While listening to some old live recordings of Bhimsen Joshi (Sidhi series), I came across Eknath Thakurdas - one of the greatest harmonium players ever. He is sheer genius. He was probably the only accompanying artiste who could challenge Bhimsen. I could not find any of his performances after the mid seventies - so I presume he passed away sometime in the early seventies.
Listening to Eknath play the harmonium gives me goose bumps. While there is an entirely new generation of harmonium players now, they cannot be compared to this genius.
I tried to find more about this great person - but alas there is nothing about him on the net. Finally after a lot of search I managed to get a video grab of how he looked like. The picture is a bit grainy - but the face shows a lot of character.
Here is a short clip of Eknath Thakurdas at his best - he is accompanying Bhimsen performing Raag Durga sometime during the mix-sixties. The clip is just 2 minutes long - but it shows the genius.
You will also notice the very different and distinct timbre (tonal quality) made by his harmonium. I wonder what happened to his harmonium after he passed away. Which lucky person got this instrument that has been blessed by this maestro? I don't think any of the current crop of harmonium players got it. I have listened now to Eknath Thakurdas so much that I would recognise his harmonium anytime anywhere due to its very distinct sound.
How I wish that I had the luck to have seen him perform.
Listening to Eknath play the harmonium gives me goose bumps. While there is an entirely new generation of harmonium players now, they cannot be compared to this genius.I tried to find more about this great person - but alas there is nothing about him on the net. Finally after a lot of search I managed to get a video grab of how he looked like. The picture is a bit grainy - but the face shows a lot of character.
Here is a short clip of Eknath Thakurdas at his best - he is accompanying Bhimsen performing Raag Durga sometime during the mix-sixties. The clip is just 2 minutes long - but it shows the genius.
You will also notice the very different and distinct timbre (tonal quality) made by his harmonium. I wonder what happened to his harmonium after he passed away. Which lucky person got this instrument that has been blessed by this maestro? I don't think any of the current crop of harmonium players got it. I have listened now to Eknath Thakurdas so much that I would recognise his harmonium anytime anywhere due to its very distinct sound.
How I wish that I had the luck to have seen him perform.
