On 29 October this year, a musical tribute was held to honor Timirbaran Bhattacharya, the father of Indian symphony in Hindustani classical music. Much like Joseph Haydn, regarded as the father of the symphony in Western classical music, Timirbaran Bhattacharya is celebrated as the pioneer and patriarch of this genre in India. The tribute took the form of a musical soiree organised under the auspices of Surnandan Bharati and Baghajatin Jogoprova Foundation and was held at Indumati Sabhagriha, Jadavpur, Kolkata.

His versatility extends to being a genius as a sarod artiste whose strumming of this stringed instrument Timirbaran was a past master. Occasionally he would initiate discussion on the different facets of the making of a symphony when he would mark the notations and tap the potentialities of the melody line. Few would fathom the depths of his musical concept. At a well-attended concert, poet author Jayanta Ray officially inaugurated the book “Shilpi Timirbaran” authored by Ritish Ranjan Chakraborty and published by the Baghajatin Jogoprova Foundation.

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On the occasion, a special issue of Ra Patrika on Timirbaran was also published. Educationist Ranjani Sarkar, Timirbaran’s granddaughter, spoke about the unfamiliar musical areas on which Timirbaran had shed some light to the uninitiated classical music lovers. Pt Mallar Ghosh and educationist Ranjani Sarkar presented the Timirbaran award to sarod player Amlan Datta, who performed raga Kaushiki Kanada on sarod. Timirbaran christened this raga as Malkosh and Darbari Kanada. Amlan Datta experimented with some of his novel, innovative musical ideas that reached out to his captive audience.

As part of a tribute, vocalist Jaba Mukhopadhyay created the desired ambience with subtle moods and nuances with song compositions of Kazi Nazrul in her inimitable gayaki. Kaushiki Dutta and Puja Panja complemented the musical soiree with her crystal clear voice in the rendition of classical vocals. Under the direction of artiste Monika Panja, she managed to bring out the best of Muktodhara’s artistes through the song-dance composition ‘Devipakshya’ under the banner of the Nrityangan Dance Academy.

This was followed by a dance drama “Aar Kobe” under the auspices of the Shiva Saran Natyalaya, and credit goes to dancers Baisakhi Sarkar and Jayalakshmi, who introduced their novel ideas in the direction of 15 artists, which gave a contemporary interpretation that made the audience think and appreciate the underlying modern ideas that crept into their performances.

The curtains of the evening’s concert came down with ”Varotio Brindabadane Timirbaran” performed in a program conjured up in the form of a melody-rhythm-audio-visual presentation. Under the direction of painter Subrata Kumar Paul, the artists of Anjana Art Academy showcased a mellowed, creative concept. Debasish Das and Biplab Mondal accompanied on the tabla while Pradip Das was on percussion. Debasish Sarkar anchored the show with the audience soaking in the tribute to Timirbaran, who was brought out of mothballs of neglect and gained public recognition.

The writer is an independent contributor