Bengal has been a cultural hub for many artists, who were born and brought up in here, and contributed to its rich culture with music, dance, writing, poetry and art throughout the years. Music has been an integral part of Bengal’s culture with many musical instruments being made in several parts of West Bengal. Bottle Gourds or in Bengali, Lau, is a vegetable which is made to use instruments like, Sitar, Tanpura, Bina, Dilruba, Ektara, Sarod etc. The insides of the vegetable are taken apart leaving only the shell to dry, and based on its shape and size different instruments are made. Most of these musical instruments are used in Indian Classical Music and Indian Folk Music from an early time.
Different states across the country were still dominating the instrumental market with their special bottle gourd made instruments, while Bengal was still lagging behind at quality. To curb the rising demand of these musical instruments in Bengal and to earn a livelihood through his work Ganeshchandra Roy, living in Hooghly district, in Jangipara Bidhansabha under Rashidpur Panchayet area a small village named Poshpur. 76 years old, Ganeshchandra’s father, Jaykrishna Roy was a farmer who was famous among musical instruments makers of Kolkata for large sized and shaped bottle gourds. Poverty restricted Ganeshchandra from studying post 8th standard, and he started a job at a matchstick making factory. But his father’s legacy of making instruments were still fresh within him, which urged him to learn more about instrument making from a shop at Dumdum’s Harekrishna Seth Lane. With his passion and financial help from the shop-owner’s mother, he started a small shop of his own at South Sinthi.
At times of the Naxalite movement raging across Bengal and the states in its vicinity in the 70’s era, Ganeshchandra’s shop downed its shutters, but he never stopped working on different instrument making techniques from his home in Hooghly. For making the finest quality of Sitar he even visited Maharashtra, Pandulpur to obtain the seeds of a special type of bottle gourd. These instruments made by bottle gourds have been very appreciated after being exported in other states and overseas, but Ganeshchandra’s passion and work has been side-lined, at least that’s what his son Gautam Roy seems to believe. Though the demand for instruments made of bottle gourd have declined but still musicians, singers and music companies often opt for instruments made through this this dying art. Repeated farming on the same land has damaged the land somewhat but the Agriculture Department of West Bengal has not paid much attention. With the advent of new technologies musical instruments made of fibre and electronic instruments have been dominating the market at large and the demand for this sort of instrument has declined to a varied level and to safeguard the use of old ways of making fine instruments and to preserve the art of making instruments the Government must act immediately.
