Violinist Prabhakar Jog passes away in Pune at 88

Jog’s first song as a music director, Lapvilpas Tu Hirva Chafa was broadcast on Akashwani Pune and sung by his wife Late Neela Jog. It remains one of the most popular Marathi songs till today.

Prominent violinist and musician Prabhakar Jog died Sunday morning at his residence at Sahakar Nagar in Pune, family members confirmed. He was 88.

Violin became Prabhakar Jog’s means of earning a livelihood when he lost his father early in life (Photo Courtesy)

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray condoled Jog’s demise saying, “He made the violine sing. However with his death, the violine has gone silent.”

Born on 25th December 1932 in Haregaon of Maharashtra, Jog learnt classical vocal music from Pandit Gajananrao Joshi and Pandit Narayanrao Marulkar for six years. According to his contemporaries, Jog was inspired by Shridhar Palshikar’s music and started taking lessons in Violin from his brother and it was not long before he started accompanying popular singers to concerts.

Violin became his means of earning a livelihood when he lost his father. His performance at the annual gathering of his college in the year 1950-51 earned praise from legendry Marathi singer, composer Sudhir Phadke and an offer to join his orchestra. Later, Jog was to play an integral part in the creation of the famous Geet Ramayana series with Phadke.

Jog got his first break as a violinist for a Marathi film Shri Gurudev Datta for which songs were composed by Snehal Bhatkar.

For the Geet Ramayana’ series, Jog was not only a violinist but also a full fledged assistant music composer and an arranger. He independently composed three songs for the series, sung by Sudhir Phadke and Chandrakant Gokhale. He also composed music pieces for more than 40 songs in this series. He also assisted legendary music directors in the Marathi film industry, Shrinivas Khale, Vasant Pawar, Ram Kadam, Vasant Prabhu, Yashwant Deo,Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Dashrath Pujari.

Jog had acquired mastery in writing notations, a language in which music is written understood and played. He is also known for composing songs for the All India Radio,Pune. His first song as a music director, Lapvilpas Tu Hirva Chafa was broadcast on Akashwani Pune and sung by his wife Late Neela Jog. It remains one of the most popular Marathi songs till today.

Jawai Maza Bhala was his first film as a composer, which was followed by composing music for 22 Marathi films, out of which 12 were hits. Many noted singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Suresh Wadekar, Suman Kalyanpur, Sudhir Phadke have sung under his music direction. He received the Swami Haridas and Saraswati Awards instituted by Sur Singar Sansad three times. He was also honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Trophy by Dadasaheb Phalke Academy.

He played violinist for more than 85 music directors with 12 albums to his credits and was known for Swar Ale Duruni, which were vocal renditions of melodious songs from Marathi films, while Bhavgeetas were devotional songs for which he composed music. The other two were Ganare Violin and Gata Rahe Mera Violin in which he plays several Marathi and Hindi popular songs on Violin. His musical legacy is continued by his sons and grandchildren