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 Underscore Records Podcast Episode 2 [20:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (102)

Episode 2 : The Music of Kausalya Manjeshwar. A Talk by Dr. Ashok Da. Ranade - “They Also Serve…”

Listen to the music of Hindustani vocalist Kausalya Manjeshwar, a senior disciple of the eminent Jaipur Atrauli singer and guru Mogubai Kurdikar. This episode also includes an extract from a talk by musicologist Dr. Ashok D. Ranade entitled “They Also Serve…” which includes comments on Kausalya Manjeshwar’s music with reference to her socio-cultural background.

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Namaskar.

Welcome to the Underscore Records Podcast Episode 2. In this episode we would like to introduce you to the music of vocalist Kausalya Manjeshwar, senior disciple of the respected Jaipur-Atrauli gharana vocalist Mogubai Kurdikar. Kausalya Manjeshwar, now about 84 years old, lives in Mumbai with her husband Dinkar Manjeshwar, who has been a major source of support and encouragement to her. Born in 1922, Kausalya Manjeshwar’s earliest exposure to music came from her mother who had taken some lessons at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai, a music school established in the city in 1908 by the eminent vocalist and educationist Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Her formal lessons in khayal, however, began with D.R.Nimbargi, a vocalist following the Gwalior style. Later she went on to learn from the learned vocalist and violinist Gajananrao Joshi, who was widely respected for his collection of choice repertoire of the Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur-Atrauli schools of khayal. Much later she began studying under Mogubai Kurdikar whom she had met on a few occasions earlier, and had even admired her music, but she could not muster up enough courage to request Mogubai Kurdikar to accept her as a disciple. Her wish came true with the help of a friend and well-wisher, and Mogubai Kurdikar readily agreed to teach her without accepting any fee. Thus began a long relationship between the two that Kausalya Manjeshwar cherishes to this day.

Kausalya Manjeshwar belongs to a section of amateur women performers who learnt music for the sheer love of the art, preserved it in their homes, and often passed it down to the next generation. Underscore Records is proud to have recently published an MP3 album of Kausalya Manjeshwar’s concert recordings. The album is available on our website www.UnderscoreRecords.com but in this Podcast, we welcome you to an excerpt from a talk by eminent scholar-musician Dr. Ashok D. Ranade entitled “They Also Serve.” Recorded live at a listening session of the Kausalya Manjeshwar album on the 3rd of September 2006 in Mumbai, the talk documents Dr. Ranade’s comments on some of the tracks from the album as well as the contribution of amateur performers such as Kausalya Manjeshwar.

This episode has an excerpt from Raag Marwa sung by Kausalya Manjeshwar, and Dr. Ranade’s comments on this track. Future episodes of the Underscore Podcast will feature other tracks and more comments by Dr. Ashok Ranade.