Hansaveena - Barun Kumar Pal
Vocal - Sanghamitra Chatterjee
Tabla - Samir Chatterjee
Tabla - Dibyarka Chatterjee
This Chhandayan Baithak Concert, presented by the Kolkata chapter of Chhandayan, will feature the unique twilight Raga Purvi-Kalyan. It will feature Barun Kumar Pal on Hansaveena, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar. Apart from the main performance, there will also be an introductory demonstration of the raga with a song based on it performed by Smt. Sanghamitra Chatterjee. Tabla accompaniments will be provided by Dibyarka and Samir Chatterjee.
Admission - Free
Pt. Barun Kumar Pal
Pandit Barun Kumar Pal is admired all over the globe as a solo player, composer, dedicated Guru and a musician who renders his music from his soul in a spiritual level.
“He is an outstanding Hansaveena artist of the north Indian classical music”
– Pandit Ravi Shankar
Pt. Barun Kumar Pal is one of the most reputed and prominent artists of India. He is one of the foremost disciples of Bharat Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar. Pt. Barun Kumar Pal is recognized as the pioneer in introducing the Hawaiian slide guitar to the world of Indian classical music. His distinctive playing style, many years of research in creating a powerful connection between the slide guitar and Indian Classical Music has led to the invention of a revolutionary sound which aesthetically incorporates the blend of the Veena, Sitar and Sarod.
Pt. Barun Pal shared a very special and spiritual bond with his revered guru Pt. Ravi Shankar for more than 35 yrs. Pt. Ravi Shankar cherished and recognized Barunji’s dedication and commitment towards his teachings and sentiments, following which Pt. Ravi Shankar entrusted the responsibility of the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and Performing Arts (RIMPA), New Delhi, into the hands of Barunji, to carry forward the tradition of the Maihar gharana.
Since 1983, Pt. Barun Kumar Pal has been travelling extensively all over the world giving solo performances, music workshops, lecture demonstrations and Radio-TV interviews. Amongst the major concerts he has performed are WOMAD fest in London, Bath Festival, Pt. Ravi Shankar’s Parampara Festival in San Diego, SPIC Macay (StanFord, U.S.A.), I.I.T. Annual Fest,Ali Akbar Music College summer Festivals, Chhandayan whole night concert,Doverlane Music Festival, Haridas Sangeet Samaroha,Tansen Sangeet Sammelan, SIFAS Festival of Indian Music and Dance in Singapore. He has been awarded with several National Broadcasts of All India Radio -Doordarshan Sangeet Sammelans. He has released numerous cassettes, LP’s and CD’s worldwide. His concerts are preserved by the British National Archives. Barunji is the recipient of several honors and awards such as “Sangeet Prabhakar”, “Sangeet Ratna”, “Kal ke Kalakar”, “Allauddin Sangeet Ratna”, “Abhinav Kalakar”, “Vadya Ratan” to name a few.
Pt. Barun Kumar Pal’s contributions as a composer, music director and conductor in Indian classical music for A.I.R, Doordarshan, DD-7, and National Youth Festival are well known. He is also popularly known for having produced “Raga Symphony” and “Millennium Symphony”, and numerous choirs with young talents, with over 75 presentations including those of the Vienna Children’s Choir and the Choir of RIMPA.
Sanghamitra Chatterjee
Sanghamitra Chatterjee is one of the leading vocalists of India in the fields of light and light classical music. Gifted with a sweet and melodious voice Sanghamitra has chosen light music as her domain; this includes Adhunik (Bengali modern song), Rabindrasangeet(songs of Tagore), Nazrulgeet (songs of Nazrul), songs of Atul Prasad Sen, folk songs, Hindi Bhajans, film songs, Geet, Ghazals, etc..
She had her lessons in classical music from Pdt. Usharanjan Mukherjee and Sri Dashu Mukherjee. In light music her training has been under Sri Jatileshwar Mukherjee, Sri Ajoy Das,Sri Prasanta Chowdhury, Sri Nikhil Chatterjee and others. She is an upgraded artist of All India Radio and Indian Television. Her proficiency in Tagore songs has earned her a diploma, 'Sangit Sudhakar'.
Sanghamitra's singing is characterized by high aesthetic quality and technical brilliance. She does sensible scanning of the lyric with her original touches of embellishment to it. She adds a new dimension to the emotional contents of the songs through her highly sensitive presentation. Her voice is gifted with a quality that it touches you even before realize it. Much of her musical sensibilities have developed under the guidance of her illustrious husband, Samir Chatterjee, the famous Tabla maestro and musicologist.
Sanghamitra has performed as an individual as well as a group musician with Chhandayan, the Battery Dance Co. of NY, Kathak Ensemble of NY and at important venues like the Smithsonian Institute, Columbia University, American Museum of Natural History both in New York and Washington, Lotus Fine Arts Center, Kansas University,Poland, Bahamas, the whole of India and Sri Lanka. She also has featured in a CD with Jerry Garcia as the guest artist.
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 began his studies early with Pandit 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. 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 Pt. 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, Pt. Manilal Nag, Ud. Ali Ahmed Hussain, Ud. Aashis Khan, Dr. L. Subramanium, U Srinivas, Ud. Naseeruddin Sami, Smt. Veena Sahashrabuddhe, Ud. Shujat Khan, Ud. Saheed Parvez, Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Ud. Nishat Khan, Ud. Rashid Khan, Pt. Tejendra N. Mazumdar, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya, Smt. Arti Anklekar, Smt. Kaushiki Chakraborty, 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, Yoko Ono Lenon, David Liebman, Oliver Lake, Dave Douglas, Ned Rothenberg, Mark Dresser, Mark Feldman, Jerome Harris, Eric Friedlander, Steve Gorn, Glen Velez, Boby Sanabria, Jin Hi Kim, Min Xiao-Fen, 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 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 the last 35 years and many of his students are established performers. He is the Founder-Director of 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 guide book to Indian music titled Music of India and Those Forty Days, a journal of an austere practice regimen. He is on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music, University of Pittsburgh and New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He also taught at the Yale University, Columbia University, New York University and Princeton University, among many other major institutions in the USA, Europe and India. He also contributes to several newspapers and periodicals. He won gold medal for his proficiency in a musical examination and has two Master degrees, in English and History.
Dibyarka Chatterjee
Dibyarka Chatterjee is a young Tabla player from the Farrukhabad Gharana, and is the son and disciple of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. Having grown up in a musical environment, his natural inclination towards Tabla became apparent early in his childhood. At the age of five he was initiated by his father into the ancient system of pedagogy called the guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple tradition).
Dibyarka was born in Kolkata, where even in his childhood he was already performing in concerts as well as on Akaashbani Kolkata's Children's Section (National Radio - Kolkata Station). At the age of ten he moved to New York City with his family; since then he has continued to perform regularly with both Indian and Western music. Dibyarka has had the honor and privilege of performing with renowned musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Pdt. Budhhadev DasGupta, Pta. Lakshmi Shankar, Utd. Shujaat Khan, Pta. Joya Biswas, Utd. Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pdt. Ramesh Mishra, Pta. Shubhra Guha, Pta. Tripti Mukherjee, Pdt. Suman Ghosh to name only a few.
He has collaborated in world music projects with groups like the Dance Theater of Harlem (in 'South African Suite'), the Battery Dance Co. (in “Songs of Tagore”), and with fusion musician/composers like Salman Ahmad (Junoon), Douglas Cuomo, John McDowell (on the award-winning documentary “A Son’s Sacrifice”), Gary Lucas & Najma Akhtar (on their collaborative album "Rishte") etc. He has composed music for, and performed in, two off-Broadway theatrical productions (Nuraldeen's Lifetime & Lee/gendary). He has also performed in many prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, the United Nations General Assembly, Lincoln Center & Asia Society in NYC, Place des Arts (Montreal), the Google Amphitheater (Palo Alto), Salt Lake Music Conference (Kolkata, India), Pratishruti Festival (Bhopal, India) etc. He has also appeared on numerous radio shows such as The Leonard Lopate Show and New Sounds on NPR, Raag Aur Taal on WKCR etc.
Dibyarka has a Masters in Fine Arts from Goddard College (VT). His academic pursuits are mainly focused on the history, theory, and philosophy of Indian Music. As a guest lecturer, Dibyarka has conducted classes and lecture demonstrations at numerous institutions such as Columbia University, Dartmouth College, New York University, Manhattan School of Music etc. He also teaches Tabla classes regularly at various institutions and locations in NY & NJ.