Dr (Mrs) Sumati Mutatkar (1916 - 2007)


Dr (Mrs) Sumati Mutatkar breathed her last at 6.50 a.m. on February 28, 2007, at a private hospital in Kolkata. She was 91 and is survived by her daughter. She had been suffering from bronchial asthma and was admitted to hospital on February 24 with an acute breathing problem. Also suffering from chest infection, she finally succumbed to pneumonitis.

Dr Mutatkar had been a performer, teacher, and administrator. Known for her wide performing range from the dhrupad-dhamar and khayal, to the lighter tappa-thumri, she had been a broadcaster and concert artiste for decades. A prominent pupil of Pandit S.N.Ratanjankar, she had also learnt from Pandit Rajabhaiya Poochwale (Gwalior gharana), Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan (Agra gharana), Pandit Anant Manohar Joshi and Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan (Rampur gharana).

At All India Radio in 1953 she had been Director of Music and subsequently became Deputy Chief Producer of Music. In 1968 she joined the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, Delhi University, retiring in September 1981 as Dean of the Faculty.

She was elected a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1979. In 1991 she was awarded the Padma Shri and the following year she received the ITC award. The Kalidas Samman came in 2001 and she also received the Akashvani Samman. Widely traveled and widely published, she was looked upon as a fund of knowledge and information on matters musical. A frequent visitor and a regular participant of seminars organised by the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, she will be sorely missed by all those who knew her.