Last night in a
moving programme homage was paid by Zee Bangla to Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya, a
distinguished folk artist of Bengal. Bhattacharya’s suffered an untimely demise
in a highway accident in which his vehicle was hit from behind by a speeding truck.
The truck driver unwittingly snuffed out a life that had just started blooming
in the area of folk art and folk music of Bengal.
Zee Bangla was
closely associated with Kalika Prasad in its superb musical reality show called
“sa re ga ma pa” which is currently running and is heading for a closure for
the year sometime in the near future. The programme of an hour and a half was
of grief expressed through pure music – sombre and mournful. Some of the
singers were in tears while performing on the stage. Even the anchor, popular
Bengali cine actor Jisshu Sen Gupta, couldn’t help hiding his face from the
audience as tears welled up in his eyes.
Kalika Prasad
Bhattacharya was a relentless worker in the field of folk music, particularly
of Bengal. On his initiative “sa re ga ma pa”, possibly the best musical
reality TV show in India, included folk music and competitors were entertained
who were specifically inclined towards folk songs. He was kind of an
encyclopaedia of folk music and whenever a number would be sung he would step
out of the shadows and explain the song and its nuances for the benefit of the
audience. His was an enviable fund of knowledge on not only folk music of
Bengal but also of various traditional genres of Bengali music. He once openly confessed
on the stage of “sa re ga ma pa” that he had never imagined that Bengali
‘kirtan” would one day find its way into television prorammes. He was too
modest to claim that it all had happened because of his own relentless efforts.
He would say “kirtan” was the “adi Bengali sangit’ (original Bengali music),
sort of, mother of all other genres.
His biggest
achievement was perhaps to bring out up front on the television the talents
that have been lying hidden and untapped in the remote recesses of the state.
He brought them, their folk music and even their basic or, to use an unsavoury
word, crude instruments including those of percussion to the television studios
offering to the world the rich cultural heritage of the state and its hitherto
anonymous practitioners. Some of them trekked all the way to Kolkata to be
present in the programme to pay homage to Kalika, their benefactor. Even the
Santhals of tribal Bengal of Purulia, Medinipur, etc. were able to display
their folk music, folk dance etc. over the wires because of him. A group that
was Kalika’s find sang last night in chorus a Santhali number for the occasion,
the tune of which was adopted by Tagore for one of his compositions.
A word about
the programme “sa re ga ma pa” is necessary. Zee TV is running similar
programmes in their several language channels. Even some other channels like
from Soni stable have attempted to cash in on the rising popularity of such
programmes. So many such programmes are being run that sometimes one feels that
the whole country does not have much to do except singing or participating in
music contests. But among such a huge assortment of more or less similar
programmes Zee Bangla’s “sa re ga ma pa” easily walks away with the cake.
Facilitated by sound advice from those who sit on judgment the standards of
performance have steadily climbed higher and higher. In fact, over the years I
have myself felt that the standard of competition has only risen with the
singers stepping out in the wide world to find immediate takers for their
talents. What is more, the standards of production have improved tremendously,
each item being well planned, well executed and with excellent props. The
entire experience that one gets is visually pleasant and the sound of music is
immensely pleasurable.
*Photo of Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya is from internet
15th March 2017
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