Krishnarao Phulambrikar

Krishnarao Phulambrikar
Born 1898
Devachi Alandi, Maharashtra, India
Died October 20, 1974(1974-10-20)
Other names Master Krishnarao
Occupation Classical musician
Vocalist
Known for Hindustani music
Music of Bollywood
Marathi film music
Children Veena Chitko
Parent(s) Ganesh Phulambrikar
Mathura
Awards Padma Bhushan
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
Vishnu Bhave Gold Medal

Krishnarao Ganesh Phulambrikar (1898–1974), popularly known as Master Krishnarao, was an Indian vocalist, classical musician and composer of Hindustani music.[1] He was credited with the creation of three Hindustani ragas and several bandishes. Phulambrikar, a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship,[2] was also the music composer of several movies, including Dharmatma, a 1935 Hindi film starring Bal Gandharva, a renowned Marathi singer[3] and Padosi, a 1941 directorial venture of V. Shantaram.[4] The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1971, for his contributions to music.[5]

Biography

Krishnarao Phulambrikar was born in 1898 at Devachi Alandi, a town in the periphery of Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra to Ganesh Phulambrikar-Mathura couple and had his early training in music under two gurus, Sawai Gandharva and Nissar Hussain Khan.[6] He also ventured into Marathi theatre as a child artist by performing as an actor-singer in Sant Sakhu, a musical drama produced by Natyakalapravartak Mandali. Later, he approached the renowned singer, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, in 1911 who trained the young boy in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas of Hindustani music and their relationship lasted till Bakhale's death in 1922.[7] The tutelage under Bakhale also gave him opportunity to meet and get associated with Bal Gandharva, who would later go on to become a noted Marathi singer.[8] His first solo concert was when he was 14 years of age (he was awarded the title of Sangeet Kalanidhi in 1933, soon after his debut), which preceded several concerts in India and abroad, including a trip to China as a Government of India delegate in 1953.[6]

Phulambrikar served as the director of Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj, a music academy founded by his mentor Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in Pune.[9] Besides his career as a classical vocalist and as a film music composer, he scored music for several plays which included Menaka, Savitri, Amrita Saidhhi, Kanhopatra, Nand Kumar and Vidhi Likhit for Gandharva Sangeet Natak Mandali, a drama company founded by Bal Gandharva, during the period 1915–1933 and acted in a few of them. He also composed music for a few plays such as Kulavadhu, Ek Hota Mhatara, Kone Eke Kali and Bhagyoday for Jyotsna Bhole.[6] On the academic front, he compiled the compositions of Bakhale and published them as a 7-volume book, Raag Samgraha.[10][11] Besides his notations are available in print under the titles, Rashtra Sangeet, Shishu Sangeet, Amar Sangeet, Mohan Maal, Natya Geet Notations and Chitra Geet Notations. He also tutored several musicians and Ram Marathe, Anjanibai Kalgutkar, Suhas Datar, Mohan Karve, Rangnath Karkare, Shivram Gadgil, and his daughter, Veena Chilko, are some of the notable ones among them.[6]

Hindustani music career

Phulambrikar was known to have had expertise in khayal and Thumri traditions of classical music rendition and was aligned to the Agra gharana.[6] He created several ragas by merging the nuances of different ragas; thus he created Tilak Kedar based on Talak Kamod and Kedar ragas, Mangal Tedi on Todi and Madhyam, Shiva Kalyan on Kalyan and Shivaranjani Devi Kalyan on Bilaval and Bibhas and Jaunkali based on Jaunpuri and Ramkali ragas. He was reported to have initiated the practice of creating new Natyapadas[12] and composed many bandishes such as Ratiya Mein Jagi (Rag Nayaki Kanada), Lalan Tumabina Kaun (Rag Kaunsi Kanada), Rang Rang Mukhape (Rag Adana), Chahu Barasan Lagi (Rag Bhopali), Kahu Ki Reel (Rag Malkaush), Hori Khela! Bahar (Rag Patdeep), E Ma Badal Aye (Rag Malhar), Mai Ri Aaj (Rag Hindol Bahar), Mai Pritam Karo Dulhan Pe (Rag Shiv Kalyan).[13] Tori Binati, Dekho Mori Churiya, Shamamohan Pyare, Khelat Hai Giridhari, Ho Sham Bajayetore Gharame Muraliya, all in Rag Bhairav, were some of his notable thumris, earning him the sobriquet, Bhairav ki Badshah and the style he developed came to be known as Khayali Thumri or Madhyamgram Thumri.[14] He tuned the Indian national song, Vande Mataram, in Raag Jhinjhot and tried unsuccessfully to promote the song as the national anthem.[6]

Film career

Soon after he received the Sangeet Kalanidhi title from Swami Vidya Shankar Bharati (Dr. Kurtkoti), the Shankaracharya of Karvir Peeth, he was contracted by Prabhat Film Company[15] owned by V. Shantaram,[16] to compose music for its forthcoming film, Dharmatma, where he was re-united with his old associate, Bal Gandharva, who played the role of Sant Eknath, the protagonist of the movie.[17] The film which was released in 1935 had sixteen songs, many of them sung by Bal Gandharva.[18] A year later, his next film was released under the name, Amar Jyoti, again a Prabhat Film Company production.[19] The film was reported to have been critically acclaimed and was the first Indian film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival.[20] Wahan, another Prabhat production released in 1937, this time with a new director, K. Narayan Kale, was his next film,[21] followed by Gopal Krishna in 1938.[22] He composed music for 15 films which included Padosi, another Santaram film and the film featured a ten-minute song, Lakh lakh chanderi, reportedly with complex choreography.[23] He acted the lead role in one of the movies he composed music for, Bhakticha Mala and founded a music school for training aspiring composers; Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Snehal Bhatkar and Gajananrao Watve are some of the musicians who attended the school.[6]

Honors and later years

Phulambrikar received the Vishnu Bhave Gold Medal of the Government of Maharashtra in 1969[6] and the Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1971.[5] The Sangeet Natak Akademi honored him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskar in 1972.[2] In 1968, he suffered a facial paralysis which forced him to abandon his career as a singer.[6] On his 60th career anniversary, a 9-day long music conference was staged in Pune in 1974 in which many notable musicians took part.[6] He did not survive much longer and the death came on 20 October 1974, when he was 76 years of age.[24] The story of his life has been documented in his autobiography, Bola Amrita Bola which was published posthumously in 1985.[12] His daughter, Veena Chitko, who died in September 2015, was a notable classical musician.[25]

Filmography

Film Year Director Producer Additional info
Dharmatma1935 V. Shantaram Prabhat Film Company Originally titles Mahatma
Amar Jyoti1936 V. Shantaram Prabhat Film Company Shanta Apte ,who sang 3 songs, also acted in the film
Wahan1937 K. Narayan Kale Prabhat Film Company Shanta Apte acted and sang in the film
Gopal Krishna1938 Vishnupant Govind Damle, Sheikh Fattelal Prabhat Film Company Remake of 1929 silent film of the same name
Manoos1939 V. Shantaram Prabhat Film Company Anil Biswas assisted in music composing
Aadmi 1939 V. Shantaram Prabhat Film Company Remake of Manoos
Padosi 1941 V. Shantaram Prabhat Film CompanyBilingual in Hindi and Marathi, in Marathi the name was Shejari
Lakharani1945 Vishram Bedekar Prabhat Film Company Durga Khote starrer
Vasantasena1942 Gajanan Jagirdar Prabhat Film Company Film won the National award for second best Marathi film[26]
Bhakticha Mala 1944 Keshavrao Date Prabhat Film Company Bilingual (Mali in Marathi), Krishnarao played the lead role
Meri Amanat1947 Prabhakar Gupte and Shreekant Sutar Vikas Picture Krishnarao acted and sang in the film,music composed by Shridhar Parsekar[27]
Sant Ramdas1949 Raja Nene Devotional film
Keechak Vadh1959 Tara Harish and Yashwant Pethkar Manik Studios Lata Mangeshkar sang a duet with Mohammed Rafi and three solos in the film[28]
Vithu Majha Lekurwala1962 Datta Dharmadhikari Manik Studios Asha Bhonsle sang a song in the film[29]
Tai Telin1967 Aryan Film Company A biopic about Tai Telin

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Krishnarao Phulambrikar". Vijaya Parrikar Library. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship". Sangeet Natak Akademi. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Dharmatma on IMDb". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Padosi on IMDb". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Padma Awards". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 15, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Krishnarao Phulambrikar 'Krishnadas'". Swar Ganga Music Foundation. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  7. ↑ B. R. Deodhar (1 October 1993). Pillars of Hindustani music. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7154-555-1.
  8. ↑ "1898 – 1974 Master Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar". FB1. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Pillars & Mentors". Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Books on Indian Classical Music". Swar Ganga Music Foundation. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Master Krishnarao (1897- )". Moutal. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Agra gharana & areas of Impact" (PDF). Shodh Ganga. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  13. ↑ "The raags of the Ganesh pandals: The magic of Master Krishnarao". Scroll.in. 19 September 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Regional Varieties of Thumri". Nad Sadhna. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Talkie Era". Colostate. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  16. ↑ K. Moti Gokulsing; Wimal Dissanayake (17 April 2013). Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas. Routledge. pp. 259–. ISBN 978-1-136-77284-9.
  17. ↑ "Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Dharmatma Songs". Muvyz. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Amar Jyoti (1936)". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  20. ↑ Tilak Rishi (2012). Bless You Bollywood!: A Tribute to Hindi Cinema on Completing 100 Years. Trafford Publishing. pp. 155–. ISBN 978-1-4669-3963-9.
  21. ↑ "Wahan (1937)". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Gopal Krishna (1938)". IMDb. 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  23. ↑ Ashok Damodar Ranade (1 January 2006). Hindi Film Song: Music Beyond Boundaries. Bibliophile South Asia. pp. 166–. ISBN 978-81-85002-64-4.
  24. ↑ Ashok Damodar Ranade (1 January 2006). Hindi Film Song: Music Beyond Boundaries. Bibliophile South Asia. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-81-85002-64-4.
  25. ↑ "Musical Nite in memory of late Usha Ghosh". Afternoon Despatch and Courier. 22 September 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  26. ↑ "9th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  27. ↑ "Indian films and posters from 1930". Bombay Mann. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Keechak Vadh". Hindi Geet Mala. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Marathi Songs's Lyrics". Geet Manjusha. 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.

External links

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