Rajan Parrikar Music Archive

Purshottam Walawalkar Departs

Harmonium maestro Purshottam Walawalkar passed away on Monday, January 13, 2014. He was 90.

Added: A tribute in the Indian daily DNA, dated January 19, 2014. (In the event the link evaporates, a pdf is archived here.)

Ramashreya Jha "Ramrang" and Purshottam Walawalkar

Purshottam Walawalkar and Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang” at Kavalem, Goa (December 2003)

Shubha Mudgal appointed Research Professor at Goa University

Shubha Mudgal

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.”

Shubha Mudgal in the Vijaya Parrikar Library

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.

Ravi Shankar (1920-2012)

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

Ravi Shankar tickling Alubhai Khan

Photo source: Ustad Ali Akbar Khan by Ramlal Mathur (Maharaja Mansingh Pustak Prakash Research Centre, Jodhpur, 2004)

Bakibab Borkar – A Remembrance

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

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.