SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y
T
he all pervasive music of our lands have seemingly seeped
in the cultures of the west like it had percolated from the
archaic stilts of the temples and the altars to the tune of the
folks. It is amazing that the music of our country is ever evolving
in its own mix of regional spices and diasporic inferences. And,
eventually we found ourselves in a heady mocktail of pop style
indo hybrid, thanks to Bollywood! It is nothing but interesting to
stop for a moment and look back in wonder-lust to the early days
of this rich heritage that we can boast of today.
First Music School in India:
“Gandharva Mahavidyalaya” in Lahore is helmed to be the First
Music School in India. Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar is said
to have set it up on 5th May 1901. Panditji was an Indian classical
musician from Maharashtra, Gandharva was set to be the ideal
workshop for a talented mentor like him with loads of young
talents to nurture. In September 1908 Panditji started a branch of
the original Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Post independence the
music school from Lahore was shifted to Mumbai.
First Gramophone Record in India:
THE
FIRST AND
CURIOUS
FACTS OF
INDIAN MUSIC
Thomas Edison invented the Phonograph in 1877, the
phonograph by its core virtue was just a sound machine. But,
when the Indian entrepreneur Hemendra Mohan Bose of Kolkata
imported the Phonograph machine, he transformed it into one of
the pioneering phenomenal ground breaking design innovation
of the Indian musical scene. He made the first cylinder
gramophone record and that is how in 1898 the first gramophone
record took its birth in Kolkata. The records obviously bore the
flagship label, Bose’s Records. And in 1898 itself the Gramophone
& Typewriter Ltd recorded the first Indian song at their
Beliaghata factory in Kolkata.
First Hindi Rap Album
Inspired from the zeitgeist of the ghetto and the pulse of their
emotions, the Indian musicians needed a sunshine a fresh gust of
melody that will be different from the melodramatic music used
in the popular cinema. Harjeet Singh Sehgal, popularly known as
Baba Sehgal broke the market with his the first hindi rap album.
“Thanda Thanda Pani” the rap anthem was actually a remake
of “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. At that time the album had a
whooping record sale of more than 30,000 copies.
First Indian to compose Symphony:
Illayaraja the succesful film music composer achieved this
incredible feat. Indians have time and again outreached and
overpowered themselves in most of the fields be it in arts,
culture, sports or any other faculty. In July 1993 Illayaraja, the
South Indian maverick actually composed a full length western
classical symphony. The symphony was one hour and it took
him at least 30 days to compose it. Illayaraja is also the first
Asian whose symphony was performed by John Scott of the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This Orchestra is famous for
been patronized by none other than Queen Elizabeth. It is only
befitting for someone who has provided background music
for about 800 Indian Films and about 4000 songs in different
languages across various regions.
First Musician to receive Padma Bhushan Award:
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The
Score Magazine
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MS Subbulakshmi, the Nightingale of India was the first
musician to receive Padma Bhushan. It was hardly a matter
of years when she received Padma Vibhushan Award in 1975
after the Padma Bhusan Award in the year 1954 and she was
also the first musician to receive Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Public service in 1974. She had been known for the enriching
the heritage of the Carnatic Music of India. Along with Sharan
Rani and Lata Mangeshkar form the trio - “Gems of India” a title
conferred by the Government of India.