Ram Chatur Mallick (1902–1990) was an Indian classical musician and an exponent and founder to the outside world of the Darbhanga

gharana In Hindustani music (North Indian classical music), a ''gharānā'' is a system of social organisation in the Indian subcontinent, linking musicians or dancers by lineage or apprenticeship, and more importantly by adherence to a particular mus ...

of the

Dhrupad Dhrupad is a genre in Hindustani classical music from the Indian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music, Haveli Sangeet of Pushtimarg Sampraday and also related to the South In ...

tradition, one of the oldest genres of Hindustani vocal music. Known to be the last main court musician at the court of The Darbhanga Royals, following his immediate & direct ancestors from the last 14 generations and one of the closest to the King of the Dharbanga Maharaja Sir Kameshwar Singh, he also was the closest ADC to his highness and responsible for all music related activities on behalf of the King and King's brother, he was a member of the ''Mallick family'' of singers. He was honoured by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1970 with

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.

Biography

Mallick was born at Amta village, a small hamlet in Darbhanga district in the northern part of the Indian state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

in 1902. His was a family of musicians in the Karta Ram lineage, known as the Mallick family of

musicians who were court musicians at the Darbhanga court. His father, Rajit Ram, was a known singer and a great poet-writer based upon ancient Vedic scripts who created thousands of hymns to be sung as Dhrupad and was credited with the creation of Raga Vinod, Rajit Ram's hand written vedic hymes all consolidated in the book named "Bhakt Vinod" is still kept by his current descendants. He inherited the skills from the legacy traditional routine of his family and from his father and later trained under Kshitipal Mallick, a renowned musician of those days. and later under Rameshwar Pathak who is known to be the greatest ever Sitar practitioner. After becoming a court musician at the Darbhanga court of Maharaja Kameshwar Singh, he traveled around the world as a performer and as a companion of Raja Bahadur Bishweshwar Singh, the king's younger brother. During his voyages around the world and old India before partition of 1947 he was also hugely acknowledged by many princely states of India like Patiala, Jaipur, Kashmir etc... and hugely appreciated by many of the contemporary music practitioners of his time like Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan etc... He served the court till 1947 when India became independent. Mallick Ji was known to be adept at

Khyal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfo ...

and

Thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dr ...

, along with his chosen genre of

and was associated with the leading singers of his time such as

Ustad Amir Khan Ustad Amir Khan (; 15 August 1912 – 13 February 1974) was one of the greatest and most influential Indian vocalists in the Hindustani classical tradition. He was the founder of the Indore gharana. Early life and background Amir Khan was born ...

and

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 23 April 1968) was an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, from the Patiala gharana. He followed the Darbhanga gharana of Dhrupad and his virtuosity in the Dhrupad was reported to have earned him the moniker, ''Dhrupad Samrat''. The

honoured him with the civilian award of

in 1970. He was active till his death on 11 January 1990. His concerts have been brought out in CD format under the name, Masters Of Raga: ''The King of Dhrupad - Ram Chatur Mallick In Concert'', by Weltm. Mallick Ji also was the only artist ever to be gifted "The Top Grade" from All India Radio without audition, All India Radio awards grades to artists of different cadres based upon multiple level of auditions but Mallick Ji received this as a gift from All India Radio. He remained one of the chief selectors for All India Radio, Delhi for the Top Grade panel until he lived. Mallick Ji also was awarded the "Tansen Award" the first when this award was started by the Madhya Pradesh Government. The highest award given in the field of Music by the Bihar government is named after him "Pandit Ram Chatur Mallick Sangeet Award". Mallick Ji is survived by his daughter in law Ms. Kusum Devi (who is the wife of his only child & son Late Ramji Mallick) along with his 2 grandsons (Arun Kumar Mallick & Vijay Kumar Mallick) & 2 grand daughters (Kamini & Rita).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallick, Ram Chatur Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts 1902 births 1990 deaths People from Darbhanga district Singers from Bihar 20th-century Indian male classical singers Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Biography

See also

References

External links