Download Jitendra Abhisheki was born in Goa, India, and grew up amid the

Jitendra Abhisheki was born in Goa, India, and grew up amid the tranquil environs of
the Shri Mangesh temple in the hamlet of Mangeshi situated in the Goan hinterland. His
father was a Sanskrit panDit and a keertankAr affiliated with the temple and it was
through him that young Jitendra’s literary and musical impulses received an early fillip
and direction.
Abhisheki’s formal musical instruction began under Girijabai Kelekar (sister of
the well-known Marathi stage actress-singer Jyotsna Bhole) in Goa. After imbibing the
essentials he left for Bombay where he first sought Azmat Hussein Khan “Dilrang,” the
accomplished musician-composer of the Agra-Atrauli schools. Abhisheki later enrolled
himself as a pupil of the distinguished Agra musician and composer, Jagannathbua
Purohit “Gunidas.” From these two masters he imbibed the essence of rAgadAri,
performance technique, and a wealth of musical compositions in common and rare rAgas
of which they were repositories. And under their exacting eye he emerged as one of the
ablest practitioners of vocal Hindustani music. His earliest recordings, notably the ones
in ragas Marwa and Bilaskhani Todi, released by HMV in the 1960s, bear testimony to
his prowess and are much prized today.
Despite his superior gifts and ability in music, Abhisheki was a restless soul and a
perpetual seeker of all that is sublime and noble in music, his mind unfettered by narrow
Gharana dogmas and injunctions. To that end, he actively associated with and learnt
from an array of contemporary masters and vAggeyakArs. Such as Gulubhai Jasdanwala
(disciple of the Jaipur-Atrauli doyen Alladiya Khan-saheb), Azizuddin Khan (Alladiya
Khan-saheb’s grandson), C.R. Vyas (fellow guru-bhai), Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang” (the
great composer-teacher and vidwAn from Allahabad). These peregrinations greatly
refined Abhisheki’s aesthetic mien and imbued him with an unrivalled perspective of the
musical landscape. He soon came to be considered not only an eminent performer but
also a formidable scholar and panDit, adept at both musical practice and shAstra.
In assessing Abhisheki, two strands of his oeuvre must be separated: one, his
primary avocation as a vocalist in Hindustani music and two, his work as a composer.
Abhisheki’s gAyaki discloses a deeply introspective approach. His lack of a naturally
strong voice is compensated by its acquired depth of character pressed wholly in service
of rAga. His development is measured, the rAga is constructed from ground up, the
treatment follows a precise, well-defined sequence, and eventually the entire edifice
organically comes into view. His strengths are in the AlApachAri sections, in conjuring
imaginative melodic ideas and patterns within the boundary conditions imposed by the
rAga under consideration. There obtains certainty in Abhisheki’s intonation and his bolAlAp preserves the integrity and clarity of the text as it wraps around melody. The tAns
are well-formulated and, more importantly, serve to fortify the elaboration. This ability
with the faster passages was somewhat impaired in his final years when, marred by
failing heath, his voice had difficulty keeping pace with his agile mind.
Abhisheki ranks as one of 20th century’s finest composers. His creative output
reveals a versatile mind endowed with a vast melodic imagination. He was singularly
responsible for the revival of Marathi stage music through a series of brilliant scores in
dramas in the 1960s and 1970s. They attained huge commercial success in their day,
especially in Maharastra and Goa, and continue to enchant. Abhisheki’s eclectic spirit
and unusual talent for joining complex melody to verse is clearly manifest in his
compositions. He also conceived many a delightful classical bandishes. This veritable
Nadayogi passed away on November 7, 1998 in Pune, India.