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However, while the nostalgic value of AIR's signature jingle remains undisputed, few Indians know that it was composed by a Czech man: Walter Kaufmann. The director of music at AIR, Walter was one of the many Jewish refugees who found a haven in India after fleeing Europe to escape the Nazi onslaught. Born in 1907 in Karlsbad in the former Czechoslovakia, Walter graduated from the Staatlich Hochschule für Musik in Berlin in 1930. He the pursued a PhD in musicology at German University in Prague, though he refused to pick up his degree when he found out that one of his teachers, Gustav Becking, was the leader of the Nazi youth group. From 1927 to 1933, he conducted summer seasons of opera in Berlin, Karlsbad, and Eger. [caption id="attachment_86832" align="aligncenter" width="446"]
At the performance pictured here, Walter Kaufmann is at the piano, Edigio Verga is on cello and Mehli Mehta is playing the violin.[/caption]
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In 1934, worsening war conditions and Hitler's fascist rule forced Walter, originally from Austria-Hungary, to move to Bombay. On his maiden trip to India, the 27-year-old German musician arrived with a return ticket in hand - he had clearly not anticipated that he would end up spending the next 12 years in the country! Within a few months of landing in Mumbai, Walter founded the Bombay Chamber Music Society, which performed every Thursday at the Willingdon Gymkhana. Thanks to his mastery over Western music, he also managed to get the job of the Director of Western Music at the AIR. During this period, he stayed at Rewa House, a two-storeyed bungalow off Warden Road (now Bhulabhai Desai Road) in Bombay. By May 1937, the Society had given 136 performances of works by old masters and modern composers. Membership of the Society was open to all music lovers, with full membership costing Rs 15 a month, and a discounted rate of Rs 5 a month for students, working women and missionaries. [caption id="attachment_86841" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Bombay in the 1930s[/caption]
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Around that time, the shift from silent movies to talkies helped Walter establish himself as a musician in the Hindi film industry. He composed the background score for several films - Mazdoor (1934), Jagran (1935) and Prem Nagar (1935) - by Mohan Bhavnani whom he had met in Berlin. He also lectured at Sophia College. Walter's reason for coming to India was simple: "I could easily get a visa," he explains in one of his letters (quoted by Agata Schindler in her essay in the book, Jewish Exile in India: 1933-1945). In the same letter, he describes how he initially found Indian music "alien and incomprehensible." But the musician in him wasn’t willing to give up."As I knew that this music was created by people with heart and intellect, one could assume that many, in fact, millions would be appreciating or loving this music…I concluded that the fault was all mine and the right way would be to undertake a study tour to the place of its origin," he wrote.To this end, he embarked on a study of Indian classical music, which took him across the country. His intense research in the field resulted in well-detailed books such as The Ragas of North India, The Ragas of South India : A Catalogue of Scalar Material and Musical Notations of the Orient: Notational Systems of Continental, East, South and Central Asia.
Walter's stint at AIR from 1937 to 1946 also gave him the opportunity to learn from some of India's greatest classical musicians while allowing him to observe some of their quirks.
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All India Radio and its legendary speakers.[/caption]
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In another one of his letters, quoted in Schindler's essay, he describes:"Most of the older artists refused to accept their remunerations in the form of cheques. They insisted upon receiving bare coin. It was interesting to note that some of these great and wonderful musicians would bring along with them a young boy, a son or a nephew, who was able to count the rupee coins reliably. The old artist and his young helper would settle on the floor outside the studio and carefully count the money received which had come in a little cloth bag."Other than his books, Walter's interactions with the world of Indian music resulted in a series of operas, ballets, chamber music works, film scores and most importantly, one of the most iconic tunes that rules Indian airwaves to date — All India Radio's (AIR) signature jingle.
He centred the composition around the raga Shivaranjini, played on a single violin by Mehli Mehta (noted violinist Zubin Mehta’s father) over a tanpura's harmonic drone.
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Walter's other famous compositions from the period included Ten String Quartets, Three Piano Trios, Indian Piano Concerto, Six Indian Miniatures and Navaratnam, several of which were performed by the Bombay Chamber Music Society. In addition to his job at AIR, Walter also directed India's first radio opera, Anasuya, which made its debut in 1939. The plot drew from the ancient European legend of King Cophetua, an African ruler who falls in love with a young beggar, but the story was transposed to a mythical Maratha state. In Walter's version, the African ruler became Maharaja Asok (played by Leo D’Souza) and the young beggar Penelophon became the eponymous Anasuya (played by Eva Manes). Anasuya was well received by critics who hailed Walter for marvelously blending Western technique with Eastern mood. Like many of his other works, Anasuya too was a product of the musician's affinity for experimental music. He often defended the genre enthusiastically by lamenting the fact that people generally tended to criticise modern music without giving it a proper hearing. A few years later, in 1946, Walter left India for England. His engagement with Indian culture influenced his life and work even after he left the country. After spending some years in England and Canada, he moved to the US in 1957, where he joined the School of Music faculty at Indiana University in Bloomington. Here, he continued to write extensively about Indian music before passing away in 1984. On July 23, 1927, the then-Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, said the following words at the inauguration of the Bombay Station of Indian Broadcasting Company."In India's remote villages there are many who, after the day's work is done, find time hanging heavily...and there must be many officials whose duties carry them into out-of-way places, where they crave company of friends and solace of human companionship. To all these and many more broadcasting will be a blessing and boon of real value."His words still hold true to a large extent. From broadcasting crop updates for farmers to soothing jingles to tide over the morning blues and live traffic alerts for the hassled commuter, the radio has been an inseparable friend for many. Even today, people in the remotest parts of India find peace in the company of a transistor playing All India Radio, with Walter's mellow jingle signalling the arrival of news and entertainment.
Also Read: Retro Radio: 8 Iconic Broadcasts From AIR’s Golden Era You Shouldn’t Miss!