Krishnarao Phulambrikar

Biography

Krishnarao Phulambrikar was born in 1898 at Devachi Alandi, a town in the periphery of Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra to Ganesh Phulambrikar-Mathura couple and had his early training in music under two gurus, Sawai Gandharva and Nissar Hussain Khan. He also ventured into Marathi theatre as a child artist by performing as an actor-singer in Sant Sakhu, a musical drama produced by Natyakalapravartak Mandali. Later, he approached the renowned singer, Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale, in 1911 who trained the young boy in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas of Hindustani music and their relationship lasted till Bakhale's death in 1922. The tutelage under Bakhale also gave him opportunity to meet and get associated with Bal Gandharva, who would later go on to become a noted Marathi singer. His first solo concert was when he was 14 years of age (he was awarded the title of Sangeet Kalanidhi in 1933, soon after his debut), which preceded several concerts in India and abroad, including a trip to China as a Government of India delegate in 1953.

Phulambrikar served as the director of Pune Bharat Gayan Samaj, a music academy founded by his mentor Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale in Pune. Besides his career as a classical vocalist and as a film music composer, he scored music for several plays which included Menaka, Savitri, Amrita Saidhhi, Kanhopatra, Nand Kumar and Vidhi Likhit for Gandharva Sangeet Natak Mandali, a drama company founded by Bal Gandharva, during the period 1915–1933 and acted in a few of them. He also composed music for a few plays such as Kulavadhu, Ek Hota Mhatara, Kone Eke Kali and Bhagyoday for Jyotsna Bhole. On the academic front, he compiled the compositions of Bakhale and published them as a 7-volume book, Raag Samgraha. Besides his notations are available in print under the titles, Rashtra Sangeet, Shishu Sangeet, Amar Sangeet, Mohan Maal, Natya Geet Notations and Chitra Geet Notations. He also tutored several musicians and Ram Marathe, Anjanibai Kalgutkar, Suhas Datar, Mohan Karve, Rangnath Karkare, Shivram Gadgil, and his daughter, Veena Chilko, are some of the notable ones among them.

Hindustani music career

Phulambrikar was known to have had expertise in khayal and Thumri traditions of classical music rendition and was aligned to the Agra gharana. He created several ragas by merging the nuances of different ragas; thus he created Tilak Kedar based on Talak Kamod and Kedar ragas, Mangal Tedi on Todi and Madhyam, Shiva Kalyan on Kalyan and Shivaranjani Devi Kalyan on Bilaval and Bibhas and Jaunkali based on Jaunpuri and Ramkali ragas. He was reported to have initiated the practice of creating new Natyapadas and composed many bandishes such as Ratiya Mein Jagi (Rag Nayaki Kanada), Lalan Tumabina Kaun (Rag Kaunsi Kanada), Rang Rang Mukhape (Rag Adana), Chahu Barasan Lagi (Rag Bhopali), Kahu Ki Reel (Rag Malkaush), Hori Khela! Bahar (Rag Patdeep), E Ma Badal Aye (Rag Malhar), Mai Ri Aaj (Rag Hindol Bahar), Mai Pritam Karo Dulhan Pe (Rag Shiv Kalyan). Tori Binati, Dekho Mori Churiya, Shamamohan Pyare, Khelat Hai Giridhari, Ho Sham Bajayetore Gharame Muraliya, all in Rag Bhairav, were some of his notable thumris, earning him the sobriquet, Bhairav ki Badshah and the style he developed came to be known as Khayali Thumri or Madhyamgram Thumri. He tuned the Indian national song, Vande Mataram, in Raag Jhinjhot and tried unsuccessfully to promote the song as the national anthem.

Film career

Soon after he received the Sangeet Kalanidhi title from Swami Vidya Shankar Bharati (Dr. Kurtkoti), the Shankaracharya of Karvir Peeth, he was contracted by Prabhat Film Company owned by V. Shantaram, to compose music for its forthcoming film, Dharmatma, where he was re-united with his old associate, Bal Gandharva, who played the role of Sant Eknath, the protagonist of the movie. The film which was released in 1935 had sixteen songs, many of them sung by Bal Gandharva. A year later, his next film was released under the name, Amar Jyoti, again a Prabhat Film Company production. The film was reported to have been critically acclaimed and was the first Indian film to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Wahan, another Prabhat production released in 1937, this time with a new director, K. Narayan Kale, was his next film, followed by Gopal Krishna in 1938. He composed music for 15 films which included Padosi, another Santaram film and the film featured a ten-minute song, Lakh lakh chanderi, reportedly with complex choreography. He acted the lead role in one of the movies he composed music for, Bhakticha Mala and founded a music school for training aspiring composers; Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Snehal Bhatkar and Gajananrao Watve are some of the musicians who attended the school.

Honors and later years

Phulambrikar received the Vishnu Bhave Gold Medal of the Government of Maharashtra in 1969 and the Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the Padma Bhushan in 1971. The Sangeet Natak Akademi honored him with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskar in 1972. In 1968, he suffered a facial paralysis which forced him to abandon his career as a singer. On his 60th career anniversary, a 9-day long music conference was staged in Pune in 1974 in which many notable musicians took part. He did not survive much longer and the death came on 20 October 1974, when he was 76 years of age. The story of his life has been documented in his autobiography, Bola Amrita Bola which was published posthumously in 1985. His daughter, Veena Chitko, who died in September 2015, was a notable classical musician.