We are once again back with this unique event of Indian Music from Duttapukur, West Bengal, India on February 4th, 2023. According to IST it will be held from 10 pm on the 4th until 6 am on the 5th, which translates to the morning and afternoon of February 4th on the East Coast of the U.S.
The night will feature performances by young talents from the Duttapukur Arts Center, Rajrupa Choudhury (sarod), Samrat Pandit (vocal), Tirthankar Banerjee (sitar) and Tushar Dutta (vocal). Tabla accompaniment will be provided by Samir Chatterjee, Chiranjit Mukherjee, Sandip Ghosh, Arup Chatterjee, and Kamalaksha Mukherjee.
Order of performance:.
1. DAC Ensemble - Vocal presentation
2. Samrat Pandit - Classical Vocal
Chiranjit Mukherjee - Tabla
Kamalaksha Mukherjee - Harmonium
3. Rajrupa Chowdhury - Sarode
Samir Chatterjee - Tabla
4. Tushar Dutta - Vocal
Sandip Ghosh - Tabla
Kamalaksha Mukherjee - Harmonium
5. Tirthankar Banerjee - Sitar
Sougata Roy Chowdhury - Sarode
Arup Chatterjee - Tabla
Samrat Pandit
Samrat Pandit was born into a family surrounded by music. His father late Pt Jagdish Prasad was a disciple of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, the doyen of Patiala Gharana. His grandfather Pt Badri Prasad was a court musician of Raigarh. In most cases an illustrious father will fail to find a suitable torch-bearer, but the rare genius of this young vocalist is poised to make him an exception.
Samrat’s talent surfaced early in his childhood when he recognized complex Ragas and made notations of any music played to him. At age five, he participated in the “Bal Kalakar” program of All India Radio in Bhopal. At age ten, he began to accompany his father in concerts around the world and on television. Samrat completed his graduate degree in English at the University of Kolkata before advancing to further post-graduate studies in Indian classical music.
Samrat Pandit launched his solo career in 2001, while continuing to offer vocal support in his father’s performances. His musical career has taken him to all the major music festivals of India. Some of his concerts highlight occurred at Pune (Sawai Gandharva), Nagpur, Bangalore and Mumbai. In his native Kolkata, Samrat has performed at many notable venues including the ITC Sangeet Research Academy and the Salt Lake Music Conference. He has performed in various concerts of Europe, England, Netherland, and North America, Canada .
In 2014 he was awarded with the prestigious Sangeet Shiromani award of Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, by the Governor of Maharastra.
Rajrupa Chowdhury
Ms. Rajrupa Chowdhury was born at Kolkata, India. She took up Sarod at the tender age of five at the Ustad Ameer Khan School of Instrumental Music under the guidance of Pranab Naha. She has taken talim from Pandit Ajay Sinha Roy and from Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury. In 2006, Ms Chowdhury was placed first class first in her Masters in Instrumental Music from the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Since then she has been taking advanced talim from Prof. Sanjoy Bandyopadhyay, who has been influential in the formation of her own style of music.
Ms. Chowdhury has performed at various concerts and competitions in India such as Salt Lake Music Festival, Kolkata (2010); Maitraiyee Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata (2009); Sutanoti Parisad Concert, Kolkata (2005); Protiva Utsab organized by EZCC, Govt of India (2003); Bishwa Banga Shammelan at Yuva Bharti Krirangan, Kolkata (2001); India Habitat Centre (2001); All India Radio Music Competition (2001) and Dover Lane Music Competition, Kolkata, (1999). She is the proud recipient of awards like ITC-SRA Promising Artist Award, Mumbai; 2001; National Scholarship for Senior Students of Indian Classical Music, Govt. of India, 2000, and Distinction for Sangeet Bhushan by Sangeet Parisad, Chandigarh.
Ms. Rajrupa Chowdhury has also performed at the Bengal ITC-SRA Classical Music Festival, Dhaka (2012); Chhayanaut Suddha Sangeet Sammelan, Dhaka (2012) and in ‘A Tribute to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’ organized by Chhayanaut, Dhaka in 2009. She has performed on several occasions at Bengal Shilpalaya, Bengal Art Lounge and Shadhona, Dhaka.
Internationally, Ms. Rajrupa Chowdhury has performed at USA, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. She was the youngest Sarod player to perform at the North American Bengali Conference held at New York, USA in 1995.
Tushar Dutta
Pandit Tushar Dutta is a Hindustani classical music vocalist. Tushar was born in Natore, Bangladesh. He started learning the fundamentals of Indian classical music from Bimal Mitra of Durgapur at an early age. He joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1983 and took Taalim under Arkut Kannabhirham and Arun Bhaduri in Kirana Gharana. He also took Taalim in Agra Gharana under K G Ginde and Sunil Bose and also from Subhra Guha. By blending the two musical styles Kirana and Agra Gharana he has made a unique style of his own.
Tushar is a Top Grade vocalist in All India Radio and Doordarshan India. In 1998, He stood first in Khayal at All India University competition in Banaras. He has received the title of "Surmani" from Sur Sringar Samsad of Mumbai. He was awarded the national Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
He has sung background for several movies, and also for the Webseries Tansener Tanpura. In 2014, as a playback singer he bagged two awards in the 4th Mirchi Music Awards Bangla for the Bengali film Pendulum. He has performed all over India and abroad.
Tirthankar Banerjee
Tirthankar Banerjee was born in an educated and culturally interested family in Kolkata (Calcutta). From his childhood, he developed an interest in music in general, and in the sitar in particular. Throughout his youth, he showed a capacity for playing a wide variety of instruments, but chose finally to concentrate on the sitar.
Tirthankar’s musical education has been sourced in the rich traditions of the Maihar gharana. In 1978, he became a disciple of Pt. Deepak Choudhury, an eminent sitarist and one of the most noted disciples of Pt. Ravi Shankar. At the same time, he received guidance from Pt. Shyamadas Chakraborty, also a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar. In 1991, Tirthankar became a disciple of Pt. Ajay Sinha Roy.
The rich tradition of Tirthankar’s gharana has created a fertile ground for his own natural instincts, musical talent and technical expertise, and has allowed him to flourish as a musician. He has performed in several concerts all over India – including the India International Centre (New Delhi), the National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), SurSagar Society (Kolkata), Swarganga (Kolkata), Visva Bharati (Shantiniketan), and the 3 rd Choudhury House Music Conference – and has been warmly appreciated by music lovers. Apart from these solo recitals, he was one of the lead instrumentalists in an orchestra conducted by Pt. Shankar Ghosh for Doordarshan (TV) Kolkata. He has also composed and conducted orchestra, composed music for films, TV, theatres, and puppet theatres. In 1997, he was also invited to conduct a Master’s class in sitar by the radio channel ‘GYAN BANI’ of Netaji Subhas Bose Open University, which was broadcast through the All India Radio.
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 Md. 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, 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,
Kamalaksha Mukherjee
Kamalaksha Mukherjee
Shri Kamalkshma Mukherjee came from a musical family. He became interested in music with the inspiration of his father, a tabla player. His musical life started by learning classical vocal and later he became interested in the Harmonium. He has been learning harmonium for 20 years under the tutelage of Pt. Maharaj Banerjee. He was awarded the National Scholarship from the Government of India in 2007. He received an M.A. 1st class in Instrumental Music from Rabindra Bharati University in 2013 and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. Recently he was appointed in Akash Bani as a Grade Artist in Harmonium. He has accompanied many eminent vocalists including pt. Amiya Ranjan Bandopadhyay, Ustad Maskur Ali Khan, Pt. Kaibalya Kumar, Pt. Santun Bandopadhyay, Ustad Wasim Ahmed Khan, Pt. Satyashil Deshpande, and many others.
Chiranjit Mukherjee
Chiranjit Mukherjee
Chiranjit Mukherjee is a well known name in the field of Indian Classical Music. He was born in the year 1984 in a family full of music admirers. His grandfather was a connoisseur of traditional Hindusthani Classical Music. His passion was infused in Chiranjit from the very childhood and his initial training in Tabla was started under the guidance of his first Guru Shri Sailesh Kumar Chakraborty. His parents encouraged him to take pleasure in the learning progression of Tabla. Gradually his inclination towards music increased and he devoted himself into the world of cadence. The thirst for the knowledge and passion for the music followed by the sense of belongingness with the tradition made him search the roots and branches of Indian Classical Music.
Chiranjit is acknowledged for his illustrious and robust performance in the style of Benaras Gharana. He is a disciple of the living legend of the Benaras gharana, Pandit Kumar Bose, who has recognized Chiranjit as his disciple for the last 12 years. He has spread the magic of rhythm with his sharp finger strokes and musical execution of a percussion instrument. Blessed by his Gurus and admired by the listeners Chiranjit is now a name to reckon with. His sincerity reflected in his academic performances when he was bestowed with the honor, First class first in his graduation and post graduation from the esteemed Rabindra Bharati University. He is able to inscribe his impression in the heart of music lovers with his dynamic solo performances as well as sagacious accompaniment.
An erudite performer of his generation Chiranjit blends the mood and music with proficiency. His extensive research and resourceful imagination helps him to stand diverse on stage. He adopted the philosophy of his Guru Pandit Kumar Bose and believes in candid exhibition of competence.
Sandip Ghosh
In his mid thirties, Sandip Ghosh is a known name in the music fraternity.Started at the age of Six under Pt. Gobindo Bose, Sandip has long association of more than 20 years with legendary TablaWizard Pt. Anindo Chatterjee in Guru Shishya Parampara. Beside his Tabla Gurus, he has got therare opportunity to get Vid. Kaushiki Chakraborty as his mentor for more than a decade,and Pt. AjoyChakraborty as a Guru for overall guidance about accompaniment.
A first class in masters from RBU in Music, Sandip has two gold medals in his name, along withdozens of numerous prestigious accolades globally.. He is an acclaimed accompanist, who has been touring extensively with : Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Pt. KushalDas, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Vid. Kaushiki Chakraborty, Pt. Hari Prasad Chowrasia, UstadShujaat Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt. Purbayan Chatterjee, Pt. Ranajit Sengupta to name a few.
Working with several brilliant world musicians & bands of other genres took his adopt- abilities to a different height.