'In Rajeev Taranath, world lost a fine musician and a finer human being'

Bengaluru, Jun 12 (PTI) His friends and fellow musicians describe pandit Rajeev Taranath as straight forward to the point of being acerbic – in fact Carnatic musician T M Krishna calls him 'extremely combative' in a film documenting his life, 'A Life in Music'. And, yet, at the same time, they also recall how he was kind to a fault.

The passing away of sarod maestro pandit Rajeev Taranath, said his friends and fellow musicians, is a great loss to humanity.

Taranath, 92, the first south Indian musician to have achieved fame as a sarod player and who was performing even after he turned 90 years old, died on June 11, while he was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mysuru.

"He fell down and broke his hip bone and had to go through surgery because of that," said Pandit Ravindra Yavagal, a tabla player who had been his friend as well as accompanying him on tabla for 40 years.

How Taranath fell in love with sarod is a legendary story by itself, said his fellow musicians.

"He was a great fan of Pandit Ravi Shankar. I think it was in the early 1950s, Taranath had gone for a jugalbandi concert between Ravi Shankar and legendary sarod player Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, held in Bengaluru. He went for Ravi Shankar, but he fell so in love with the sound of sarod that he gave up his cushy job, as professor and head of English department at Regional Engineering College in Tiruchirapalli, and moved to Kolkata to learn from Ali Akbar Khan," said Yavagal.

Yavagal said this always made him look up to him because in a world where people would give anything for a ‘secure job’, here was a man who had the courage to leave his comfort zone and follow his heart.

"I had the great fortune of accompanying him in a concert for the first time in 1984. Our relationship grew with time. I also went to the United States for the first time with him. I can tell you he was a great human being. He never said no when he could help," said Yavagal.

Although he chose to be a professor, musically, too, he was so gifted that he was hailed as a child prodigy – he learnt tabla and Hindustani vocal from his father, said Yavagal.

In fact, he was so brilliant, that even Annapurna Devi, daughter of multi-instrumentalist Ustad Allaudin Khan and estranged wife of Ravi Shankar, considered a recluse but genius, agreed to teach him. (Devi was also Taranath guru Akbar Ali Khan’s sister and from Maihar gharana).

Yavagal said his biggest regret is that he was not able to visit him while he was admitted at the hospital because of personal obligations.

"He had called me from the hospital only last week, after the surgery, and asked me to bring him ‘seera’, which is similar to ‘kesari bath’ that is popular in my hometown Hubli. We laughed over it, because you know, he was diabetic and was not allowed to eat sweets. But I wish now I had gone with ‘seera’ to visit him," added Yavagal.

Violinist Mysore Manjunath too regrets not being able to visit him when he was admitted in the hospital.

"I had to come here to Australia to perform at the Sydney Music Festival. When I was leaving, I was told that he had to be admitted at the hospital," Manjunath told PTI over the phone from Melbourne where he last performed.

Manjunath recalled the numerous visits of Taranath to his father Mahadevappa, a violinist in the tradition of legendary Tyagaraja.

"He and my father were really good friends. He took great interest in my music as well. He may be a purist, but he was open to explore similarities in other classical music genres, without diluting purity. Push, but don’t break was his motto. We have performed a jugalbandi as well," said Manjunath.

S N Varadharaj, general secretary of Sri Ramaseva Mandali that has been organising Sree Ramanavami Global Music Festival for 86 years now, said Taranath was ever ready to perform at the festival.

"He was always friendly and never said no to us. His concerts were usually sold out because he is what is called a true vidwat musician – he excelled technically while his grasp of music plumbed many depths," said Varadharaj.

Tabla player Pandit Rajendra Nakod remembers how anxious he was when he first met him for practice at his house in Kundalahalli in Bengaluru.

"He was already a legend, and I was in awe of him. But he was so down to earth and put me at ease. Over the years, I learnt so much from him," said Nakod to PTI.

Taranath is survived by his son. His final rites were held at a crematorium near Chamundi Hills on Wednesday.

Following his death, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took on 'X' to hail Taranath as a treasure of not just Karnataka, but also the entire music world. He called his demise an irreparable loss.

“…I also share in the mourning of his family members and fans. May his soul rest in peace," his post concluded. PTI JR KH