Pandit Shrikant Bakre : The Saint Musician of 20th Century

 

Pandit Shrikant Bakre was born in Nagpur on 26th of August, 1930. Pandit Manoher Barve of Nagpur gave him initial music lessons. At the age of 16, he shifted to Calcutta, the cultural & geographical capital of the then India. Afterwards he was influenced by the gayaki of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb. He became his disciple and was taught by him regularly. By the researchers of Indore Gharana, Pandit Shrikant Bakre Ji's name comes at the second position after Pandit Amarnath Ji in the list of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb disciples. Influence of Ustad Amir Khan can be seen clearly in his Vilambit improvisation and Drut Taans and his Tarana also appears to be influenced by Ustad Amir Khan Saheb. At the same time, he had an open mind to adopt specialties of other Gharanas. He used to visit Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb also, whose influence is also seen in his gayaki. In presentation of ragas, his selection of Bandishes was different from Ustad Amir Khan Saheb. He used Layakari based Bolbaat in Khayal. His Vilambit Khayals were not very often in Jhumra Taal. Basically, being a Khayal singer, he also presented devotional music based on Ramcharit Manas, Tulsidas Bhajans, and Hanuman Chalisa as he was a devotee of Lord Rama and Hanuman. He also sang poetries of Guru Granth Saheb composing himself. He wrote many bandishes in different ragas where we get the word Anaahat... so according to our Guru Shri Akhil Kumar Das his pen name should be “Anaahat” which only we have chosen as the name of this festival. He had been singing for Aakash Vani and Doordarshan for forty years. Audio cassettes of his performances have also been released by different music companies including Saregama, Swarashree etc. In the cassette released by ‘Swarashree’, Raga Purya Dhanashree, Khayal and Tarana presentation have been worth to be noticed. He performed innumerous times on different stages all across the world. He gave his performance in Ustad Amir Khan Memorial Function held at Indore, in 1988 and 1989. He had represented India at World Peace Festival held in USA, where he performed consecutively for 18 programs and on that time only, he was offered honorary citizenship by the US govt. His sad demise came very early at the age of only 67, on 7th of July 1997 in Kolkata.

 

Dr. Prabha Atre writes about Pandit Shrikant Bakre Ji : "I heard Khan Saheb for the first time through the medium of records. - - - In the same period, I was introduced to Mr. Shrikant Bakre, one of the disciples of Khan Saheb. His view was the same, wise and always thinking about music. Several times, we sang together and discussed. By these sittings, I could get actual view of Khan Saheb’s Gayaki. Unknowingly, I came so near to the Gayaki of Khan Saheb that I could not realize."

Again, Vidushi Prabha Atre Ji recalls in an interview: "In 1960, my association with Shrikant Bakre, a senior student of Ustad Amir Khan Saheb exposed me to the late Khan Saheb's style which brought major changes in my musical thinking".

 

According to Shri Akhil Kumar Das, “Pandit Shrikant Bakre Ji is one of the very few Anaahat Music singers of Indian Music History.”

 

Pandit Shrikant Bakre Ji was a very simple, down-to-earth, saintly personality which could be noticed from his dress to his singing. His music was the expression of his soul. He didn’t like complicated singing as the thought of saints are always simple and transparent. He used to sing in the way which people could enjoy without knowing the theory of music. Pandit Shrikant Bakre Ji has left so many disciples spreading all over the world including Shri Akhil Kumar Das.