(Yours is Kirana Gharana, mine is kirana shop).
(Frontline, Aug. 01-14, 2009)
This is a very moving example of appreciation of Gangubai Hangal's music and Bhimsen Joshi's self-deprecating sense of humour.
But I have yet to read a better appreciation of music- even any art- than that done of Maujuddin Khan's Bhairavi by Govindrao Tembe.
Read it below. I am unable to translate it into English.
['माझा संगीत व्यासंग', गोविंदराव टेंबे, 1939 ('My Study of Music' by Govindrao Tembe)]
Oh how I wish I were there...I may not have understood the music but I sure would have cried!
Notice how little this writing is influenced by English. This is native brilliance expressed in the language of Laxmibai Tilak.
Another virtue of Tembe's entire writing is the absence of self promotion or 'I'.
In the passage above 'I' enters very reluctantly: "...Mistakenly my hand touched tanpura's string...".
Remember, Tembe himself was a giant in the field of music. N S Phadke has called him the architect of Marathi Natya Sangit. I have still not heard better popular music than his compositions for Sangeet Manapman (1911).
Little wonder M V Dhond gives this piece of Tembe a seat at the literary high table occupied by Jagannath Pandit, Bhavabhuti and above all Dnyaneshwar.
['ज्ञानेश्वरी: स्वरूप, तत्वज्ञान आणि काव्य', म. वा. धोंड, 1980 ('Dnyaneshwari: Swarup, Tatvadnyan Ani Kavya' by M V Dhond)]
Govindrao Tembe (1881-1955)
picture courtsey: Shree. Shankarrao Ghorpade, Kolhapur