Still going strong, Heyman & Co.’s clients included George Harrison and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
“Who? George Harrison?” Mahadev Pramanik pointed to the fractured back and said, “Oh, he was sitting there!” Pramanik has been a craftsman at Heyman & Co. – ‘Manufacturer and Exporter of: Sitar, Sarod, Harmonium, Tanpura, Esraj, etc.,’ says the board, wracked by the weather outside for almost 50 years, and when he wants to revive that time When he does, his eyes shine. Dropped by ‘The Quiet Beetle’. ,uni obaki, He was amazed! But Hemenbabu ignored them and kept on working. At some point he told George Harrison, ‘Hey Shadow Porche, Shori Boshun’ (‘Move aside, you’re blocking the light.’).”
Hemenbabu is the late Hemendra Chandra Sen, who set up shop on Rash Behari Avenue (it was called Main Sewer Road at that time) just before independence. One of the busiest streets in South Kolkata, this beautiful avenue with its dazzling trams is dotted with eateries, flower shops, traditional saree shops and fancy new malls. Here, in a small space with half-finished instruments, odd-looking instruments, and framed photographs of people from Hindustani music, Heyman & Co. has been building and repairing instruments for musicians around the world since 1945. From Pt. From Ravi Shankar to Ali Akbar Khan, they all came to Hemen.
Apparently, one day when Kishore Hemendra’s sitar broke, he couldn’t afford to get it fixed professionally, so he did it himself. His mentor, Baba Alauddin Khan, was so impressed with Heyman’s skill that he made him the de facto repairman of all the instruments in his own and his Maihar band. Soon, ‘Heyman & Company’ was born and, over the years, it acquired a near-mythical reputation.
Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan of the Pashtuni Bangash gharana, a client, looks down from the peeling wall. His sons and grandsons, Ustads Amjad Ali Khan and Aman and Ayaan Ali Khan, have 28 sarods adapted by Hemen and his sons Ratan and Tapan, who run the establishment today (there is a new, second shop down the road). The first ever Sarod Baba was built, says Tapan Sen, owned by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. It is called Ganga – all their sarods are named after rivers. Oddly enough, it broke soon after Baba’s death. [in 2010], We had to repair it for Ustadji.
high quality wood
Hymen’s sarod and sitar are made from either segun (teak) or toon (red cedar). With deforestation and climate change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to source high quality timber, but Hemenbabu had the foresight to collect Burmese teak and toon from the forests of Assam. “These are more valuable than gold,” says Tapan. “When they were cut, they would have a thick red juice.” Wood that is left after a tool is made – the best of which is carved from huge single blocks – is given for firewood chaiwala Outside.
Other Music Stores
Calcutta had a vibrant sitar and sarod-making culture for much of the 20th century. Wajid Ali Shah came here in the 19th century with his Lucknowi sarodiya and by the 1930s, instrumental music was flourishing. In 1940, Kanile & Sons specializing in Rudraveena was established. Also with Ras Behari, Hiren Roy opened his famous sitar shop in 1942. Makhanlal & Sons was already famous when Kishori Mohan Naskar started working for them. In 1941, he founded Naskar in Bhawanipur. All of these are now closed, with Heyman & Co. being one of the few traditional manufacturers of pre-made instruments to remain in India. He created Dilruba, a variant of Esraj, used memorably in ‘Within You Without You’ on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. and the sitar-banjo for the Maihar band (a sitar with a banjo head made from the skin of goats sacrificed at the Kalighat temple, which they also use for the sarod); Chandrasarangi, lyrically named for the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael; and Mohan Veena for its designer Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra Even her closest competitors – Oriental Musiccraft, which was founded in 1987 by one of Hemenbabu’s former apprentices, Dulal Kanji – consider her the best.
“But the pandemic has hit business as concerts have been called off. The decline actually started with demonetisation,” says Tapan. “It hasn’t been the same since.”
Mahadev Pramanik, one of the instrument makers who worked for the legend Hemen Sen. , photo Credit: Photo: Debashish Bhaduri
Composer Pramantha Tagore says, “The instruments made by Hemenbabu have acquired great value.” Mahadev Pramanik recalls the astonishment in which the musicians held his late employer. “At concerts, the maestro used to say, ‘I am Ali Akbar because of this instrument. You should garland the one who made it.'”
The author is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Techno India University, Kolkata.
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