Sarode - Ranajit Sengupta
Tabla - Samir Chatterjee
Ranajit Sengupta
Ranajit Sengupta is an outstanding Sarode Player and Composer from India. He has been performing around the world for last 21 years. He is a student of late Ustad Dhyanesh Khan and Ustad Ashish Khan of Maihar Senia Gharana and he attended several workshops by Late Dr. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in India and California. He is one of the youngest Top Grade Sarode players of Indian Radio and Television and is a winner of the Presidents' award for securing First position in the All India Radio Competition. He also has been given the Acharya Baba Allauddin Memorial Award, the Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee Memorial Award, and the Best talent of the Year award by HMV to name a few. He secured a high position in Bachelor and Master's Exam from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He has also been a Guest Lecturer at universities in USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland,
England and India.
He has performed in major music festivals and venues in more than 30 countries. He has over 30 CDs and DVDs releases from around the world. Ranajit has composed Music for the Dutch Feature Film "Dark Amsterdam", the Title Music for the International Film Festival, Kolkata in 1994 and the music for the Road Movie "Lost and Found Tour" filmed about himself and three Austrian Musicians. Ranajit is currently the Principal Composer, guest conductor, guru for the National Youth Orchestra for Indian Music in England.
Some of Ranajit's performances on Youtube:
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.
Samir 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.