The Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, an academic institute under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, is going to organize a two-day festival, 25th and 26th of July, on Mohanveena – a musical instrument created by the legendary musician & Sangeet Natak Academi Awardee Late Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitreya in the year 1948. This is the first time ever an exclusive two-day event is going to happen on an instrument which is just around 80 years old. The first day will showcase a 90-minute documentary made during the late 1990s and early 2000s named: “Mohanveena – a Genesis”. The second day is more special as it will feature Joydeep Mukherjee, the iconic young musician who will be performing on the Mohanveena and Somjit Dasgupta, a direct disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitreya, speaking and giving demonstrations on the Mohanveena. The last session will be an open house discussion among the audience with the two performing artists – Joydeep & Somjit, moderated by Prof. Prajna Dutta of SRFTI.
Mohanveena was a brainchild of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitreya who started to think about creating a new instrument from 1943 onwards and the project matured in 1948. In the year 1943 Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra played a jugalbandi in Sursingar with Ustad Sadik Ali Khan in Veena at a concert in Lucknow. Being a great sarodia, he realized that faster phrases were not possible to execute on Sursingar. He conceptualized a special instrument which should have the tonal quality of the Veena, resonance of a Sursingar and the ability to execute high speed taans and Larant-Jhala like the Sarod or the Rabab. It is to be noted that at that point of time he had four instruments with him – Sursingar, Sarod, Tanseni rabab & Sur-rabab and was still looking for a new instrument. In 1948 he finalized a new instrument which had all the above qualities and on 18th June the same year, Thakur Jaidev Singh, the then Chief producer of All India Radio named this instrument as “Mohanveena” after the name of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra and his first recording from All India Radio on Mohanveena was broadcasted at that time. After that he performed some 22 National programs and countless recordings with this Mohanveena which are the assets of the Akashvani archives now. Today this 76-year-old ‘parampara’ of Mohanveena is still running among his disciples, grand disciples and great disciples.
Speaking on the event the musician Joydeep Mukherjee said, “I am very overwhelmed that SRFTI has asked me to perform. It’s a historic day. Perhaps my Dadaguru Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitreya was the first musician in independent India who got interviewed by the All India Radio and broadcasted a recital simultaneously. It happened at the time when we just became independent and our independence was not just one year old. Now today, SRFTI, which is under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, is commemorating that event and I am humbled that they have chosen me as a performing artist for this great and landmark event.” Speaking to the press, Mukherjee also added, “I am also glad that Somjit Dasgupta, a direct disciple of my Dadaguru and a younger Gurubhai of my Guru, Pt. Pranab Kumar Naha, will be demonstrating the original instrument of 1948. He has protected all the instruments of my dadaguru for the last 50 years and a living encyclopedia of our Gharana.”
Somjit Dasgupta on speaking to the press mentioned, “Prasar Bharati has always played a great role in the preservation of our culture and heritage. I am glad that the same Ministry has chosen such a great theme on such a heritage instrument. When Joydeep had performed Mohanveena at the G20 summit, he was also being interviewed by the Kolkata Akashvani along with a recital in the last year. Based on Mohanveena I had done several lecture demonstrations, exhibitions and symphonies in the last 40 years across Europe and other parts of the world. Today, I am showcasing my Guruji’s instrument to the music lovers of my own city.”
Prajna Dutta, faculty at the department of Direction & Production at SRFTI told, “There are a lot of confusions with the instrument Mohanveena. While its namesake is much more popular, but the people should also know the history of the traditional Mohanveena of Radhika Mohan Maitreya which was created atleast 4 decades before the current version arrived at the scene. We have arranged for an open house session with the artists at the end of the two-day festival so that people can interact and can get a clearer picture.”
Both the artists will be accompanied by Mrinal Bhattacharya in Tabla.
This program is an ongoing series organized by the Department of Sound Recording and Design under “Voices: Lecture Series”, under the leadership of Prof. Sukanta Majundar.