Kinda slow, so I thought I'd start this little thread, just topics off the top of the head. . .
Ever hear Ravi Shankar's real name? Its Rabidrashankar Chowdhury. That's not out of his 1968 biography, its found in the various bios of other Indian artists of his generation. Wonder why and when his name was changed? Even Nikhil Banerjee's name was different, but not this much. .
I've seen two different versions of the demise of Nikhil Banerjee on the internet. One version has him being hit by a bus in New York. Even says his death was in the papers (site even had a scan of the obit). The other version accounts that he died of a heart attack in Calcutta, on his daughter's birthday, just a day or so after his final concert. Wonder why two stories?
Don't know why Chowdhury was dropped - perhaps to simplify the family name in the West, when his brother(Uday) toured Europe. Ravi = Sun. In Bengali (his native language), it is pronouced Robi or Rabi. Rabidro is sunlight - so Robi is pretty close. In Bengal, names with a sufffix of Shankar (Shiva), Chandra (moon), Das (servant - in humility) are common.
Also - Chatterjee = Chatopadhyaya, Banerjee = Bondopadhyay.
All report of Nikhil Banerjee I have come across - indicated that he died as aresult of cardiac faliure. Don't know why other variations would be
When doing a search, I note that the site that used to have an alternate obit for Nikhil no longer exists. Last time I saw it was about six years ago. Bogus info anyway. I can imagine you're right that Ravi shorted his name to make it easier. I note Gourisankar Karmaker drops his last name for promos, and it becomes Gouri Sankar.
I 'M just finding out about Nikhi Banerjee music, I picked up a Record, Yes I still own vinyl . Then reading that he's dead to trippy. Any way hope you all have a good one. . . .Peace
You're not the only one with those vinyl waffles! I still have the original vinyl of "Sitar Genius of Nikhil Banerjee" from 1967, put out by capitol records. Had no idea who he was at the time, just though the cover was pretty cool Never did make it to CD.
Russ (Sep 23, 2002 09:58 a.m.):
You're not the only one with those vinyl waffles! I still have the original vinyl of "Sitar Genius of Nikhil Banerjee" from 1967, put out by capitol records. Had no idea who he was at the time, just though the cover was pretty cool Never did make it to CD.
I'm wondering if Raga Records or anyone else would be interested to make a package on CDs of all original vinyls of Nikhil Banerjee with his biography ? Cause he made such a high contribution on Ragas and sitar playing and will be an inspiration for generations to come !
Hi All: Nice thought Dan. Unfortunately for us, any record company is going to be looking at the market, or in this case, lack of, for such a product. Sure would be a nice box set though. - K.K.
Yep KK, greedy record companies. Who ever said record companies where about music? You know, the "BIG" record companies could put out a lot more less-commercial stuff like ICM, new age or original punk music (I consider a lot of punk a type of folk music) or acoustic solo and world music. But I guess if they cant make a million putting out Madonna or those really bad boy bands its not worth it to them. I,m just venting because I really dis-like the big lables. They do have the resources to offer everything musically recorded to the public, but because we,re not some gum popping adolescent nit-wit, what we want doesnt count. Well, thats my opinion and its worth exactly what you paid for it.
Jeffrey R King
Hi Jeff: Regarding the Majors, please. .tell us how you REALLY feel :-) It is an interesting dilemma; the major labels have the money to release such a product but won't because, as you stated, they wouldn't make a gazillion dollars from it, and the smaller indie labels would love to put out the product but can't afford to because they would never recoup their costs. I guess this is why they call it "the music BUSINESS"
