By Dr Hariwansh Chaturvedi
END OF AN ERA FOR HINDUSTANI VOCAL MUSIC!!
Every morning millions of Indian used to listen bhajans sang by legendary Padma Vibhushan Pt Jasraj to connect with Lord Krishna or other deities of Hindu pantheon. After serving Hindustani music almost seven decades, he passed away yesterday night at his residence.
I did not know any thing about Hindustani music till 80’s when I was young and teaching at Agra. I bought a tape recorder of Panasonic so that my wife, Sunita, could listen ghazals of Jagjit-Chitra Singh. While visiting music cassettes shops, I could bring a few cassettes of bhajans sang by Pt Jasraj. Some of the most popular compositions I bought were ‘ Om Namo Bhagvate Vasudevay’ and ‘ ‘Achyutam Keshavam’ etc. Majority of his singing were from bhajans of Surdas and other poets from his era like Nand Das,Kumbhan Das,Chheet Swami etc.Since my mother tongue is Brajbhasa, I used to go back my childhood and young life I used to live at Mathura, my birth place. At Braj Pt Jasraj was known to everybody.For Brajwasis,people who speak this most popular language of medieval India along with Awadhi, he was like a modern Tansen or Baiju Bawra !
