User:Pt. Radhe Shyam Tiwari, Violinist

Pt. Radhe shyam Tiwari (born 3 July 1940) is an Indian classical Violinist from Darbhanga and Gaya Gharana. His Father Pt. Baldev Tiwari, was a great exponent of Khyal and Thumri Singing of Gaya Gharana. He is third son of his father. His elder brother Pt. Siyaram Tiwari was a great Indian Classical Dhrupad Vocalist.

Early life

Pt. Radhe Shyam Tiwari was born in Darbhanga in the Indian state of Bihar. His forefathers came from Rajasthan And settled in U.P. & Bihar. He belongs to a traditional Musician Family of Darbhanga Gharana. To name a few were Late Baba Ghanarang, Baba Rajit Ram - Katra Ram, Pt. Chittipal Mallick, Pt. Vishnudev Pathak, Padmashree Pt. Ram Chattur Mullick and Padmshri Pt. Siyaram Tiwari, all great Dhrupad legend of our country. Besides, there were many great maestros in the same lineage in the field of Sitar, Israj, Pakhawaz namely Pt. Shivdeen Pathak, Pt. Rameshwar Pathak, Pt. Chandrika, Pt. Dubey and Pt. Devikinandan Dubey respectively. He is the younger brother of great Dhrupad legend Pt. Siyaram Tiwari, who was awarded Padmshri in 1971, Sangeet Natak Academy Fellowship Award, appointed member of Legislative Council Bihar, Conferred with Tansen Award, M.P., Awarded Bihar Ratna and Sngeet Maha Mahopadhyay.

Musical training

He initially took training in Vocal music from his father Late Pt. Baldev Tiwari, a great exponent of Khyal and Thumri Singing of Gaya Gharana and later from his brother Pt. Siyaram Tiwari. When unfortunately, he lost his Vocal Cord he switched over to playing violin and got technique initiation from late Shri T. Mohan Patnayak, a deciple of Late Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu, an all time great violinist of South. He at the age of 70 is the only Violinist of Gaya and Darbhanga Gharana.

Career

a. He always got top rank in the Cultural Contest organized by Bihar Academy of Music, Dance and Drama from 1956 to 1959 and awarded by Shri R.R. Diwakar, Dr. Zakir Hussain and Shri Jagat Narayan Lal including youth Festival in 1960.

b. During 1965 Pt. Kishan Maharaj accompanied him on Tabla in a memorable concert held at Patna before great musicians which continued for four and a half hours playing just one raga with two compositions and mesmerized the audience.

c. When he gave his recital of rare raga and composition in Sadarang Music conference held at Calcutta (1974) before top most artist of India, he thrilled the audience and Smt. Sunanda Patnayak, a noted Vocalist and many other Music critics acclaimed his recital.

d. He has visited Europe as part of the Government cultural delegation and performed concerts to packed audiences in Amsterdam, Munich, Bonn, Berlin, Essen, Bremen, Paris, Geneva and London in 1983. He has since been a popular performer at many places in India and abroad.

e. Played violin in Etawah Music Conference before the recital of Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi when his recital was widely acclaimed by him.

f. He has performed in almost all leading music conference of India such as Sadarang Sangeet Sammellan, Tansen Sammellan (Kolkata), Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammellan (Mumbai), Lucknow Sangeet Samaroh, Vidyapati Jayanti including Sangeet Sammellan held at Gandhi Maidan, Patna, Rajgir Samaroh, India International Centre, Habitate World Dhrupat Samaroh (Delhi), etc.

g. He got opportunity to perform before Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Zakir Hussain, King Mahendra, Maharaja Karan Singh and many more luminaries.

h. Many top nautchers like Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Karamutulla Khan, Pt. Samata Prasad, Pt. Kishan Maharaj, Ustad Latif Ahmad Khan and others accompanies him on Tabla. Awards and recognitions He was conferred upon many certificates, awards including the prestigious pt. Manmohan Bhatt Memorial Award for his unparallel contribution to Instrumental Music (violin) during 2003 at Rajpatana Palace Hotel, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Contributions

a. Violin is being played either by Gat Ang of Gayaki Ang. He has made untiring efforts to make synchronization of both to make the performance more appealing and lively.

b. ‘Alap’ is the soul of Hindustani Classical music. He has made a lot of research work and evolved playing Alap of Dhrupad Ang rare composition of Dhrupad and Dhamar on Violin which remained untouched so far.

c. He has made experiment to put an extra 5th string for the base Swar ‘Sa’ for movement in the Mandra Saptak after certain modifications in violin suited to Pa-Sa-Pa-Sa tuning.

d. He has made a lot of research work to understand the pulse of the audience and made synchronization of Swar-Taal, representing heart and mind respectively to make his recital more lively and appealing. His performance has been appreciated by the audience of even remote places who do not have much knowledge of Hindustani Classical Music.

e. By his vigorous practice and research work he has improvised the tonal quality of violin. Movement of bow plays most important part to produce sonorous sound and hence he has made in-depth study on application of how, which is very difficult to control due to its big size. He has invented to produce “ Na-dhin-dhin-na” by bow with othe rhythmic variation including “JHALA” of Nritya Ang which has received great acceptance and applauce by the audience.

f. He is known for maintaining the originality of ragas without diluting its aesthetic and divine character with other music to gain cheap popularity. He has made many compositions in different Ragas besides preserving compositions of many great Gurus.

g. He is today closely associated with many institutions including visiting professor at IRCEN and appointed as Judge for various competitions at State and National level.

h. Besides, he is also fired with a great national patriotism when at the age of 5 years only he took part in the freedom movement with elders in 1946 and sustained grievous injuries, the mark of which is still appearing on his forehead, to luckily remain alive.

Personal life

These days he is living in Ekta Apartment, Pashchim Vihar, New Delhi. He has imparted training to many students under Guru-Shishya Parampara who are doing excellent in the field of music.