Dilip Roy, the Golden Voice, and Omkarnath

Dilip Roy was known as the golden voice. Everybody appreciated, admired and adored his voice – sweeter than the sweetest, unimaginable! Once there was a classical music conference. They invited also lyrical singers of lyric songs, like mine. Dilip Roy was like an emperor in that field.

But these are two different fields, like history and geography – two different subjects. Unfortunately, some classical singers find it difficult to appreciate the melodious songs, Tagore’s songs and others. But again, vice versa – some lyrical singers cannot appreciate how the classical singers improvise with their voices. There is always controversy between lyrical songs and classical songs.

On this occasion, when Dilip Roy came on the stage, the great singer Pandit Omkarnath stood up and said, “Is he a musician? Is he a singer? How can he be on the same footing as classical singers?” Everybody was stunned. What an insult! He was a singer in his own right, in a different field, lyrical. He had a sweeter than the sweetest voice. Omkarnath’s voice was so powerful. He could cover six blocks. But his voice was no match for Dilip Roy’s voice in sweetness and tenderness – so haunting. So Dilip Roy was very badly insulted.

Many years later Omkarnath wanted to come to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and sing for Sri Aurobindo. Dilip was Sri Aurobindo’s darling, dearer than the dearest. Sri Aurobindo said Dilip was Sri Aurobindo’s son in a previous incarnation. When Dilip Roy heard about Omkarnath, he was furious. How could Omkarnath sing for Sri Aurobindo? Omkarnath came from Gujarat, and there were quite a few eminent Gujarati disciples of Sri Aurobindo. They begged Sri Aurobindo to listen to Omkarnath’s voice.

Now Sri Aurobindo was in a dilemma. One was his dearest son, and the others were his eminent disciples. Sri Aurobindo said, “All right, this is what I can do. He cannot sing in front of me, but he will be singing across the street. Across the street there is an Ashramite’s house. There he will sing.”

Omkarnath’s voice Sri Aurobindo could easily hear. Omkarnath’s voice could cover six blocks, it was so powerful, and Sri Aurobindo’s room was very close. Only a small street separated Sri Aurobindo’s room from that house, which was my dearest mother Mridu’s¹⁴ place. Omkarnath did not sing inside the house. He sat outside, on the pavement. He was singing as loudly as possible. It was his natural voice.

Dilip Roy lived two and a half blocks from Mridu’s house, on the same block as our house. Our house was on one end, and his was on the other end, only a matter of 70 metres apart. Now what did Dilip Roy do? He hired a rickshaw. When Omkarnath started singing, he took a rickshaw and disappeared, and came back after two hours or so because he did not want to hear Omkarnath’s voice.

This story is one hundred percent true. I was there at that time in the Ashram. So you can see how much rivalry classical and lyrical singers can enjoy. Dilip Roy was insulted on the stage, and then Sri Aurobindo did not want Omkarnath to sing in front of him.

18 September 2002

Aspiration-Ground, New York

From:Sri Chinmoy,Depend on Grace, Agni Press, 2023
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/dg