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Died: Tehmie Noshir Gazdar, 92, reputed piano accompanist for visiting musicians and dedicated piano teacher; on March 22, 2020 in Bombay.
"She was one of the most wonderful accompanists to watch and learn from… I remember gazing enthralled at her at the piano rather than watching the soloist. After every concert I would rush backstage to get her autograph on my program. Always hers first, before the soloist,” recalled Ferieda Havewala (née Postwalla), founder of Cantabile, an institute for music and drama and Poona’s local representative for the Trinity College, London.
At western classical music concerts organized by the Time and Talents Club in Bombay as also those hosted by the Poona Music Society it was invariably Gazdar who was called upon to accompany the overseas artistes. These musicians would usually arrive a day before the concert leaving her with barely enough time for a quick rehearsal or two of some compositions before the actual performance. Immaculately attired in beautifully draped saris, always smiling, "Tehmie would be tense before a concert but she managed to look serene and composed, exuding a quiet self-assurance,” recalled her elder sister Jean Moos. Gazdar had so impressed the foreign artistes that she was labeled the Gerald Moore of the East, being placed in the same league as the legendary accompanist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When holidaying abroad, Gazdar had once performed an outdoor concert with well-known violinist and one of the directors of the Berlin Philharmonic, Leon Spierer in the presence of the Royal family of Spain, recalled her niece Rati Forbes (daughter of Gazdar’s eldest sister Amy Bhabha) who had accompanied her on that trip.
Many accomplished Indian singers and instrumentalists too were accompanied by Gazdar who would be invited to Delhi, Calcutta and Madras for performances. One such concert was given in honor of renowned soprano Celia Lobo.
Havewala recalled her first full length solo recital when "to my absolute delight Tehmie agreed to accompany me. It was an experience I will never forget and a memory I will always treasure. By this time she was having a lot of problems with her eyesight so the music scores had to be enlarged. But she was a marvelous and gracious accompanist… warm and humble and intensely committed to giving of her best to the performer she was playing for.”
One Sunday early morning Tehmie’s father Dr Kaikobad Jungalwalla passed away. That same evening she was scheduled to accompany a foreign artiste when she played beautifully as always. The audience only learnt of her personal loss when they read the music review in the newspaper the following morning titled "The Show Must Go On,” recalled Forbes, appreciating the "many life lessons she unconsciously taught me.” Forbes considered Tehmie and her husband Noshir as "my second set of parents” who took charge when her parents were traveling.
Tuesday late afternoons were Forbes’ piano lesson days with Tehmie from the time she was six years old. "The last big exam I did under her watchful care was my school leaving exam with music. I don’t know who was more delighted when I passed it with flying colors,” stated Forbes. The youngster had accompanied her mother and aunt to countless classic music concerts and gave Tehmie credit for helping her to "listen intelligently to the artiste playing when she would stress most of all on musicality and ‘feeling the music.’”
The youngest of five children of Freny and Kaikobad, Tehmie was born in Burma and her childhood was spent in Rangoon. When she was still in school World War II began, disrupting the family’s peaceful existence. With the commencement of the Japanese invasion of Burma, they walked out of their home in Rangoon with just a small suitcase each and traveled by an overcrowded steamer that docked at Akyab from where they took a train to India. Tehmie completed her secondary education from the J. B. Petit High School for Girls in Bombay and graduated with a BA degree from St Xavier’s College.
Her music education started with Amy giving her piano lessons. Subsequently she was taught by Dr Manek Bhagat, a pediatrician and a pianist. She later proceeded to London and became a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, majoring in piano with singing being her subsidiary subject.  While in England she had an opportunity to perform at Whitmore Hall. After marriage the music aficionado started giving piano lessons. Inspired by her dedication, her juniors soon learnt that "at the end of the day, it is music that matters most.”
The talented artiste is survived by her sister Jean Moos.
                    With inputs from Aban Mukherji