Violinist Prabhakar Jog passes away in Pune at 88

Jog assisted legendary music directors in the Marathi film industry such as Shrinivas Khale, Vasant Pawar, Ram Kadam and Vasant Prabhu, Yashwant Deo, Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Dashrath Pujari

Prominent violinist and musician Prabhakar Jog passed away Sunday morning at his residence in Sahakarnagar, Pune. He was 88.

Prominent violinist and musician Prabhakar Jog passed away Sunday morning at his residence in Sahakarnagar, Pune. (HT PHOTO)

Born in Haregaon, Maharashtra, on December 25, 1932, Jog learnt classical vocal music from Pandit Gajananrao Joshi and Pandit Narayanrao Marulkar for six years. According to his contemporaries, he was inspired by Shridhar Palshikar’s music to learn the instrument and began taking violin lessons from his brother. Accompanying popular singers from the time he was in school, violin became Jog’s means of a livelihood after he lost his father.

Jog’s performance at his college’s annual gathering in 1950-51 earned praise from music director-singer Sudhir Phadke who offered him a chance to join his orchestra. Jog got his first break as a violinist for the Marathi film, “Shri Gurudev Dutta” the songs for which were composed by Snehal Bhatkar. Eventually, he gained mastery in writing notations, a language in which music is written, understood and played. Jog played an integral part in composing the G D Madgulkar-written “Geet Ramayan” along with Phadke. He was not just a violinist but also a full-fledged assistant music composer-arranger in this immensely popular series. So much so that he independently composed three of the songs in the series which were sung by Phadke and Chandrakant Gokhale.

Jog assisted legendary music directors in the Marathi film industry such as Shrinivas Khale, Vasant Pawar, Ram Kadam and Vasant Prabhu, Yashwant Deo, Pandit Hridayanath Mangeshkar and Dashrath Pujari. Jog’s first film as a composer was “Jawai Maza Bhala” after which he went on to compose music for 22 Marathi films out of which 12 were hits. Noted singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Suresh Wadkar, Suman Kalyanpur and Sudhir Phadke lent their voice to Jog’s music compositions. He also independently composed songs for All India Radio (AIR) Pune. His first composition as a music director, “Lapvilpas Tu Hirva Chafa” sung by his wife, late Neela Jog and broadcast on Aakashwani Pune remains one of the most popular songs in Marathi. A recipient of several awards, Jog was also honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke trophy by the Dadasaheb Phalke academy. Also known for his stage shows such as “Swar Aale Duruni”, “Gaanare Violin” and “Gata Rahe Mera Violin”, Jog’s musical legacy is continued by his sons and grandchildren.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray condoled the eminent violinist-musician’s demise saying, “He made the violin sing. However with his death, the violin has fallen silent.”