Sitar - Kalyanjit Das
Tabla - Samir Chatterjee
Kalyanjit Das
Born in a highly enriched musical family of Kolkata, Kalyanjit is one of the brightest young sitarists in the field of Indian Classical Music. His music primarily signifies the ‘Senia Maihar Gharana’ style of playing. Maintaining the true heritage of Hindustani Classical Music, his aesthetical approach along with resonant power and delicate intricacies with the rhythm naturally captivate the listener.
Kalyanjit represents the fourth generation of his family as a Musician. His great-grandfather Late Shri Bimal Chandra Das was an ‘Esraj’ player. His grandfather Late Shri Sailen Das learnt Sitar from Late Pt.Laxman Bhattacharya of the ‘Bishnupur Gharana’ and then from Late Pt.Ravi Shankar. His father, one of the greatest Sitar maestros across the globe, Pt.Kushal Das learnt from Late Shri Sailen Das, Shri Santanu Das (Pt. Das’s Uncle), Pt. Sanjoy Banerjee, Late Pt.Ajoy Sinha Roy, Late Pt. Manas Chakraborty and Late Pt. Ramkrishna Basu. Kalyanjit’s maternal grandfather Late Shri Jugal Kishore Sarkar was an established tabla maestro, one of the senior students of Late Ud. Keramatullah Khan.
Kalyanjit started learning the sitar at the age of three under the guidance of his father Pt.Kushal Das, and continues his rigorous and intensive talim under him. Kalyanjit also receives training in advance sitar techniques and art of music-making from Pt.Sanjoy Bandopadhyay. His mother Smt. Sujata Das initiated him in vocal training at a young age and now he also receives guidance from Ud.Rashid Khan as well. He is cared about the different Talas, Layas & their variations by Sri Biplab Bhattacharya, Pt.Subhankar Banerjee, & the famous Tabla Wizard Pt.Shankar Ghosh.
Kalyanjit started playing solo concerts from a young age and has also performed duet-sitar recitals with his father Pt. Kushal Das in India as well as abroad, some of which include:
• 'Sitar Festival' at Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan (London)
• RKM, Golpark (Kolkata)
• Shakhri Begum Memorial Trust (Kolkata)
• The Nehru Centre (London)
• Kalashree Music Circle (Kolkata)
• Sangeet Piyasi (Kolkata)
• Ballygunge Maitreyee Circle (Kolkata)
• Shrutinandan (Kolkata)
• Live In India (Kolkata)
• ITC-SRA Festival at Nazrul Kala Kshetre (Agartala)
• Moore Avenue Music Conference (Kolkata)
• NCBS (Bengaluru)
• Raga Tapasya Festival (Pondicherry)
• Raga Spirit Festival (Los Angeles)
• SAPTHAK (Bengaluru)
• Sangeet Ashram (Kolkata)
• MERU (Seelisberg, Switzerland)
Kalyanjit has been fortunate to perform with eminent Tabla maestros Pt.Swapan Choudhury, Pt.Kumar Bose, Pt.Arup Chatterjee, Pt. Subhankar Banerjee, Pt.Parimal Chakraborty, Pt.Abhijit Banerjee and has a private album “ETHNIC...A Tribute to Pt. Ravi Shankar” with Pt. Kumar Bose.
Kalyanjit stood 1st in the All India Radio Music Competition in 2013 and was invited to perform at NCPA(Mumbai) & was honoured the "Ravi Koppikar Memorial Award" by The International Foundation for Fine Arts.
He is a "B-High" musician of All India Radio & Doordarshan.
He has received the prestigious Jnana Pravaha Scholarship in 2012.
In 2014, Kalyanjit received the National (Senior) Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.
Kalyanjit has toured extensively in France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, UK and USA.
Samir Chatterjee
Samir Chatterjee
Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player from India. He travels widely across the world throughout the year performing in numerous festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and non-Indian musical traditions. Samir performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway in 2007. He also performed a few times at the United Nations General Assembly. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings. Samir is a firm believer in the transforming effect of music on the society and all aspects of his work reflects this conviction.
Chatterjee began his studies early with Pt. Bankim Ghosh, Pt. Balaram Mukherjee, Pt. Rathin Dhar and Mohammad Salim. His later formation as a musician occurred under the guidance of Pt. Amalesh Chatterjee (since 1966) and Pt. Shyamal Bose (since 1984). All of Samir's teachers have been from the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of Tabla-playing, which he now represents.
Samir is rated ‘A’ as an artiste of Indian national radio and television of India. He can be heard on numerous recordings featuring as soloist, accompanying many of India's greatest musicians and in collaboration with western musicians of outstanding caliber. In concert Samir has accompanied many of India's greatest musicians including Ravi Shankar, Ud. Vilayat Khan, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Nikhil Banerjee, Pt. V.G. Jog, Pt . Shivkumar Sharma, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Ud. Amjad Ali Khan, Ud. Salamat Ali Khan, Smt. Lakshmi Shankar, Ud. Aashis Khan, Dr. L. Subramanium, Ud. Nasiruddin Saami, Ud. Shujat Khan, Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Ud. Nishat Khan, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Pta. Veena Sahashrabuddhe, Ud. Rashid Khan, Pt. Tejendra N. Mazumdar, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya, to name only a few.
Samir Chatterjee lives in the New York-New Jersey area, and has been a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Non-Indian music, in his own creations and others as well. He performs with Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Joshua Bell, Dave Douglas, Steve Gorn, Glen Velez, Boby Sanabria, Ben Verdery, Dance Theater of Harlem, Boston Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Ethos Percussion group, Da Capo Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva and other jazz, classical and avant guard musicians and ensembles. He is member of jazz trio SYNC with Ned Rothenberg. He also collaborates with Sufi-Rock singer Salman Ahmad of Junoon from Pakistan. He is the composer and director of Indo-Flame – a blend of Indian and Flamenco dance and music, Chhand-Anand - a world percussion ensemble, RabiThakur – a ballet on the life of Tagore, Meghadootam – a feature program of music and dance on an ancient Indian poem, and Dawn to Dusk and Beyond – on the effect of music on humans and nature. He performs with Sanjay Mishra on his CD "Blue Incantation" featuring Jerry Garcia as guest artist.
Samir Chatterjee has been teaching for four decades and many of his students are established performers. He is the Founding President Chhandayan, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Indian music and culture. He has authored a comprehensive 654-page book entitled ‘A Study of Tabla’, a guidebook to Indian music titled ‘Music of India’ and ‘Those Forty Days’, a journal of an austere practice regimen he undertook during the summer of 2016. He is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, University of Pittsburgh and New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He won gold medal for his proficiency in a musical examination and has two master degrees, in English and History.
Since June, 2008 Samir has been working relentlessly towards the musical revival of Afghanistan. He has made several trips to the country working with different levels of the society and administration and within a very short period of time he has been able to make a remarkable difference in the cultural life of the country. He is the recipient of several awards such as the Sunshine Award, Jadu Bhatta Award and Acharya Varistha Award.