Sharad Sathe at Sixty
This article is a tribute
to the maestro was written by me and first appeared in SRUTI issue 99/100 Winter
Bumper Issue.
Photo courtesy Sharad Sathe
On a warm Sunday morning
in May, an exclusive gathering of musicians, music lovers and friends gathered
to felicitate Pandit Sharad Sathe, a senior musician of the Gwalior gharana, on
his 60th birthday. The invitees were regaled by Sathe and his wife
Sunetra with three hours of and more of classy music. The only interruption was
a brief interlude to accommodate a touching two-minute tribute paid by their
daughter Smita Mahajan and a word of thanks for the distinguished audience.
The music that morning
reflected the sophistication, grace and emotional overtones of the Gwalior
gharana. Sunetra Sathe opened the sessionwith a forceful rendering of
compositions in Jaunpuri and alaiya Bilawal. She had been on a self-imposed
exile from the public stage for 12 years, but her music revealed her thorough
grounding and involvement in the art.
Pandit Sathe’s recital
was in the nature of a heartfelt offering of gratitude to his gurus. He seemed
inspired by the presence of the octogenarian Pandit Sharadchandra Arolkar with
whom he has maintained a constructive relationship for the past 26 years. The
Todi which flowed from him was a brilliant display of grandeur and aesthetics.
The musical grammar was correct, there was also emotion, or bhava. The quality
of an inner harmony which gives richness and dimension to his music was also
evident. He rendered a tappa with great felicity and concluded his recital with
a tarana and a composition in Bhairavi.
The event helped recall
how music brought Sharad Sathe and Sunetra together and has remained a binding
force in their family.
Born in 1932 in Pune,
Sathe was encouraged by his sister Kamala Ketkar, a musicologist, to learn
under her guru, the young Dattatreya V. Paluskar. The gifted son of D.V. Paluskar
is credited with simplifying the highly complex Gwalior gayaki and endowing it
with ‘a depth of perception and a rich emotive quality’. Sathe was in his teens when he began receiving
instructions under Paluskar. As one of the more promising students, he enjoyed
the privilege of travelling and performing with his master. “Over seven years,
I had the opportunity to learn concert planning, for my guru could gauge the
audience and give them exactly what they wanted,” says Sathe in admiration. And
adds: “I remember an Independence Day concert in Indore in 1953. In the morning,
Panditji had high fever. D.K. Datar, who was to accompany him on the violin,
and I had taken for granted that the concert would be cancelled. But in the
evening, my guruji asked to be helped onto to the stage and gave an unblemished
recital, his spirit was admirable. In 1954, at a conference in Motihari (Bihar),
he was scheduled to sing last. His turn came at three o’ clock in the morning. The
audience was tired and listless. Guruji
began with a drut khayal in Lalit, an early morning raga. The audience responded
with such renewed energy and sheer joy that it seemed that it seemed like a
miracle.
The sense of bereavement
at the tragic death of his youthful master still lingers in Sathe’s voice as he
remembers the events leading to Paluskar’s sudden end. Paluskar had just
returned from a tour China in 1955 as a part of a Government cultural
delegation. On Vijayadasami day, he developed high fever, diagnosed as
encephalitis, and collapsed within 24 hours.
Sharad Sathe was only 23 at
that time and had graduated in science. His quest for another guru brought him
to Bombay in 1956. He continued his musical training under Professor B. R.
Deodhar, who passed away in March 1990. He was also a disciple of Vishnu
Digamber Paluskar.
Venerated as a teacher
and musicologist, he had done intensive study of voice culture under Dr. Douglas
Stanley and Professor Hilas Engum. He was as well a prolific, scholarly writer
of several books on music and musicians. He was, too, the founder of the
Deodhar School of Music in Bombay.
In 1966, Sathe came under
the spell of Pandit Sharadchandra Arolkar, who is today the revered doyen of
the Gwalior gharana. Under Arolkar’s tutelage, Sathe blossomed into a mature
musician acquiring polish and emotional depth. Notably, Arolkar has also bequeathed
a veritable treasure house of rare and original compositions to Sathe.
Sathe has participated in
many major musical events in India. His concerts have won critical acclaim,
especially his majestic command over gamaka, meend and fast taan-s. He is one
of the few exponents of the tappa, a song-form with a complicated structure. He
is a guest lecturer at the Bombay University on the tappa compositions.
He has given concerts
abroad too. In 1985 he performed extensively n the U. S. He served the London
Kendra at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan as a resident lecturer for one year in 1986-87,
and followed it up with a concert tour in 1988.
Sharad Sathe was until
some years ago working in a creative capacity in an advertising agency. A specialist
in calligraphy, he now freelances in creative designing.
A regular performing
artist for AIR and Doordarshan, Sathe was awarded a Government of India
scholarship in his younger days. In 1972, the Films Division invited him to
lend his voice for a documentary on Vishnu Digamber Paluskar.
Sunetra studied music
with Govindrao Desai, also of the Gwalior tradition. She has an interesting
story to tell about her first meeting with Sharad Sathe. “The first time I saw
him was at his concert. Half-way through the concert I just walked away, unable
to enjoy the music!” Quips Sathe, cutting in: “Perhaps you were overwhelmed by
my personality!” Sunetra gave up performing when the family responsibilities
grew. Although she took up teaching science and mathematics in a school, she
never gave up music.
Married in 1958, the
Sathes have a daughter, Smita (dancer and vocalist) and a son Samir.
Sathe comes across as an
enlightened musician who has been able successfully to bled traditional learning
with a studied modern approach to life and music. On stage and off it, he
projects sense of harmony and also conveys a shrewd inner determination which has
stood him in good stead throughout his career of 40-plus years.
Says he; “Music has been
the mainstay of my life. I am indeed very fortunate in my guru-s and I am
content with the course my career has taken. I am not one to take recourse to gimmicks
or pursue publicity. I believe that the satisfaction that good music can give,
cannot be matched by anything in the world. These are the values I have been
taught by my guru-s and this I have tried to impart to my children and
students.”
INDU RAMAN
