Shubha Mudgal
© Rajan Parrikar
Renowned Indian musician Shubha Mudgal has been offered the Nana Shirgaonkar Visiting Research Professorship at Goa University for the next 3 years and she has accepted the appointment. The university has established the chair with the goal of inviting “distinguished persons to work at the university and interact with our students and faculty.”
New musician entry in the Vijaya Parrikar Library: Shubha Mudgal.
Two beautiful pieces are offered, one a classical rendition in Raga Hem Kalyan, the second a Vaishnava verse set to Raga Gauri (composed by Aneesh Pradhan). Tabla and Harmonium support is provided by Aneesh Pradhan and Sudhir Nayak, respectively.
Go here for Shubha’s page.
New material has been placed in Kishori Amonkar‘s folder – Ragas Khat and Maligoura.
Ravi Shankar was the finest sitar player of our time (nota bene, far better than the teental-only crashing bore Vilayat what’s-his-name).
Ravi Shankar tickling Alubhai Khan
Photo source: Ustad Ali Akbar Khan by Ramlal Mathur (Maharaja Mansingh Pustak Prakash Research Centre, Jodhpur, 2004)
November 30 marks the birth anniversary of Balkrishna Bhagwant Borkar (1910-1984), affectionately known as Bakibab, the poetic genius from Goa.
Bakibab wrote in both his mother tongue Konkani and in Marathi. The slender, jejune entry devoted to him in Wikipedia makes you weep. (This is par for the course for Indians, the champions of bluster, wallowers in ignorance of their own traditions.)
I took the following photograph in Bakibab‘s village of Borim on a foggy morning earlier this year.
Bakibab Borkar memorial in Borim, Goa
©Rajan P. Parrikar
In this video, another great Goan, Jitendra Abhisheki, remarks on Bakibab‘s romance with words and their intertwinement with music. He also speaks of their love of Goa.
A Bakibab classic, tuned in Raga Kalyan and rendered by Abhisheki.
A sketch of his life has been added to his folder in the Vijaya Parrikar Library. It was written by his daughter Shilpa Andharia and translated by Kumud Bhatt of Bhavnagar. My thanks to Professor Kumar Bhatt for following up and making this account available.