CONCERT: Smt. Jayashreetai Patanekar; Bhai Gaitonde

Venue: S M Joshi Hall, Near Ganjawe Chowk, Navi Peth, Pune

Date and Time: Sunday, 27 Sep, 2009

About the artists:

A vocalist of great promise, Smt. Jayashree Patanekar combines a variety of elements from the Gwalior, Jaipur and Agra traditions and presents them in a unique and aesthetically pleasing manner.

She began her training at the age of eight or nine with Vithal Pai of Sawantwadi and then continued it with Mr. K.D.Jaokar for about 5 years. Later she received training with Ratnakar Pai and Nivrutibua Sarnaik. In 1964, she received the first prize in vocal music in a nation wide competition held by All India Radio.

Pt. Gajananbua Joshi the violin maestro and eminent vocalist of the Gwalior Ghrana listened to her singing and agreed to teach her. Without asking her to chnage her voice culture, he trained her for seven or eight years concentrating on every aspect of singing-use of voice-culture, increasing the power of breath, clarity in Taans, puroity of notes control of rhythm, exposition of the Raag structure in a planned and beautiful manner and so on. Through him, she picked up the nuances of styles of Bhurji Khan, Vilayat Hussein Khan, Vazebua etc.

Suresh "Bhai" Gaitonde began learning tabla with his father, a doctor by profession and a keen amateur musician. During his teenage years, he learned tabla from Balubhai Rukadikar, himself a student of the Delhi and Farukhabad tabla traditions. Around the age of twenty, Bhai Gaitonde met Pandit Jagannathbuwa Purohit. Purohit was primarily a vocalist of the Agra gharana, and as “Gunidas” is known to us as a major, prolific composer of vocal compositions in the khayal genre. However, he was also a renowned tabla player, and he imparted to Bhai a rigorous training that concentrated meticulously on sound production, clarity, and the fingering and technique appropriate to the traditional compositions of the various stylistic schools. Described by Bhai Gaitonde as a “wonderful relationship”, this association with Purohit continued for sixteen years until the latter’s sudden death in 1968. Bhai Gaitonde is often associated in the popular mind as being a prominent disciple of the unparalleled Ahmedjan Thirakwa. Although this is borne out by some uncanny musical resemblances, it may surprise many to learn that Bhai spent just three years with Thirakwa. Nevertheless, he did learn from Vinayakrao Ghangrekar for ten years, and Ghangrekar was a student of Subraiji Ankolekar who, like Thirakwa, was a student of Munir Khan “Laliyana”. In this clip (taken from the India Archive recording for which I wrote liner notes) Bhai Gaitonde plays several Purabi gats of Farukhabad and Lucknow, some made famous by Thirakwa.