User:Rsarnaik/sandbox

Background
To everyone who appreciates Indian Classical music, the name of Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik is close to the heart.

He was born in Kolhapur in Maharashtra state in India on 4th July 1912. His father late Tukaram Sarnaik was a well known singer of his time and when he sang bhajans at the Mahalakshmi temple, he drew crowds from all over Kolhapur. When Nivrttibua was five, his uncle, late Shri Shankarrao Sarnaik (father of the beloved Marathi actor Arun Sarnaik) and owner of Yashwant Sangeet Mandali) insisted he join him.

The learning phase
Thus began Panditji’s career with the "Natak Company". Performing dramas, he traveled extensively for shows. It was here that he got the opportunity to learn the Jaipur Gayaki from Ustad Alladiya Khan and Rajabali Khan and Kirana Gayaki from Sawai Gandharva as well. In 1935, Yashwant Sangeet Mandali closed down and he came back to Kolhapur with his uncle’s family. A free person, he began grooming himself for classical singing through relentless riyaz. In course of time, he evolved a style of his own marked by an eclectic approach, even while it maintained its moorings firmly in purism. Even so, it cannot be denied that the influence of Alladiya Khan’s Atrauli Jaipur Gayaki left its imprint on his musicianship.

Biography
Through his mehfils, he became one of the most popular Hindustani vocalists of his time. At Shikarpur (now in Pakistan), Panditji performed so well that people garlanded him with currency notes. He gave many performances on television and radio.

In Kolhapur, Pt. Sudhakarbua Digrajkar, Arun Kulkarni, Sardarbai, Appasaheb Deshpande, Smt Varshraje Pandit, Mrs. Bharati Vaishampayan, Vinod Digrajkar and many others took the opportunity to learn Jaipur Gayaki and anvat ragas from him. Today many of them are class one performers.

Needles to say he left behind a lot of disciples. His shishya Smt. Vijaya Jadhav, Pt. Dinkar Panshikar, late Prabhudev Sardar have made their grade on the concert platform.

Today's legends and popular vocalist like Late Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki, Smt. Kishori Amonkar, Smt. Prabha Atre, Pt. Ulhas Khasalkar and Mrs Padma Talwalkar learn "Anvat Ragas" and took guidance for few years from PanditJi and got benefited.

Several other disciples like Smt. Vandana Bhagwat, Prasad Gulvani, Smt. Chaya Rahalkar, Sri Ramesh Ganpule, Srikrishna Kastur, Smt. Vrinda Limaye, Smt. Lata Godse, Smt. Nilakshi Juvekar, Madhuri Oak, Smt Nandini Rege, Sri Madhu Aapte, Smt. Veena Sastrabudghe and many more are benefitted from his tutelage and guidance.

One of Panditji’s shishya Mrs. Lata Godse has received a prestigius Fellowship from Indian Cultural Department on her thesis " Jaipur Atrauli Gharana and Pt. Nivruttibua’a Gayanshaili "

Panditji was a senior guru in Sangeet Research Academy in Calcutta for 12 years. The SRA is an institution sponsored by ITC and dedicated to the pursuit of music as Guru-Shishya parampara. Before joining SRA in 1979 Panditji had the distinction of serving as a senior guru with the music department of Mumbai University. His teachings mainly included the Jaipur Gharana Gayaki. He had great knowledge of the "Anvat Ragas".

Some of Panditji’s ideas were thought provoking:


 * Panditji always highlight to all the younger generation - He felt that this an art of "Adhyatma". As in Adhyatma, where we never see the god but we take efforts to see or feel his devine presence, similar in music we never feel the SUR easily, we try to master it in our voice. This is not easy and can take up to many years of practice to achieve the same.


 * In vocal classical music, the traditionalists believe that some ragas should be sung in the mornings and some in the evenings, but Panditji did not agree. He felt that if an artist could sing an evening raga in the morning at the radio station, and still perform well, one could only dismiss the old traditional views.

PanditJi perform in all major cities in India and all prestigious music conferences.

Panditji left Calcutta and came back to Mumbai in poor health due to the Parkinson’s disease. He left us at the age of 82 on February 16, 1994. All Hindustani music lovers will never forget his contribution.

His Awards

 * "Sangeet Natak Academy" in 1979.


 * "Tansen Samman" (Government of Madhya Pradesh award) from Chief Minister Mr Motilal Vhora & in presence of Late Arjun Singh in 1986.


 * Benaras Vishwa Hindu Parishad award in 1988.


 * "Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar" award from Chief Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar in 1990.