Sitar - Kalyanjit Das
Tabla - Monir Hossain
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.
Monir Hossain
Monir has established himself as a dynamic tabla performer both as a solo and as an able accompanist with numerous prestigious performances to his credit.
He was born in a musical family, son of ustad Hafiz Hossain and grandson of late ustad Kader Bux of Murshidabad, West Bengal. He is a senior disciple of Tabla Maestro Pandit Samar Saha.
Some of his notable performances are with Sarod Maestro Pt. Budhadev Das Gupta, Legendary (Late) Ustad Villayet Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Lakshmi Shankar, Ustad Fateh Ali khan, Pandit Rajiv Taranath, recently with sitar Maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez and numerous other musicians.
Some of the major vanues include the Simthsonian Institution, Washington Conservatory of Music (WCM), Toranto Public Library, Colombia University, University of Alabama, Statson University, University of Maryland (UMBC) and numerous other prestigious venues. Monir also performed tabla solo in Berhampore, West Bengal, India on the occassion of his Grandfather (Late) Ustad Kader Buksh's birthday. Some of the noteworthy vocal performers from Pakistan and Bangladesh that he has performed with include Pakistan's Pop sensation Alamgir, Shahanaj Rahmatullah, Sabiha Mahboob and Fatema Tuz-zuhrah among many others.