6000 Collection Of Gramophone Records by Retd Teacher !!!

[Rupam]

60,000 Collection Of Gramophone Records by Retd Teacher !!!

Sharing this for Vinly lovers, read in TOI Kolkata Edition today. May be you guys will be even more encouraged ! Here is the news >

For the record, its 60000 and counting
Retd Teacher Owns Huge Collection Of Gramophone Records That Even Maestros Borrowed
Ashis Poddar TNN

Nadia (Kalyani): Did you know that Pandit Ravi Shankar used to play the esraj once? Or that Sunil Gavaskar is also a keen singer? An album of the former cricketers songs and the late ace sitarist playing the esraj are among the 60,000 gramophone records many of them extremely rare in the collection of Kalyanis Joydeb Mukherjee.
In fact, so valuable is his collection that maestros like Satyajit Ray, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan would borrow some of the records from time to time. Ray, for instance, had asked him for Pt Shankars esraj records once. And, Ustad Ali Akbar had borrowed a record of his own performance in 1942 that he himself did not possess.

It all began in 1947 when Mukherjee heard M S Subbulakshmis Meera Bhajan playing on a record player in the neighbourhood. Growing up in Lucknows Nazar Bagh, Mukherjee had developed a keen taste for Indian classical music, as he could often hear famous musicians who were his fathers patients perform. I still remember the date November 12, 1947. I, then 16, was so obsessed with some of the songs that I wanted to hear them again and again. And thats how I bought my first LP record. It soon turned into a hobby, reminisces the 82-year-old.

So passionate is Mukherjee about his hobby that he has spent a lions share of his earnings in collecting rare and valuable records, some of which he had had shipped from other countries. Among the most precious ones are a speech by Thomas Alva Edison on his research on sound in his New Jersey laboratory, Swami Vivekanandas famous Chicago address in 1893, Lord Mountbattens and Pt Nehrus speeches when India gained Independence, Netajis lecture and songs sung by Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and D L Roy. Mukherjee also has an enviable collection of records of Pt Shankar playing the esraj. That was when he was performing for his brother Uday Shankars dance troupe. When Uday Shankar went to perform in the US in 1937, The Radio Corporation of America had released the records of that programme. Mukherjee had to make a special effort to collect it.

Sometime in the 1970s or 80s, several audio dramas of Shakespeares plays had been released in England, titled Live Shakespeare. Mukherjee had spent a fortune in having them shipped from London, he recollects.
My aim is to preserve Indian religion, politics, literature and culture through my collection, says Mukherjee, who spent most of his life teaching at Kalyani Universitys agricultural extension department (1963-1991). He once composed classical songs, too, and also has a huge collection of audio cassettes and books. Another of his passions is photography.

The records are piled everywhere in the Mukherjee household on tables, shelves, beneath beds, in trunks, in boxes... Not only does Mukherjee play them from time to time, he keeps making additions to his huge collection whenever he gets the opportunity. Very recently, he has bought 32 LP records of Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Firoz Khan, Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan from a scrap dealer, for a mere Rs 8 each.
So, what does he plan to do with his treasure trove? I dont want to hand it over to the government. I believe my son will preserve it, says Mukherjee. His son, sarod player Koushik Mukherjee, is more than keen on doing so. Needless to say, the collection will help me personally as a musician. But above all, it is a valuable asset of our family, he asserts.

Joydeb Mukherjee with one of his precious records

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Please share if you know about any such person with passion.

 

[mahiruha]

Hi Rupam,
thanks for sharing this article. I have heard a lot about Mr Joydeb Mukherji from my father. He is a very talented photographer and lot of memorable photographs in my family were clicked by him. My father sometime mentioned that he has good collection of records but I never imagined it is of such a big proportion. I have conversed with him few times over phone and exchanged postal mails but never seen him in person.Good to see his picture.

Thanks.

 

[sarith]

The title should be saying 60,000 rather than 6000 I believe

 

[panditji]

I think it was 60,000 records ...I also read it in the TOI Kolkata edition...