Maestro’s ageless voice to echo through time and nostalgia at 90

Mumbaikars are in for a musical treat this Friday, as a special tribute event Golden Voice Golden Years (GVGY) dedicated to maestro Pt Jasraj is being organised.

Speaking exclusively to DNA, Pt Jasraj, belonging to Mewati gharana said, “I turned 90 on January 28, and my daughter Durga wanted to organise this event then. But logistics for what she had in mind was taking time. So concert will be held at Shanmukhananda Hall on March 15.” The event will present stages of Panditji’s life.

Recalling his childhood days when his father Pt Motiram called him to sing till he went to sleep, he shared, “Barely two, he’d make me sing Ustad Abdul Karim Khan saab’s sargam from Piya Bin Naahi Aawat Chayn. He would laugh at my mistakes, and I would think, I sang rather well.”

“I still try to find my mistakes,” the Sangeet Martand modestly added. Children from the Pt Jasraj School of Music Foundation, Mumbai will sing sargams, followed by Anup Jalota singing Begum Akhtar compositions. “I have never sung ghazals but Akhtari Bai’s Deewana Banana Hai Toh Deewana Bana De had bewitched me. Instead of going to school I would loiter on the footpath outside Yakubiya Restaurant since they would play the track on loop. That footpath was my music school where I got my first lessons.”

Pt Jasraj took started learning tabla at the age of four, after his fater’s demise. His mother Krishnabai encouraged him to learn tabla from elder brother, Pt Pratap Narayan – which he not only mastered by seven but also began accompanying with several greats. His childhood will be represented with a unique tabla symphony composed by Kedar Pandit.

He was humiliated by a senior artist over a rendition of a raga when he was just 14. He played on a “dead skin and knew nothing about the singing” he was told. An irate Jasraj decided to take singing lessons. In the later years he became so good that he was invited to teach music at Lahore’s Saraswati Music College.

Though he had been an ardent Hanuman devotee his music lessons began on the Nand Utsav (the next day after Janmashtami). “Perhaps this why my music is richly enveloped in both the Utsav aspect and devotion to Lord Krishna.” This aspect of his life will be represented by violin maestro Dr L Subramaniam.

This will be followed by the maestro himself taking on the stage. “I want audiences to tell me if I have been a good student of music. Ultimately it is not me but He who sings through me and He who listens through them,” he concluded.