|
Sangeetacharya
Mallikarjun Mansoor was born
on December 31, 1910 in a
village in Dharwad district
of Karnataka. He had four
brothers and three sisters.
His elder brother Baswaraj
had his own theatre troupe.
At the age of nine,
Mallikarjun played a small
part in a play. The
experience fascinated him so
much that he ran away from
home and joined a touring
drama troupe. Although his
father brought him back
home, the stage continued to
fascinate him and he soon
joined another touring
theatrical company.
During a performance, Pandit
Neelkantbuwa Jangam, a
disciple of Pandit
Balakrishnabuwa
Ichalkaranjikar, renowned
exponent of the Gwalior
gharana, recognized his
potential. Young Mallikarjun
was taken to Miraj and put
through a grueling schedule
of gurukul training. For 6
years his training began at
4 a.m. and continued for
several hours. When he
emerged from his training he
was 18 and ready to perform
at any concert.
The most memorable among his
early concerts was the
Ganesha Utsav concert in
Mumbai, in which he sang for
over six hours. In 1932,
after a special audition by
HMV, he cut his first
gramophone record. But
although he had made several
discs for HMV when he was
still in his early twenties,
music did not become a
paying profession to
Mallikarjun until much later
in life.
It was through the
initiative of a friend that
Ustad Manji Khan, son of
Ustad Alladiya Khan of the
Jaipur Gharana, noticed
Mallikarjun. Already trained
in the Gwalior style,
Mallikarjun was able to
absorb the rich Jaipur
style. Unfortunately Ustad
Manji Khan died prematurely
in 1937. Ustad Alladiya Khan
then asked his other son Ustad Bhurji Khan to
continue Mallikarjun`s
training. Although
Mallikarjun Mansoor`s
gayakee was a blend of both
gharanas, the virtuosity of
the Jaipur gharana was more
evident in his style. He
could cast a hypnotic spell
on his audience with his
astounding breath control,
the absolute purity of his
swaras and the wonderful way
in which he employed various
embellishments. He sang for
more than sixty years and
there was always a special
intensity to his singing, a
special urgency and
earnestness in his treatment
of melody.
He performed regularly on
radio and television and
participated in numerous
music conferences. He was
director of HMV for a few
years. He later joined
Dharwad Radio Station as
Music Director. His musical
excellence earned him the `Kalidas
Samman`, the Sangeet Natak
Akadem Award, the Padmashree,
the Padmabhushan and several
other titles.
Mallikarjun had always led a
simple life. He worshipped
music and wanted to share
its purity and joy with all
his listeners. Worldly
success meant little to him.
Struck by lung cancer, the
end came on Saturday
September 12, 1992. In a
Doordarshan interview
telecast after his demise,
he had expressed
satisfaction at the vastly
growing interest in
classical music saying, `In
the olden days we had so
many veritable colossi in
music of the highest
caliber, but the audiences
were small, exclusive and
limited. Today, there are
mammoth audiences, but sadly
very few musical giants
left.
His son and musical heir is
Pandit Rajshekhar Mansoor. |
Maestros
of India
