+SobersChatterjee Clearly, the producers of this cassette were not paying attention to the sound. It is very much a Sarod. I am sure you know what a Mohan Veena sounds like. I refer you to Radhubabu's recordings of Khat Todi and Chhaya Bihag, among others. Happy to upload them privately for you if you'd like to hear them.
+Arnab Chakrabarty Yes, I've heard Bhawanishankar Dasgupta playing in 2008 (I'm not sure if that is the same model with Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra) very closely (there are also few live videos in YT)..... also Somjit da long before again very closely... so I know how the sound is like. Here, may be due to old system of recording the sound is different...and about the record company mistake (?) could HMV do a mistake like that?? Finally, I would love to hear any recording you have...... PS: I enjoyed listening to your experimental instruments and Sursringar, included them in my playlist.
+SobersChatterjee Alas, no record company in India is run too competently. Kindly email me here or on Facebook. I'm happy to share all the RMM Mohan Veena recordings on condition that you keep them private. I last met Bhabanida in 2012. He had just acquired his Mohan Veena and was trying to figure out what to do with it. Visually, his instrument is larger than RMM's but at that point, it was quieter and had a shriller tone with less sustain, due to the string action and bridge being too high. I've heard Somjit DasGupta play Mohan Veena a few times and he doesn't sound like this. Thanks for your kind compliments on my instruments.
Sir, first of all a Big, BIG thanks for uploading this. As far as my knowledge goes, Pandit Maitra's recordings of the mohan veena are almost obsolete nowadays.... Is the colored picture that of the REAL mohan veena? BTW, Sir, is there any instrument named 'sur rabab'?
+Atmadeep Sengupta Thank you, it's an honour to upload music of such a great maestro...so I'm very thankful for your comment and taste of music. Yes the instrument featured here (both the photos) is Mohan veena. A REAL one :-) .... though people understand some other instrument nowadays (a modified slide guitar) by the term Mohan veena, as the former is less popular than the later but we the people of Bengal will still remember this Mohan veena for sure. For your next question, Yes there was an instrument called Sur-Rabab.... it was a modified Seni-Rabab with 'metal' strings, which again is obsolete in the present time.
+Atmadeep Sengupta I have done some research on this so no hassle at all... this is my favourite subject. Sur-rabab existed for a very short time... the main instrument was Dhrupadi Rabab or Seni Rabab which was played by the lineage of Tansen from his sons' side...(unlike the lineage of his daughter who played Been or Veena) So the lineage of his sons' were known as Seni Rababiya gharana. This gharana experimented all sorts of things to make their instruments sound better. So mainly in the time of Zafar Khan, Pyar Khan & Basat Khan they invented Sursringar putting a metal plate upon the Rabab fingerboard and modified it with a gourd and tabli to obtain a better continuity. Now, we can deduce that one part of the gharana decided to preserve their tradition in another way so they invented something like Sur-Rabab.... I am still doing the research and I will continue blogging about this topic...
You have already got your answer on Mohanveena. I can add some info. RadhikaMohan Maitra started playing this instrument from 1943. During 1946, then Chief executive of AIR, Thakur Jaideva Singh named the instrument as Mohanveena. The idea of Mohanveena was conceived by Radhubabu during his Surshringar duets with Beenkar Sadiq Ali. There are two types of Mohanveena. Details I can give you later on. About, SurRabab, you can think of a cross between Dhrupad Rabab and sarod. The basic wooden structure remains like Dhrupad rabab (Thus the size becomes quite larger than sarod), only the plate and strings are metallic. There is only one sur rabab in existence that I know of. It is in possession of Shi Somjit DasGupta, a disciple of Shir RadhikaMohan Maitra. He performs on it regularly.
Dipayan: The construction of Sur Rabab as I heard and researched was much different than the one in possession of Somjit da. His instrument with metal plate has little or no difference with Sarod. So an early sarod was larger, rabab like body and no tarab strings; would you call that a Sur Rabab? Perhaps we need more research upon this subject and there are so few people interested. Anyhow I welcome your enthusiasm... best wishes.
Ami I mistaken or does the sound (ie, the instrument) seem to change around the 7:09 to the 7:16 mark. The strokes at 7:16 sound very much like Sarod (to me), the sound prior to the 7:09 mark sounds a bit different. At around the 7:10 mark there is also a fading away of the sound. Perhaps an instrument change expertly glued together by the sound company?
Hello, there is a very low probability of HMV gluing two recordings. Actually the recording is copied from a cassette and of very distorted. I have a fresh one but will upload in comparison with two other recordings.
SobersChatterjee SobersChatterjee Thank you for the reply. It always seems to me that there is a slight change of sound over the mark I've mentioned, but it is very marginal of course. And candidly speaking, there is a high chance that I'm mistaken. The impetus was that if I suddenly turn in from say the 15:00 min mark to the a 2:00 min mark the difference in sound seems significant. I am aware there has been a kind of mini argument regatding the identity of the instrument and I don't want to drag the controversy any further. Just my two cents.
It's a authentic MOHAN VEENA created and invented by maestro Pt.Radhika Mohan Maitra himself and recognized Aakashvani (A.I.R.),New Delhi.
Dear Sobers Babu,
This is not a Mohan Veena, but a very distorted Sarod recording. Marvelous playing, of course, from the master.
+Arnab Chakrabarty Hello Arnab, please check the cassette info I've given in the beginning of the video.
+SobersChatterjee Clearly, the producers of this cassette were not paying attention to the sound. It is very much a Sarod. I am sure you know what a Mohan Veena sounds like. I refer you to Radhubabu's recordings of Khat Todi and Chhaya Bihag, among others. Happy to upload them privately for you if you'd like to hear them.
+Arnab Chakrabarty Yes, I've heard Bhawanishankar Dasgupta playing in 2008 (I'm not sure if that is the same model with Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra) very closely (there are also few live videos in YT)..... also Somjit da long before again very closely... so I know how the sound is like. Here, may be due to old system of recording the sound is different...and about the record company mistake (?) could HMV do a mistake like that?? Finally, I would love to hear any recording you have...... PS: I enjoyed listening to your experimental instruments and Sursringar, included them in my playlist.
+SobersChatterjee Alas, no record company in India is run too competently. Kindly email me here or on Facebook. I'm happy to share all the RMM Mohan Veena recordings on condition that you keep them private.
I last met Bhabanida in 2012. He had just acquired his Mohan Veena and was trying to figure out what to do with it. Visually, his instrument is larger than RMM's but at that point, it was quieter and had a shriller tone with less sustain, due to the string action and bridge being too high.
I've heard Somjit DasGupta play Mohan Veena a few times and he doesn't sound like this.
Thanks for your kind compliments on my instruments.
+Arnab Chakrabarty Yes, I'm possibly mistaken about 2008, btw looking forward to talk to you privately, I'm into experimental instruments too... :-)
Sir, first of all a Big, BIG thanks for uploading this. As far as my knowledge goes, Pandit Maitra's recordings of the mohan veena are almost obsolete nowadays.... Is the colored picture that of the REAL mohan veena? BTW, Sir, is there any instrument named 'sur rabab'?
+Atmadeep Sengupta Thank you, it's an honour to upload music of such a great maestro...so I'm very thankful for your comment and taste of music. Yes the instrument featured here (both the photos) is Mohan veena. A REAL one :-) .... though people understand some other instrument nowadays (a modified slide guitar) by the term Mohan veena, as the former is less popular than the later but we the people of Bengal will still remember this Mohan veena for sure.
For your next question, Yes there was an instrument called Sur-Rabab.... it was a modified Seni-Rabab with 'metal' strings, which again is obsolete in the present time.
+SobersChatterjee Sir , if it wouldn't to much of a hassle for you, could you tell me, when and where the Sur-Rabab exactly originated?
+Atmadeep Sengupta I have done some research on this so no hassle at all... this is my favourite subject. Sur-rabab existed for a very short time... the main instrument was Dhrupadi Rabab or Seni Rabab which was played by the lineage of Tansen from his sons' side...(unlike the lineage of his daughter who played Been or Veena) So the lineage of his sons' were known as Seni Rababiya gharana. This gharana experimented all sorts of things to make their instruments sound better. So mainly in the time of Zafar Khan, Pyar Khan & Basat Khan they invented Sursringar putting a metal plate upon the Rabab fingerboard and modified it with a gourd and tabli to obtain a better continuity. Now, we can deduce that one part of the gharana decided to preserve their tradition in another way so they invented something like Sur-Rabab.... I am still doing the research and I will continue blogging about this topic...
You have already got your answer on Mohanveena. I can add some info. RadhikaMohan Maitra started playing this instrument from 1943. During 1946, then Chief executive of AIR, Thakur Jaideva Singh named the instrument as Mohanveena.
The idea of Mohanveena was conceived by Radhubabu during his Surshringar duets with Beenkar Sadiq Ali. There are two types of Mohanveena. Details I can give you later on.
About, SurRabab, you can think of a cross between Dhrupad Rabab and sarod. The basic wooden structure remains like Dhrupad rabab (Thus the size becomes quite larger than sarod), only the plate and strings are metallic. There is only one sur rabab in existence that I know of. It is in possession of Shi Somjit DasGupta, a disciple of Shir RadhikaMohan Maitra. He performs on it regularly.
Dipayan: The construction of Sur Rabab as I heard and researched was much different than the one in possession of Somjit da. His instrument with metal plate has little or no difference with Sarod. So an early sarod was larger, rabab like body and no tarab strings; would you call that a Sur Rabab? Perhaps we need more research upon this subject and there are so few people interested. Anyhow I welcome your enthusiasm... best wishes.
In the name of Mohan veena, all are remodeled, changing some minor or major their original form.
Ami I mistaken or does the sound (ie, the instrument) seem to change around the 7:09 to the 7:16 mark. The strokes at 7:16 sound very much like Sarod (to me), the sound prior to the 7:09 mark sounds a bit different. At around the 7:10 mark there is also a fading away of the sound. Perhaps an instrument change expertly glued together by the sound company?
Hello, there is a very low probability of HMV gluing two recordings. Actually the recording is copied from a cassette and of very distorted. I have a fresh one but will upload in comparison with two other recordings.
SobersChatterjee SobersChatterjee Thank you for the reply. It always seems to me that there is a slight change of sound over the mark I've mentioned, but it is very marginal of course. And candidly speaking, there is a high chance that I'm mistaken. The impetus was that if I suddenly turn in from say the 15:00 min mark to the a 2:00 min mark the difference in sound seems significant. I am aware there has been a kind of mini argument regatding the identity of the instrument and I don't want to drag the controversy any further. Just my two cents.
This is sarod.. Not Mohan Veena. Atleast will never to recognize my Guruji's instrument..