The music makers
Parsi aficionados of music remember their tutors, Olga and Jules Craen
"Olga and Jules Craen will go down as musical stalwarts of 20th century Bombay, their names synonymous with excellence,” avers a film Olga and Jules Craen: A Tribute, put together by Shireen Baria Isal and Roshun Birdy, students of the wife-husband duo. The hour long movie shown at the Experimental Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts on February 6, 2013, presents glimpses of an audience of suited men and well-heeled women in gowns and kor ni saris (with border) at the Framjee Cowasjee Hall and at the Sir Cawasji Jehangir Hall. Another shot depicts Parsi women performers, their heads covered with sor, violin in hand in the Bombay Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The men blend more skillfully in view of their western suits.
An image then flashes of a concert at the Ball Room of the Taj Mahal Hotel, and a close-up of the program of the day with a photo of Olga at the piano and pictures of Jules who was conductor, violinist and violin tutor. The film traced Olga’s career and life "as a child prodigy of India on the London stage” who earned accolades from Switzerland, Belgium, UK and France.
The film, also recounted how the western music scene in Bombay saw Mehli Mehta (father of maestro Zubin) as the leader, with Jules as conductor of the BSO. The Orchestra went from strength to strength and earned popularity and also became a profitable entity. The photographs helped identify musicians of Bombay of the time with images of George Lester who played the ’cello, Goody Seervai who had his band and was one of two or three perennials at lagans and navjotes of the time, Mehta, and violinist Adrian de Mello.
As pianist, Olga performed regularly in Bombay till she suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome as early as 1958; a condition brought on by a pinched nerve at the wrist which left the last two fingers of her left arm in a curl, unable to ever perform again and able only to teach. Undaunted, neighbors narrated how she continued playing well into the night, as she equanimously ‘faced the music’ of giving up public performances.
The Craen partnership lasted till Jules’s tragic death in 1959. To save his wife from incarceration, the Belgian pleaded single responsibility in a financial "misdeed” prior to their attempt to relocate to Belgium, Jules’ homeland. The film script reveals: "Fate was not kind to them. They died bitter and lonely, far from the rewards and recognition they deserved for their unique contribution to the musical scene of this city over half a century.” Having lost their home, the young Olga lived with a string of families and supported herself with piano lessons till her death from cancer in June 1986. Residing with three or four of her Parsi pupils’ families, an old-timer narrates how she delighted her neighbors who loved her nocturne, impromptu ‘performances.’
The evening concluded with some of Olga’s students performing to commemorate her. Roshan Chowna, herself a teacher; Ernavaz Bharucha who came from Poona to honor her piano instructor played with violinist Zubin Behram-Kamdin; the broadcast of a live recording recital by Minoo Mehta from the US; Marialena Fernandes, who continues to pursue music professionally in Vienna, Austria, brought down the curtain with the concluding performance of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and delivered a personal narration of her piano tutor of 11 years.
The Olga and Jules Craen Foundation was established in 2012 and promotes a Young Musician of the Year (YMOY) of outstanding ability in any instrument or voice. Founded by Olga’s students Zinnia Khajotia, Cyrus Guzder, Birdy, Isal, Zarir Baliwalla and Blossom Mendonca, the Foundation committee has stipulated conditions for eligibility, one of them being that the prize winner must be a resident Indian. The first to be named YMOY was Tanay Joshi, an 18-year-old pianist from Ahmedabad. Joshi who struck a chord with a "distinguished panel of adjudicators,” has already received lessons from Bombay based and visiting experts and "will proceed to Europe to attend intensive summer school piano programs,” the brochure states. The YMOY award will henceforth be an annual event.
Establishing this Foundation, the musician couple’s students are looking at perpetuating a memory, capturing history and rewarding and honing musical talent. This should be music to the ears of all music lovers, wherever they are.
