Birthdays & Anniversaries
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| 10.9.1916-28.2.2007 |
Dr. Prof. Sumati Mutatkar (10-9-1916 to 28-2-2007), the terminal light of the galaxy of eminent music scholars in Hindustani music. She was an authentic musicologist, and a competent artist well versed in almost every genre of classical Hindustani vocal music, She served for long as a distinguished teacher, and as supervisor of multiform researches in the art of music at the University of Delhi.
Sumati Mutatkar was liked as much by musicians in general as by colleagues and students. Her own academic growth, scholarly contribution, and her efforts to make our music better known in foreign lands, merit recalling in detail.
After graduating from Nagpur University, Sumati Mutatkar shifted her allegiance to Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeeth, Lucknow from where she ultimately secured a doctorate in music (D.Mus.) by virtue of a thesis written on ‘The Cultural Aspect of Indian Music’ under the supervision of Dr. S.N. Ratanjankar, What however, contributed substantially to her impressive status as a vocalist is the rich diversity of teachers from whom she learnt the actual practice of classical singing. Her earliest lessons were had under the wing of Sawla Ram of Nagpur and Wamanbua Joshi of Amraoti. As for the subsequent sources and direction of her practical training as a vocalist, they may be listed as follows, if a little patchily: detailed guidance in almost every genre of classical Hindustani vocalism from Dr. Ratanjankar; training in khayal gayaki of the Gwalior gharana — as also in forms like tappa, thumri, and prabandha-s as they occur in Jayadeva’s Geeta Govinda — under Rajabhaiya Poonchwale; long sessions of learning the Agra gharana idiom of khayal, dhrupad and dhamar singing (in the Nauhari bani) from Vilayat Hussain Khan; further enrichment of her compositional repertoire under the tutelage of Anant Manohar Joshi and Mushtaq Hussain Khan; training in how dhrupad-dhamar singing is to take wing into rhythmic variations in accord with pakhawaj playing, under Govindrao Burshanpurkar; and what is not so widely known, grooming in the graces of tappa and thumri singing of the poorab ang under the personal supervision of Rasoolan Bai.