Meeting Violinist Sri S P Jayaswal Q. Tell us about your childhood memories and experiences. I was borne in 1929 at Jamshedpur. I have lost much of my childhood memories but I remember very clearly about one thing that when I was about 5 or 6 years old, my father used to take me to Arya Samaj temples and I was often asked to sing. I used to sing Swami Dayananda’s Bhajans. I used to sing in my school functions also and got a lot of encouragement and appreciations from my teachers. By the time I was 8, the eagerness to get a formal training in music was growing, and I was too much devoted to learn classical music. Q. When and how did you start your formal training in music? At 10 years of age, I went to see a Bengali Yatra programme on Dussehra. There I saw two artists playing the violin and I got extremely inclined towards this musical instrument. I decided to learn violin anyhow. Then there was the question of buying a violin. My father used to send me to the shop to buy daily commodities. I started siphoning some money out of it without actually letting him know about it. Once the money was sufficient, I went on to buy a violin. One of my friends used to work in the Indian Railways. His senior Prabhakar sir used to keep a violin with him. I placed my piggy bank in front of him and I pleaded for the instrument. He broke the piggy bank and out of which came twenty three rupees and twenty five paisa. Seeing my love for the music, he gave it to me. Sri Joga Rao of Kharagpur became my first Guru for violin and I formally started taking music lessons in 1940. At the same time, I started taking training in vocal music from a Marathi vocalist Sri Dattatreyji. After that I took regular lessons in violin from Pandit Sudhanshu Kumar and in classical music from Sri Vinayakrao Patwardhan. Q. For how many years did you play for All India Radio? I gave my contributions to the AIR as a staff artist for forty years from 1952 to 1992. Q. In how many cities have you played till date? I have played almost in all major cities of India and with many of the famous artists. The more eminent among them were Kishen Maharaj, Godai Maharaj, Zakir Hussain, Karamat Khan, Vallukhan, Shankar Ghosh, Anil Bhattacharya and many eminent tabla players. I also did jugalbandi with great classical vocalists of our time such as Hirabai Varodkar, Sidheshwar Devi, Begum Akhtar, Nirmala Arun, Mubarak Begum, Laxmi Shankar to name a few. Q. Which Raga you like the most? Have you made any Raga your composition? Well, I love all Ragas very much, but have special liking for Rag Todi and Malkaush. I have created many compositions but couldn’t get them recorded. I have also contributed to Ghazal Gayaki and soft music but refrained from recording it due to my engagement with the AIR. Q. Do you have any plan for the coming year? I want to be young again to play this instrument. I forget all my twinge and suffering when I play this instrument. But one life is just not enough for this…I want to be borne once again…I live for my music.
Monday, November 5, 2007
I live for my music…
Meeting Violinist Sri S P Jayaswal Q. Tell us about your childhood memories and experiences. I was borne in 1929 at Jamshedpur. I have lost much of my childhood memories but I remember very clearly about one thing that when I was about 5 or 6 years old, my father used to take me to Arya Samaj temples and I was often asked to sing. I used to sing Swami Dayananda’s Bhajans. I used to sing in my school functions also and got a lot of encouragement and appreciations from my teachers. By the time I was 8, the eagerness to get a formal training in music was growing, and I was too much devoted to learn classical music. Q. When and how did you start your formal training in music? At 10 years of age, I went to see a Bengali Yatra programme on Dussehra. There I saw two artists playing the violin and I got extremely inclined towards this musical instrument. I decided to learn violin anyhow. Then there was the question of buying a violin. My father used to send me to the shop to buy daily commodities. I started siphoning some money out of it without actually letting him know about it. Once the money was sufficient, I went on to buy a violin. One of my friends used to work in the Indian Railways. His senior Prabhakar sir used to keep a violin with him. I placed my piggy bank in front of him and I pleaded for the instrument. He broke the piggy bank and out of which came twenty three rupees and twenty five paisa. Seeing my love for the music, he gave it to me. Sri Joga Rao of Kharagpur became my first Guru for violin and I formally started taking music lessons in 1940. At the same time, I started taking training in vocal music from a Marathi vocalist Sri Dattatreyji. After that I took regular lessons in violin from Pandit Sudhanshu Kumar and in classical music from Sri Vinayakrao Patwardhan. Q. For how many years did you play for All India Radio? I gave my contributions to the AIR as a staff artist for forty years from 1952 to 1992. Q. In how many cities have you played till date? I have played almost in all major cities of India and with many of the famous artists. The more eminent among them were Kishen Maharaj, Godai Maharaj, Zakir Hussain, Karamat Khan, Vallukhan, Shankar Ghosh, Anil Bhattacharya and many eminent tabla players. I also did jugalbandi with great classical vocalists of our time such as Hirabai Varodkar, Sidheshwar Devi, Begum Akhtar, Nirmala Arun, Mubarak Begum, Laxmi Shankar to name a few. Q. Which Raga you like the most? Have you made any Raga your composition? Well, I love all Ragas very much, but have special liking for Rag Todi and Malkaush. I have created many compositions but couldn’t get them recorded. I have also contributed to Ghazal Gayaki and soft music but refrained from recording it due to my engagement with the AIR. Q. Do you have any plan for the coming year? I want to be young again to play this instrument. I forget all my twinge and suffering when I play this instrument. But one life is just not enough for this…I want to be borne once again…I live for my music.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Birthday in transit...
Last year on 10th Nov, while surfing at the central station cafe in
the evening at around 5.30 PM in Stockholm, someone stole my travel
bag which contained passport, money, my tickets to Paris and London
and other important documents. I was left shell-shocked. The problem
was twofold (a) I wouldn't be allowed to leave the country unless I
get my passport and visa stamped from the Embassy in Sweden or UK to
enter UK (b) I was virtually left with no cash whatsoever as I had my
money bag inside. I also had no means to travel back to UK as my cash
card worked only inside UK. After searching for 30 minutes, I went to
the police station and registered my report and talked to the Indian
Embassy at Stockholm with the first Secretary. As
the next two days were Saturday and Sunday, there was no scope for
embassy to be open and get my new passport. However, the embassy
understood my problem and the first secretary asked me to come on
Saturday 10 Nov, despite it being the holiday. I was supposed to go to
Paris next day and then back to London on 12 th Nov. I had the travel
insurance from ICICI, but the SOS number somehow din't work….finally I
made a call to my friend in UK and he managed to send some money by
Western Union. But there was again a big problem….Even the money that
was sent required a passport to receive as I had no other valid proof
of identity. Finally I got a new passport on Saturday, 11 Nov. It was
only with this passport, I could receive the money sent by him after
having spent one night without any cash in extreme cold in my youth
hostel. The next gigantic task was to get UK visa stamped on my
passport. The next day was Sunday, and British Embassy in Stockholm
was closed. Finally I applied for the visa on Monday and got it the
next day in the evening on 14th Nov. 14 Nov was my birthday which my
friends had planned at Wales in UK. I immediately booked a flight back
to London the same night. Finally I reached my university in Wales on
15th Nov. London in the morning looked like Mumbai and Bangor in Wales
like home. When I entered my class on 15th November, my friends
cheered me with a birthday song and a signed card!
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