Namami Karmakar - Vocal
Amod Dandawate - Tabla
Opening performance by Aran Basu (vocal)
The Baithak concert series is dedicated to the fond memories of Mr. Chandrakant Rao.
Namami Karmakar
Namami Karmakar is regarded as one of the finest vocalist among the younger generation of the Kirana Gharana. She had her initial training under Smt. Malini Mukherjee Bhowmick. Then she began learning under Late Pt. A. Kanan and Late Sangeet Bidushi Malabika Kanan and currently she is under the able guidance of their disciple, Pt. Sanjoy Banerjee.
Namami has a Masters in Classical Vocal Music from the prestigious Rabindra Bharati University. She stood first in All India BSNL Cultural Meet in 2007 and has successfully ranked in the prestigious Dover Lane Music Competition and West Bengal State Music Academy. She has also performed at major conferences in and also in TV channels to great acclaim. Her debut performances at prestigious The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City, Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, India Center of Westchester and in Virginia were extremely well received and received praises from the audiences and music aficionados. She has also successfully assisted her Guru in workshops in Chhandayan Center, New York and India Center of Westchester.
At present Namami is a faculty at Chhandayan Center of Indian Music in New York and Kolkata Suromurchhana, Kolkata, imparting training to local as well as international students. She has a proven track record as a successful teacher as her students have earned applause from audiences and maestros of Classical Music.
Amod Dandawate
Amod Dandawate has been primarily trained in the Farrukhabad style of Tabla playing. He was born and brought up in Hyderabad, India, and later migrated to the USA. He was initiated into Tabla by his father Dr. Vasantrao Dandawate, a disciple of the legendary Maestro Ustad Amir Hussain Khan. He started playing Tabla at a very young age but seriously pursued the art form only after completing his Bachelors degree in Engineering. At that point, he received initial guidance and encouragement from Shafaat Khan while performing as an accompanist and then spent some time taking lessons from Ustad Zakir Hussain. Having settled in New Jersey he has been receiving advanced training, since 2001, as a disciple of Pt. Samir Chatterjee, a well known Maestro of the Farrukhabad gharana (http://www.tabla.org).
Besides performing solo Tabla, Amod has accompanied several eminent artists and keeps a busy performance schedule. Amod also hold a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.