First full-fledged brass band founded in city by Vasudeo Solapurkar in 1937 remains in great demand for visarjan

By the grace of Ganesh, Prabhat bandwagon rolls on

First full-fledged brass band founded in city by Vasudeo Solapurkar in 1937 remains in great demand for visarjan

Shripad Solapurkar is the third generation of the famous Solapurkars running the Prabhat Brass Band, which is much in demand among top mandals during Ganeshotsav.

NO STOPPING THEM: The Prabhat Brass Band offered its services to
Kasba Ganapati and Dagdushet Ganapati in the immersion procession.
Pic/Nikhil Ghorpade

Now the fourth generation is also learning the ropes of the business started by Vasudeo Gopal Solapurkar in 1937. Prabhat was the first full-fledged band in the city.

"Our band has seen local and national history unfold and has become well known even in the US without ever having been there," Solapurkar said.

The Prabhat Brass Band offered its services to the Kasba Ganapati, which is the first Ganapati of Honour, and the popular Shrimant Dagdushet Halwai Ganapati in the visarjan procession.

The band played Aey Mere Vatan Ke Logo, Mere Desh Ki Dharti and many other patriotic songs in the procession. Now the fourth generation has begun contributing to the family business. The four generations of Solapurkars are Vasudeo, Bandopant, Shripad and Shekhar, and Amod, Aalap, Ninad and Prashant.

"The history is that our cousins Bhalchandra, Vinayak, Ramchhandra and father Bandopant were working in the music department of the Prabhat Film Company. Therefore, our band was named after Prabhat," Shripad said.
Bandopant had taken lessons from the sanai maestro Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan in his early days.
"He used to play ragas and classical music on the clarinet," Shripad recalled.

Down memory lane
Film songs were introduced in 1942, starting with songs from the film Manoos made by Prabhat.
"The group of seven band men played Kashala Udyachi Baat 70 times!" Shripad said. "Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose came to the city in 1946 and was with the band in our open Chevrolet car. The members of the Prabhat Brass Band were dressed like Subhash Babu, sporting the same cap and military dress with leather shoes."u00a0

His Master's Voice (HMV) made a record of the Prabhat Brass Band in 1944, in which songs from Anmol Ghadi, Aage Badho, Safar and Ratan were recorded.

"Recently, in 2002, US based musician Willie Shoraze recorded some songs with our band and local artists," Shripad said. "We are proud to say we have received the first cultural award of Maharashtra in 2006 from the then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh."

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