Down Memory Lane: G N Joshi

Have you heard the ‘Marwa’ of Ustad Amir Khan,  ‘Om Tat Sat’ of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, raag Shri of D.V. Paluskar and ‘Chandranandan’ of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan? If you have enjoyed these masterpieces, you need to thank a person called G.N.Joshi, who, as a recording executive of HMV, brought to us these everlasting treasures. G.N. Joshi wrote a book called ‘Down Melody Lane’ in which he details his interaction with legendary and not to so legendary musicians and his trials and tribulations to get recording done by these artists.

In modern times, where the artists understand the need for publicity, getting them to record is not an issue. We are talking a different era here, an era where many musicians weren’t too keen to record. Many felt they were doing a favor to the company by recording their music. They did not understand the potential of the EP/LP records for being good publicity material. The also did not realize that these records would become archival material inspiring generation after generation. Some had the patronage of Nizams, Rajahs and Zamindars and didn’t worry too much about publicity or about giving public performances. G.N.Joshi had to deal with these artists and get them record their performance for HMV. Going by the treasures we possess now, we can without hesitation say that G N Joshi did a fantastic job.

Joshi’s book is anecdotal in nature. It is based on Joshi’s interaction with various artists. Chapters are titled with the name of the artists that Joshi interacted with.  We get chapters titled Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, D.V.Paluskar, Yehudi Menuhin and so on. He also writes about two music directors, Naushad and C.Ramachandra and the singer Saigal. The interesting personality, who doesn’t fit into the musicians list, is a Chief Minister, who would later become a Prime Minister: Morarji Desai.

The first thing that struck me in this book was the tremendous effort put in by each of the great artists when it came to recording. Many of them wanted the recording to be perfect and would refuse to record if they thought their voice was not in peak form. Joshi recounts how Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan refused to record because he felt his voice was not in peak condition and how Joshi slowly coaxed him to record. This charming anecdote brings out the special bonding between Joshi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan It is interesting to note that some artists came to the studio and then rehearsed for a long time before giving the go ahead to start recording whereas some artists like Ali Akbar Khan came fully prepared for the recording with clarity in their mind as to what they will record on that day.

The initial chapters are biographical in nature and we get to know that Joshi was a barrister at law for four years and had recorded Marathi Bhavgeets which were huge hits. We get to know how he gave up law to become a recording executive in HMV, a decision which was driven by his love for music. The fact that Joshi’s records were huge hits and the fact that he had formally learnt Hindustani music helps us understand why great artists had such great respect for him and cooperated in his efforts to record them.

Joshi’s job was no bed of roses. He had to put up with artists who had humongous ego on one hand, and with artists who were fragile and hypersensitive on the other hand. He also had to put up with a boss who didn't understand music enough to appreciate the greatness of these artists. The anecdote of Khursid is an excellent example of how the ego of the singer almost led to the cancellation of recording. The way Joshi dealt with it makes interesting reading. The reaction of Begum Aktar to Joshi’s comment made somewhere else gives us an idea of how fragile these artists were. The interaction of Joshi’s boss with Begum Aktar and his ultimatum to Kesarbai highlight the ignorance of top people in recording companies, who thought they were far superior to the artists they were recording.

Looking back to the records that Joshi was responsible for releasing, the job done was phenomenal. Yet Joshi feels that he could have done better and rues the fact that some great artists like Kesarbai and Barakat Ali Khan (Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s brother) are underrepresented.  Kesarbai’s tiff with HMV made her stop recording for them and also made her ask AIR not to broadcast her records. This has been a bane of Indian classical music. In Carnatic music, Naina Pillai refused to record saying that he did not want the records to be played in tea shops and barber shops where people will not appreciate what he was singing. His disciple T.Brinda followed the same principle and refused to record. Brinda, according to me, was one of the greatest singers in Carnatic music history. Kesarbai was one of the greatest exponents of Hindustani vocal music. That two giants of Indian classical music are underrepresented in gramophone records is a great tragedy.

There are interesting experiments that Joshi conducted, some which succeeded and some which didn’t. The jugalbandhi between Bismillah Khan and V.C.Jog was an experiment which succeeded. Joshi also recorded some Marathi plays which succeeded beyond his expectations. On the other hand, his experiment of recording the life history of  great leaders ended up in failure.  Joshi laments, “Due to the lack of cooperation from most of these institutions, this experiment of mine ended in failure. It is indeed a matter of great concern that the intelligentsia in Maharashtra do not understand the value of educational records, which besides entertaining  children, also help in their intellectual development” On his trip to London he sees a lot of records for young children and wonders why they don’t sell in India. The current state is not very different.

Joshi also writes about a few royal patrons of classical music like Yuvraj of Kadana, Maharaj Hanumant Singh of Jodhpur, Nawab Zahir Yar Jung and Nawab Salar Jung of Hyderabad. A very interesting anecdote to me was that of Zubeida which Joshi recounts. Zubeida was a dancer, not a top class one according to Joshi, who later became the mistress of Maharaja of Jodhpur. Shyam Benegal   made the movie ‘Zubeida’ based on this dancer. Joshi sees Zubeida as a gold digger who entraps the Maharaja and feels sad that Maharaja had fallen for this dancer. Shyam Benegal’s movie on the other hand is very sympathetic to Zubeida.

Joshi concludes the book with a pessimistic outlook. He is not happy with the way the music scene in North India is evolving with film music and western music capturing the imagination of the people. He sees only a few like Jasraj, Kishori Amonkar, Prabha Atre and Lakshmi Shankar striving for perfection. They are the only promising artists and he doesn't see anyone else raising to the heights of the past masters. He ends the book in a bitter note saying that he would rather pass away from this world than be present in a world where Hindustani music has lost its importance or has become diluted.  While the Hindustani music scene is still vibrant, we will  be hard pressed to name any artists who could match the masters in stature, innovation or perfection. 

The book is easy to read, the language fluent and the anecdotes interesting. Joshi does not adopt a false humility approach. Rather he sees himself as a friend and a well wisher of the artist. This gives the book the touch of authenticity. This is a book which is difficult to get now but if you are music lover, don’t miss reading this book if you can lay your hands on it.