Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Tribute to the great guru...

Pandit Rambhau Bijapure, repectfully known as "Vijapure master" is a true guru in more ways than one. I regard him as THE BEST harmonium artiste of the century, as has been evident from his concerts even at the age of 90! As a person, his down-to-earth attitude and simplicity has earned him tremendous respect in the musical fraternity. "Simple living, high thinking" seems to be the vision with which he has trained hundreds of disciples and performed at many many concerts without ever worrying about publicity and glamour. Probably this is a common trait among many great men - very high intellectual and atristic capability and yet extreme simplicity.

I have had the good fortune of touching the feet of this great guru and receiving his blessings and I believe that his blessings have influenced my musical skills. The unforgetable Harmonium Habba 2008 in Bangalore where the maestro was felicitated, is an event that is etched in my mind forever. Panditji, after sitting at a corner in the audience throughout the evening concert with an unassuming aura, walked to the stage for the finale - Raag Des and a concluding Bhairavi, mesmerising and so divine!

He instantly connected the audience to the raga so effortlessly, the "flow" in his music was enlightening - beyond what words can express.
My first learning of pure harmonium has been by listening to some of his audio CDs, and from his live performances and that of his disciples. Unfortunately, I have not been able to take formal lessons from any harmonium guru in the typical guru-shishya paramparaa so far, but that is a long held dream. Until then, I would probably have to follow the learning style of Eklavya!

Pt. Bijapure passed away in November 2010 at Belgaum, again without too much media coverage and news broadcast beyond Belgaum. But the thousands of people whom he has so deeply inspired, know that it is an irreparable loss to the Hindustani Music tradition. This blog post is a modest attempt to pay a tribute to Pt. Bijapure.

For the rasiks looking for more information about the guru:

A recording of Raag Bhairavi posted on youtube by his fans:

An event diary written by Shri Kedar Nafade:

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