On the evening of the concert as I approached the premises, I saw Tarapada Babu standing on the sidewalk, smoking and totally absorbed in his thoughts. I recognized him from photos. He was a short and thin person with large expressive eyes, and was dressed like a Bengali marriage guest (Barjatri) in a snow white Dhoti and Kurta (Panjabi). There was nothing special about his appearance and personality.
After some time, his program was announced. He used three Tanpuras. Keramatulla Saheb was on Tabla and Niharkana a female disciple of his, was on Harmonium. He was the only vocalist I ever saw who used three Tanpuras.
Sounds of Tanpuras were already creating an atmosphere, then an exceptional warm, sweet and melodious voice emerged. He started with the Raga Marwa. Slow and systematically he introduced phrases with a wealth of interpretative detail which achieved the emotional clarity of the raga. After Marwa, he started with the Raga Chaya Hindol a creation of his own – his signature piece. His musicianship and technique were flawless and he created a hypnotic effect on listeners.
In my young mind I felt that the music was so beautiful that it should never end. During the entire performance, he made eye contact mostly with the accompanying artists and was totally absorbed in the joy of singing.
Since that day I never missed an opportunity to attend his concerts and I was never disappointed. Pandit Ravi Shankar in his book Rag – Anurag wrote about two great voices, one is of Onkarnathji and another is of Tarapada Babu.
I enjoyed Tarapada Babu as much as the other great vocalists of India. Unfortunately he never achieved the recognition he deserved. The music establishments – and the people who controlled the music politics of West Bengal – underrated him by claiming that he was a self taught musician and had very little talim.
Later in my life I came to know some great musicians well enough to ask about Tarapada Babu and got some interesting answers. One of the all time great sitarists told me, “his music was phenomenal.” One of the respected and senior sitarist of today commented, “His music had a magnetic effect and captivated the listeners.” He also said that Nikhil Banerjee’s music “had a similar effect.” A sorod legend told me other musicians in Bengal could never sing like him, so some of them criticized him.
In a Bengali book Mehfil and the English book The Lost World of Hindustani Music, the author Kumar Prasad Mukherjee wrote a glowing tribute to Tarapada Chakraborty’s music and the quality of his voice. He narrated an incident when, after listening to Tarapada Chakraborty in a concert, old Ustad Muzaffar Khan with tears in his eyes told Raja Deba Prasad Garg of Mahisadal, “Ayse gana hamne Shuna vi nehi, sikha vi nehi”.

Видео Pandit Tarapada Chakraborty - Raga Megh канала Subrata Chowdhury