The evening of 7th February 2008 will be remembered by many. Definitely by all those who experienced the magic of music at Mumbai's Dinanath Mangeshkar Hall in Vile Parle. It was an evening singularly dedicated to the industry's stalwart rhythm and percussion player, late Cawas Lord. It was barely a month and half that the master player had left his earthly abode that a group of musicians led by lead Guitarist Ajay Madan joined hands with Swar Aalap to pay their respects to the legendary Rhythmist. The entire Lord family had consented to be present in large numbers. Elder son, Kersi Lord altered his flight to Kolkata and younger Burjor (Buji) came down from Nargol in Gujarat for this tribute show in memory of one of the greatest Rhthym players of India. No tickets were sold and the press widely publicized the 'open to all music lovers' programme.

 

At the very outset, music lover and archivist Kushal Gopalka, who co-conceived, developed and compered this unique Swar Aalap presentation, declared that their remembrance of the genius musician was not going to be a subdued, mournful affair. It would be an energetic and entertaining evening, befitting the personality and musicality of the great musician. After all, Cawas Lord was a known prankster, responsible for the light atmosphere in the recording rooms with his quick wit, humor and practical jokes. So much was he in demand that music directors and musicians knew that if he was present in the recordings then everybody would be relaxed, in a good frame of mind and give their most creative output. That apart from being a class instrumentalist playing nearly all rhythm and percussion instruments with benchmarking skill.

The show kick started with the spelling out of Swar Aalap's objectives of bringing credit to the numerous unknown and unsung musicians of India. Pyarelalji of LP duo was the first amongst musical personalities to grace the dais and address the 800 strong gathering about his cherished musical and personal dealings with the legendary instrumentalist whom he fondly addressed as Cawas 'kaka', a name which stuck with the veteran player. To the delight of the enraptured audience he demonstrated with live playing the patterns and style of his beloved 'kaka's' playing.

The evening's programming was designed meticulously. To make the programming thoroughly entertaining, no long announcements or speeches were made. Short pieces of information about the great musician and his output were interspersed with live performances of his songs on stage, clippings of audio and video songs on the screen and with musicians- music makers talking about the chief's persona. This format was fitted in the schedule instrument wise. All the instruments played by Cawas Lord for Indian films were introduced one after the other. The first was the German Glockenspiel. Remember Kersi's soft but ubiquitous instrument in main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya and nanhi kali sonay chali, hawa dheere aana? That was the Glockenspiel - the Vibraphone and Jal tarang sound alike instrument; the original recording of the senior lord playing it for Salil Chowdhuri in aankhon mein masti sharab ki in 1960 for film Maya was replayed in the hall.

 

The Spanish Castanets came next. Although very evidently seen and heard in Naushad sahab's Jadoo in 1951, Cawas Lord had, in fact, played it prior to that for many songs for C Ramchandra (Samadhi, Sargam, etc). These hand held wooden instruments produce clicks or a series of clicks like a ripping, rattling sound. A Spaniard by the name of Peter Sartha had taught Cawasji, who in turn taught the instrument along with several others to numerous musicians of India. One such follower of his, Narendra Vakil came all the way from Valsad to join Swar Aalap in paying homage. This percussionist of yesteryears spoke fondly of his mentor and proceeded to play Castanets as they were played by Cawasji for O P Nayyar for thandi hawa kali ghata and ye lo main haari piya along with the outstanding stage artistes. Songs like zameen se humen aasman pe, suno gajar kya gaye, dil se milake dil pyar kijiye and the all time great Jadoo favourite laara loo with its 'passe doublez' rhythm pattern were a great delight on the screen.

 

For complete article please refer to Swar Aalap Issue March '08

 

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