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Journalism of Courage
He was a regular at 1,Bishop Lefroy Road. Kishore Chatterjees lengthy discussions on Western Classical music with Ray led to artistic collaborations too. For Sakha Porsakha,where the character played by Soumitra Chatterjee obsessively listens to the music of Beethoven,Bach and Mozart,there were portions where Ray needed someone to hum for Chatterjee. Ray felt that Kishore would be the apt voice for Chatterjee. However,we ended up arguing a lot and Ray ended up humming instead of me, says Chatterejee who launched his latest book,Beethoven and Friends at the Oxford Bookstore last week. A conversation with Kishore is peppered with many such nuggets,like his karmic connection with Soumitra Chatterjee who was the chief guest at the book release ceremony. Soumitrada shares my passion for Western Classical music and I always felt we have a connection. I remember listening to a song from one of his greatest hits,Teen Bhuban Paare,and telling myself that this is Handel, he says.
His book,however,is not about such personal recollections. The recollections have somewhat important historical connotations. Like what were monophonic Gregorian Chants? Who codified them? What kind of music did Bach,Handel and Vivaldi compose during the Baroque period? The Baroque period is of special significance to the author who has been a regular columnist on Western classical music with leading English daily for more than a decade. The music of Baroque period is something I am grateful for. The more I listen to it the more complex it sounds, he says.
As he approaches eternity(he is 72 now),Kishore has only one regret. I fear the prospect of not being able to listen to music. But I have a feeling that somewhere beyond,I might just bump into Beethoven and we can have a good adda over a cup of tea, he smiles.
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