Debu Chaudhuri • Ragas Kedara & Piloo - P.1977

Debu Chaudhuri • Ragas Kedara, Piloo
EMI India - S EMGE 11004 - P.1977





Side A

A1 Raga Kedara - Alap and Masitkhani Gat - in Teental 19’36


Side B

B1 Raga Kedara - Razakhani Gat 5’54

B2 Raga Piloo - Teental 13’18






Here is another, not so exposed sitarplayer for your enjoyment.

There really are not that very many recordings on vinyl by him that I could find but this is one of the first that I knew of. He was a disciple of Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan, an exponent of the Senia Gharana. I have posted one more recording by him before, recorded in 1987, ten years later than this one where he plays the ragas Bageshri and Maund. You can listen to it here

Thirtyfive year old Debabrata ‘Debu’ Chaudhuri is one of the most important sitar players of the day. Born in a business family of East Bengal, Debu had decided at a very early age that music would be the sole love and passion of his life. There was opposition from some quarters and scepticism from others, how could anyone without a traditionally musical background carve for himself a niche in the world of classical Music? But those who know Debu know that there was no room for doubt then or now. Debu has all that goes to make a musician great. He has the vision, the intuition and the grasp, above all his music is the creation of a man completely dedicated to his art.







Debu is a disciple of Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan, an exponent of the Senia Gharana marked apart from other things, for its lineage which can be traced back to the great doyan of Indian music, Mian Tansen. The Guru-Shishya Parampara (the tradition of passing knowledge from master to pupil) of this school, was initiated by the great Sitar player, Amrit Sen. who was a direct descendant of Mian Tansen. Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan represents all that is the best in not only his own school but also in the traditional Indian classical music, the intrinsic purity and lyricism of style, coupled with a perfection of technique. As a recognition of his invaluable contribution to the preservation and furtherance of Indian classical music, the Ustad was awarded the prestigeous Academy Award last year. Debu has had the proud privilege of learning sitar at the feet of this maestro.

Debu Chaudhuri has had many opportunities to display his talent both at home and abroad. At home he is an artiste widely acclaimed and has also been featured in the National Programmes. Abroad, he has had the distinction of being the first Indian musician to participate in the famous Montreaux-Vevey Music Festival in Europe and Shiraz Festival of Iran. He has also represented India in other International Music Festivals.

Debu stepped out of India for the first time in 1967 and since then has gone round the world half a dozen times. His recent tour covered among other countries, South America and the West Indies, which gave the people there their first ever opportunity to savour of Indian Classical music.

Apart from the general popularity, Debu's excellence in his field has attracted golden opinion from eminent musicologists all over the world. Dr. Nicholas Nabokav classes him as one of the finest musicians of the world. Dr. A. Danielou, Director, International Institute for comparative music in Berlin, has given him a place in the recorded U N Anthology of Oriental Music. At home Debu has been acknowledged as a musician of great lyricism and imaginative wealth.

What does he feel about his frequent trips abroad ? They are stimulating he feels, and above all he enjoys them because they give him an opportunity to acquaint his foreign audiences with the inherent beauty and mystery of Indian classical music.

Currently Debu is teaching instrumental music at the Delhi University and the Bharatiya Kala
Kendra, and he has a fine crop of promising students to his credit, some of whom have already been recognised in the music world.

This Album was recorded at the H.M.V. Studio, Calcutta, immediately after Debu's return from his last world tour. Accompanying Debu on the Tabla is Shyamal Bose, an artiste of All India Radio, Calcutta. Shyamal Bose, a disciple of Ustad Feroze Khan and Shri Jnan Prakash Ghosh is a virtuoso in his own right and belongs to the Farakkabad School of Tabla players.

from the original sleevenotes by Sujata Chauhan

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Bhimsen Joshi - Memorial posts - Recorded in his home on his 65th birthday!

Indisk Konstmusik - Gammal tradition i en ny värld

(Indian art-music - Old Tradition in a New World)

Caprice - CAP 2022 - P.1987

Prof. Debu Chaudhuri, sitar

Side A

A1 Raga Bagesri 21'30

A2 Raga Maund 7'55

A1, A2 recorded in the home of Debu Chaudhuri, New Delhi, 87.01.28

recorded 23 years ago on the day!

Dr. S. Balachander, veena

Side B

B1 Raga Varali - Ne pogoda kunte - Thyagaraja 28'45

B1 recorded in Bani Center, Madras 87.01.03

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, vocal

Side C

C1 Raga Todi - Aaj more mana logo langarawa - Khayal 14'59

C2 Raga Bhairavi - Thumri 12'32

C1, C2 recorded in the home of Bhimsen Joshi, Poona 87.02.06

recorded on his 65'th Birthday!

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, flute

Side D

D1 Hariprasad Chaurasia - Raga Mishra Khamaj - 12'46

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, santur

D2 Pandit Shivkumar Sharma - Raga Chandrakauns 12'50

D1 recorded in the home of Hariprasad Chaurasia, Bombay 87.02.03

D2 recorded in the home of Shivkumar Sharma, Bombay 87.02.03

This is the final memorial post of Bhimsen Joshi for at least a week or so. Not because I ran out of records to post but we really should not have so much of the best at the same time.

The good friend Arvind reported in at the last moment with these reading fruits from studying obituaries to Bhimsen Joshi the whole day.

He writes:

This one by Deepa Ganesh in The Hindu I found most interesting. Though its short, there is a considerable amount of insight, into the man and his music, and many good anecdotes. I think she tells the story (which will now enter legend) of how the young Bhimsen ran away from home and ultimately found his way to Sawai Gandharva and the Kirana gharana, in a very interesting way:

A wanderer both in life and in music, Bhimsen would often go missing from home, to his parents' great worry. From the age of three, he was wont to wander off — following the muezzin's prayer of Allahu Akbar as he tried to grasp its notes, or listening to the musicians in a nearby temple. As if in a trance, the little child would follow bhajan mandalis and wedding processions, completely tuned to musical notes and switched off to all else. His father would often lodge complaints with the police, only to find that a Good Samaritan had brought the boy back home. However, at 11, the boy left home for good after quarrelling with his mother, because she could not afford to serve him ghee with rice. He stomped out, leaving his food untouched. This turned out to be the turning point in his musical journey too. Listening to the gramophone recording of Raga Jhinjoti sung by the maestro of the Kirana Gharana, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, in a nearby teashop, he set his heart on learning from him. He stood at the Gadag station and took a train heading north. The penniless lad gave ticket collectors the slip by moving between compartments, singing songs for fellow passengers and begging for food. He stopped at Pune, Bombay and finally, after three months, reached Gwalior. He met and learnt from various maestros, but was not satisfied. He then went from Kharagpur to Calcutta, and on to Delhi, finally reached Jalandhar, where the Gwalior maestro, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, advised him to learn from Sawai Gandharv in Kundagol, Karnataka. - It continues here

These recordings were made in connection with the India Festival '87, a comprehensive presentation of Indian Culture in Sweden in 1987. Bhimsen Joshi held several concerts in Stockholm and I was fortunateley able to attended all of them. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate any recording from these concerts but maybe if we are lucky, someone sees this post and points me to some location where I can search. Better yet, someone has a recording and shares it with us! There are indeed other very well known artists on this record , and I may come back later with individual post of the these artists but the reason I don't dwell upon them is because my main reason to post this double LP is because of the C-side with Bhimsen Joshi recordings. Again we can thank my good friend his Excellency who kept this record away from the dents of time. The recording with Debu Chaudhuri is made in his home in Bombay 23 years ago on the day! The recording of Bhimsen Joshi is made on the 6th of February in 1987, in his home in Poona, and on his 65th birthday! In little more than a week, that is 23 years ago!

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