Remembering Pancham

Last night(Jan 4), managed to attend wonderful program on Pancham arranged by my friend Mahesh Ketkar and his colleagues at panchammagic.org.

It was scintillating and fascinating night, with so many original sound tracks, rare pieces, visuals, videos all packed in one show.

As you know, Jan 4 is death anniversary of great composer Pancham. Pachammagic.org, a group of die-hard fans of Pacham, started with this unique idea of exploring Pancham twice a year, since 2000. This was their 26th marathon program.

These events are like must-have gathering for Pancham fans and it has now evolved into a cult. It was great to see achievements of Mahesh and his team’s dedication and passion, is yet another example, how it can do wonders. I still distinctly remember a show on Jan 4, 2001, which I attended, how it was humble beginning of novel idea.

Randhir Kapoor was invited to share his moments he shared with Pancham. As we all know, Randhir Kapoor, whose career was made by Pancham composed songs of Javani Diwani. Randhir(Dhabbu) was candid enough to acknowledge that wholeheartedly.

Many other Pancham’s co-artists were invited, notably Zarin Sharma and Pt Ashok Sharma, sarod and sitar players respectively, elaborated the misconception, that Pancham was only western-style composer, but that he had a great understanding of Indian Classical music and he has used it whenever he got opportunity in many memorable songs. They demonstrated, with their instruments, live, those pieces, and shared many tid-bits and stories of what a wonderful time they had with Pancham.

Salute to not only Pancham but also all those who were part of this team! Panchammagic.org is doing fantastic job bringing these behind-the-scene stories, making his team members speak and share, thereby shedding light on Pancham’s talent and qualities, more than what we know!