Vocal - Mitali Bhawmik
Tabla - Samir Chatterjee
Harmonium - Kedar Naphade
Come join us at the Chhandayan Center for an evening Vocal Performance by Mitali Bhawmik. This is Chhandayan’s annual fundraising event, so the concert will be preceded by a meet-and-greet at 7 pm with some finger food provided. We are raising money for Chhandayan’s new space and to support our cause. The concert will also be streamed live.
Mitali Bhahmik
Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik is an exponent of Hindustani Classical vocal music. She has performed in different prestigious venues in North America, Europe and India. She is the director of Ethnomedia Music Studio where she trains students of music.
She started her training in music at a very early age from Sri Ajit Dutta, followed by extensive training from Late Shree Biren Phukan in Guahati, Assam.Subsequently she received training from Srimati Meera Banerjee, the Kolkata based noted vocalist. Since 1984, Mitali was under the tutelage of late Padmabhushan Pandit V. G. Jog, the famous violin maestro.Pandit Jog's vast and extensive experience in the different musical styles and traditions has helped Mitali to blend the best of few Gharanas in her music in contrast to sticking to a single traditional Gharanas style. This has been the essence of Pandit Jog's philosophy in music and training methodology. Currently she is expanding her repertoire in semi-classical (Thumri, Dadra, Kajri, Chaiti, Hori, etc.) music from Smt. Dahlia Rahut, a senior disciple of Smt. Girija Devi.
Mitali has 4 albums to her credit - 1) Vandana, where her Guru Late Pt V. G. Jog has accompanied her on the violin. 2) Rasiya, where she has been accompanied by Pt Ramesh Mishra on Sarengi and Pt Samir Chatterjee on tabla. 3) Hrid Majhare, Compositions are written by: Makhan Lal Sarkar and composed by Pt Samir Chatterjee. 4) Smaran, Compositions are in Raag Bhimpalasi, Khamaj thumri and a Chaiti. Accompanied by Pandit Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay on tabla and Shree Jyoti Goho on harmonium.
Mitali along with her students has won the prestigious New Jersey Council of the Arts grant for four years. Mitali is the director of Ethnomedia Music Studio in New Jersey which is a division of Ethnomedia LLC. She is also affiliated to Chhandayan School of Music. She is the founder of a non-profit Musical organization 'Raag Rang' which is extensively promoting Indian Classical Music all across USA.
Samir Chatterjee
Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player. 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 2007 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway. He also performed at the UN 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.
Chatterjee began his studies early with Bankim Ghosh, Balaram Mukherjee, Rathin Dhar and Md. Salim. His later formation as a musician occurred under the guidance of Amalesh Chatterjee and Shyamal Bose. All of Samir's teachers have been from the Farrukhabad Gharana of Tabla-playing, which he now represents.
Samir 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, Vilayat Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Nikhil Banerjee, V.G. Jog, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Amjad Ali Khan, Salamat Ali Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, L. Subramanium, U Srinivas, Shujaat Khan, Shahid Parvez, Ajoy Chakraborty, Rashid Khan, Kaushiki Chakraborty, to name only a few.
Samir Chatterjee has been a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Non-Indian music, in his own creations and others as well. He has performed with Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Joshua Bell, David Liebman, Ned Rothenberg, Mark Dresser, Dance Theater of Harlem, Boston Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, 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 Tablaphilia, Indo-Flame, Chhand-Anand, RabiThakur, Meghadootam, and Dawn to Dusk and Beyond. He performs with Sanjay Mishra on his CD "Blue Incantation" featuring Jerry Garcia as guest artist.
Kedar Naphade
Kedar Naphade (born Jan 10, 1972) received preliminary training in Hindustani Classical Music from his grandfather, Shri Dadasaheb Naphade and from Shri Arvind Gajendragadkar. Since the age of 9, he has been a disciple of Late Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, arguably the greatest harmonium player of our times. Kedar has also had the privilege of training from Late Smt. Padmavati Shaligram-Gokhale, a veteran singer of the Atrauli-Jaipur gharana. She played a pivotal role in his musical development and sowed in him the seed that developed into a passionate love for the vocal art form. As such, like his guru Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, Kedar's music derives inspiration from the character of the traditional Hindustani vocal art form, as well as the dexterous harmonium wizardry of Pt. Borkar and his guru P. Madhukar—a genius and pioneer in harmonium performance technique. In addition to classical music, Kedar also plays the semi-classical forms of Marathi Natyasangeet (Stage Music), Bhajans, Thumri, Dhun etc.
Kedar has performed harmonium solo and has accompanied vocalists at numerous concerts in India, Europe and in the U.S. including prestigious festivals and venues such as the Alladiya Khan Smruti Samaroha, Dadar Matunga Cultural Center in Mumbai, The Lincoln Center in New York, The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C etc. He has also been featured on NPR.
He has shared the stage with luminaries such as his guru Smt. Padmavati Shaligram-Gokhale, Pt. Jasraj, Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Smt. Prabha Atre, Smt. Laxmi Shankar, Pt. Phiroz Dastur, Smt. Ashwini Bhide, Smt. Arati Ankalikar, Smt. Kaushiki Chakraborty and others. Kedar continues to maintain an active concert schedule and teach the next generation fo harmonium players in the US and Canada.