The march of the Morsing family

A profile of a unique musical ensemble — performed by six artistes of the same family, spread across three generations, who all play the morsing.

Bhimachar (seated) with his family 

A one-of-its-kind classical concert — Morsing Tarang — a musical ensemble of six morsings performed by father, son and daughter. And again, a unique kutcheri with six artistes, all belonging to the same family, spread across three generations — Bhimachar, his two sons, daughter, and two grandsons — performing on the morsing and mridangam.

For the Bhimachar family, concerts such as these are par for the course. In Carnatic music circles, the Bhimachar family needs no introduction. Their names are singularly identified with the ‘tala vadya’ — percussion instruments, especially the morsing.

Bhimachar, a nonagenarian, has the distinction of being the first morsing player in Karnataka. As a young boy, he loved listening to Carnatic music kutcheris. During one such concert, he had a chance meeting with the well-known Mridangam artiste Vidwan Hyadala Puttachar. Bhimachar became his student and quickly picked up the nuances of playing the mridangam. And when Puttachar encouraged him to play the morsing, Bhimachar proved to be a natural. Hailing from a family of goldsmiths, Bhimachar initially faced resistance from his family members. But when they realised he had great talent, they supported him and were ecstatic about his performances. He accompanied all the great musicians of his time like T Chowdiah, P Bhuvaneshwaraiah (who became his mentor), T R Mahalingam, D K Jayaraman, M Balamuralikrishna, Sulamangalam Sisters, M L Vasanthakumari and others. He has been awarded several prestigious titles and was recently at the age of 92, felicitated with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Aavaahana Trust.

Having grown up in a musical environment, it is no surprise that Bhimachar’s two sons are also accomplished percussion artistes. B Dhruvaraj, the elder son, a much sought-after mridangam artiste, sadly passed away in March this year. Bhimachar’s younger son, B Rajashekar has continued his father’s legacy. He is a distinguished Morsing player and has performed in concerts spanning well over 40 years. He initially learnt to play the violin from Anoor Ramakrishna. During one practice session, the assigned morsing player was having trouble with the instrument. Rajashekar promptly helped him tune it even though he had never played it before. This chance encounter started his tryst with the morsing and he quickly picked up the Bhimachar technique of playing the morsing and became an accomplished player. Rajashekar has experimented with reproducing unique sounds on the morsing — like horses galloping and birds chirping. This has earned him the sobriquet of ‘Sound Rajashekar’. He recently won the prestigious honour of Khomus Virtuoso of the World organised by the Russian Federation in Yakutia.

An accidental journey

Bhimachar’s second daughter, Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna is the country’s first lady morsing artiste. Her musical journey started accidentally. When the renowned percussionist H P Ramachar was trying to assemble an all-women percussion troupe, he did not have a woman playing the morsing. That is when he approached Bhimachar and requested him to train his daughter Bhagyalakshmi, who was then 10 years old, to play the morsing. After this, there was no looking back for Bhagyalakshmi. She went on to accompany several famed musicians. She is a member of renowned Ghatam artiste Sukanya Ramgopal’s all-women percussion ensemble, Stree Taal Tarang.

In 2007, the family was invited to attend the 5th International Jewish Harp festival in Amsterdam. The Bhimachar family troupe performed a 30-minute unique two-part concert — Morsing Tarang and Dialogue with Mridangam. They fondly remember the rapturous ovation that they received in this prestigious gathering.

Following the immense success of two generations of the Bhimachar family, the younger third generation is also getting groomed in the percussion arts. Bhimachar’s two grandsons Vijay Anand and K M Likhith (son of Bhagyalakshmi) are proficient in playing both the mridangam and the morsing. It appears that laya and tala seem to naturally flow in their veins.