Omkarnath Thakur - Raga Lalit - In Concert

Omkarnath Thakur 
• Raga Lalit - In Concert
Music India - 2393950 - P.1983




Side A

A1 Raga Lalit - Raien Ka Sapna - Badha Khyal in Vilambit Ektaal

Panditji starts the Vilambit Khayal ‘Raien Ka Sapna’, unfolds the raga by aakapchari in the Poorvang and goes on to complete the Antra.

Side B

B1 Raga Lalit - Raien Ka Sapna - Badha Khyal in Vilambit Ektaal
B2 Raga Lalit - Piyu Piyu Ratat Papihara - Chhota Khyal in Teentaal

Panditji continues the Vilambit Khayal with the Upaj-ang and goes on to make varied Taan patterns. He concludes his exposition with the Chhota Khayal ‘Piyu Piyu Rotat Papihara’ where he shows the varied aspects of Shuddha Madhyam - the main Nyas-swara of Lalit.

Pandit Omkarnath Thakur  (1897 - 1967)

17 years ago, a musical giant left for the heavenly abode leaving behind a rich treasure of his work and research in the field of Hindustani Classical Music. ‘Sangeet Martand’, ‘Padmashree’, late Pandit Omkarnath Thakur occupies a position of rare eminence amongst the classical musicians of India.

His years of research on Maharishi Bharat's ‘Nat ya-Shastra’ along with a thorough study of varied systems prevalent in the North Indian as well as Carnatic music, led him to propound thought provoking theories and write volumes of authoritative books on the subject. A worthy disciple of a great scholar-musician Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Omkarnathji made it his life's mission to propagate India's musical heritage amongst the classes and the masses alike.

Panditji was a musician with a difference. A strict disciplinarian, Panditji was known as much for his arrogance as for his musical genius. Keeping in tradition with the norms of the majestic gayaki of the Gwalior Gharana, Panditji evolved a style uniquely his own. His Regal Persona, his marvellous command over Sanskrit and Urdu alike, his thorough insight into every raga-exposition and his unique ability to communicate with his audience through his emotionally packed renditions left the listeners spellbound. His concerts were invariably reflective of his interpretation of the ‘Nav-Rasa’. In fact, he would often demonstrate different Rasas in the cheez (song) by singing one phrase in several other ways.

Not many of Panditji's works are available to the musical ear anymore. Music India has excavated a rare recording to share with aficionados of classical music. On the occasion of his 17th death anniversary, we pay our humble tribute to Panditji and take immense pride in releasing on this record his full rendition of Raga Lalit sung sometime during the early sixties. Opportunities to hear rare recordings of this nature are few to come by.



Music ▼ +

Pandit Omkarnath Thakur • Todi, Malkauns from 78 rpm plates

Pandit Omkarnath Thakur 
• Raga Todi — Raga Malkauns. 
EMI Columbia - 33ECX 3252 - P.1964



Side A

Raga Todi


A1a Kadam Ki Chhaya -pt 1 - (Desi Todi)
A1b Kadam Ki Chhaya -pt 2 - (Desi Todi)
A2a Garwa Mai Sang -pt 1 - (Todi)
A2b Garwa Mai Sang -pt 2 - (Todi)
A3 Mitwa Balamua Ja (Nilambari)
A4 Mai Kanth Mora - (Sughrai)

Side B


Raga Malkauns

B1a Pir na jani -pt 1 - (Malkauns-Vilampat)
B1b Pir na jani -pt 2 - (Malkauns-Vilampat)
B2a Pag Ghungru Baandh -pt 1 - (Malkauns)
B2b Pag Ghungru Baandh -pt 2 - (Malkauns)




Here is another great album with early 78 rpm "plates" of Omkarnath Thakur. This was first released in 1934-35 (Todi, Nilambari, Sughrai), 1940-41 (Todi) and 1948 (Malkauns) and reissued on this LP in 1964. I hope you enjoy! More to read in my previous post. There is no information except for the tracklist on the backside of the sleeve.



Omkarnath Thakur  (1897 - 1967) 

Pandit Omkarnath Thakur was a maestro whose music baffled hardboiled listeners even while he held his lay audiences spell-bound. I have nostalgic memories of his monumental voice, with its amazingly wide tonal range, depth and volume, all of which seemed to blend perfectly with the dignity of his bearing. With four tanpuras to back him and two accompanists to lend him sangat, one would be tempted to liken the ensemble to the saptarishi constellation.

A large segment of cognoscenti found something elusive about Panditji's music. He was a gate crasher to some, and a romanticist to others. Still others thought him to be an iconoclast, or an avant grade vocalist. The fact is that he was all these put together, and that is what compelled attention from his admirers as well as critics.

Private collection of Mohan D. Nadkarni/Kamat's Potpourri

Omkarnath Thakur in concert

Notice the absence of harmonium and the august presence of Sarangi

Panditji himself, steeped in the old shastras, vehemently claimed that he was orthodox in his vocalism. Even while he firmly believed in the miracles and mysteries of music, he chose to evolve a style of his own which embodied even flourishes like shakes and tremolos features of western music. His use of his devices, he asserted had the full sanction of the Indian tradition. To prove his point, he would proceed to quote chapter and verse from the shastras right in the midst of his performance!

Memories of my meetings with him, first in 1948 and then a decade later, come crowding to my mind as I write these lines. He advocated two contrary approaches to raga music during these meeting. Baffled by his advocacy of both the concepts at the two encounters with him, I cautiously requested him to dispel my gnawing doubts. The maestro was visibly rattled and shouted at me to go away, branding the whole fraternity of newspaper men (including, of course, music critics) as “nindaks” (detractors). Yet, while he shunned publicity, he maintained a love-hate relationship with the press.

Pandit Omkarnathji's rise to fame was dramatic. His forbears were military men, but he was born in penury in far-off Gujarat village and orphaned at 14. He earned his living first as a cook and then as a mill-worker. The vicissitudes of life hardly dampened his energy, and his burning passion for music asserted itself in many ways. He tried to learn music from people as diverse as street-singers and temple musicians, till a wealthy, music-loving Parsi gentleman, Seth Doongajee, discerned his musicianly potential and placed him under the tutelege of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar.

It is difficult to say who among the old maestros besides Pandit Paluskar himself - influenced his music most. In reply to my question, he told me that he was initially influenced by two "eccentric musicians"-- Karim Baksh, a musician from Kashmir, and Rehmat Khan, a luminary of his own Gwalior gharana. But Panditji acknowledged Vishnu Digambar as his foremost guru.

Both at home and abroad, public recognition came naturally to him in profusion before and after independence. He was possibly the only Indian musician who had gone to the west as far back as the early thirties, and won plaudits in international soirees in several world capitals. Believe it or not, he had announced his retirement from active musical life more than once and, that too, for political reasons! During the freedom struggle, his “Vande Mataram” was integral part of the annual sessions of the Indian National Congress. In this, he followed in the wake of his mentor.

Panditji reportedly trained a large number of students in vocal music, besides writing authoritative books on musicology and aesthetics. It would seem that he did not care to groom shishyas worthy of him. The only exception is that of the South Indian exponent of Hindustani music, violinist N. Rajam, whom he groomed as a ganda-bandh shagird.

by Mohan Nadkarni

First Published in: The Times of India, 

Bombay Edition, on December 27, 1992

Music ▼ +

Omkarnath Thakur • Desi-Todi, Bhajans - 1971

Pandit Omkarnath Thakur
• Sangeet Martand, Desi-Todi, Bhajans
EMI Columbia - 33 ECX.3301 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Mare Dere Ajo - Desi Todi 17'24.aif

Side B

B1 Main Nahin Makhan Khajo - Bhajan (Surdas)  20'48




Here is a very good record by a remarkable artist who I appreciate very much. I have only a few more records by him that I will post shortly. Look out in the following days for at least two more recordings with him! Hope you enjoy




Omkarnath Thakur (1897–1967) 


Omkarnath Thakur was an Indian educator, musicologist, and Hindustani classical singer. He is famously known as "Pranav Rang", his pen-name.
Thakur was born 1897 in a village in the Princely State of Baroda into a poor military family. The family moved to Bharuch in 1900 and in circa 1909 Thakur and his younger brother began to train in Hindustani classical music in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, a music school, under classical singer Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Thakur and his brother were sponsored by a wealthy Parsi and Thakur became an accomplished singer in the style of the Gwalior gharana.

Thakur was made the principal of a Lahore music school of Paluskar's Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in 1916, became acquainted with the Patiala gharana, and started his own music school in 1919. During the 1920s Thakur worked for the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi on a local level and in the 1933 became one of the first Indian musicians to perform in Europe, which included a private concert for Benito Mussolini. Thakur's wife Indira Devi died the same year and he began to concentrate exclusively on music.
Thakur's work as a performer and musicologist led to the creation of a music college at Banaras Hindu University that emphasized both and he wrote books on Indian classical music and its history. Thakur's work is criticized in contemporary music literature as ignorant of the contribution of Muslim musicians, which he blamed for deteriorating classical music. Thakur performed in Europe until 1954 and received the Padma Shri in 1955 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1963. He retired in 1963 and was awarded honorary doctorates from Banaras Hindu University in 1963 and Rabindra Bharati University in 1964.

snipped from the Wikipedia here

It is now four years since the sweet roar of the giant amongst vocalists of Indian classical music was stilled forever. Those who had the good fortune to listen to him in person will forever remember his Regal Personality and his inimitable style. Disciple of Late Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, his profound knowledge and scholarship won him high praise and tributes not only in India but even in foreign countries. He, like his great Guru, catered classical music to masses. While performing, he poured his very personality in his exposition, thereby transferring his emotionally packed rendering on to the listeners, and holding them spellbound in a celestial trance. Lovers and followers of his music are spread far and wide. On this disc is presented a very rare and scintillating performance of the great maestro.

In bringing out this number on the solemn occasion of his 4th death anniversary, we pay our humble homage to his great memory and hope connoisseurs will listen to the performance with nostalgia.


Side I - Desi—Todi


This is a morning melody and it has a mood of fervent appeal. The burden of the composition 'Mare Dere Aao' - 'Please, come to my abode' — an invocation by a beloved to her lover-sets the artiste in the proper frame of mind-of entreaty-appeal — and he goes on weaving the melody into diverse and attractive musical patterns. While doing so he scrupulously conforms to the traditional norms of exposition of a Raga. The rhythm employed is Ek Taal - consisting of 12 beats.


Side II - Main Nahin Makhan Khayo

This is the Piece De Resistance. It narrates a story — an episode in the colourful life of Lord Krishna in his childhood. He is accused by the milkmaids of Brindaban of stealing their butter. Caught red handed, his chubby face smeared with the loot, the culprit boy is taken to his mother by the offended milkmaids. A court of enquiry is held. The presiding judge is Yashoda — the divine mother of Shrikrishna — the accused.

The dramatic trial opens — with the denial of the charge by the accused ‘Maiyya-Main Nahin Makhan Khayo’— He did not have any legal luminary to represent him — so he decides to defend himself. His defence is presented on this skie in a musical form by the maestro in such a convincing manner that, towards the close, Shri Krishna is acquitted honourably and absolved of all the charges levelled against him.

This entire drama is musically enacted by the maestro with a virtuosity which he alone was capable of.

Repertoire By Courtesy: Vijay V Porecha.

quoted from the backside of the record sleeve

Here is a little more to read

Music ▼ +