|
Sitarist Pt. Indrajit Banerjee is one of the leading exponents of the Maihar Gharana. He was born in a musical family. Some of these family members include his guru, Pandit Kartick Kumar (Sitar), Pandit Barun Kumar Pal (Hamsa Veena), Niladri Kumar (Sitar), Partho Das (Sitar), Aparna Roy (Surbahar). He got inspiration from his sitarist mother, Manju Banerjee, who was a disciple of late Nikhil Banerjee, and afterwards, Santosh Banerjee. Indrajit’s training began with his maternal grandfather, Bankim Kumar Pal, who was the disciple of Ud. Inayat Khan, and Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhuri (Kochi Babu). He then took training under Pandit Manilal Nag of Bishnupur Gharana. Later on, he took intensive training from his uncle, Pandit Kartick Kumar, who is a senior disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. All of this training developed a strong foundation for Indrajit’s music, and creative individuality. He is an A grade artist of All India Radio and National Television, Panel Artist for Indian Council Of Cultural Relations, has served as Judge for AIR (Kolkata), and is a member of the American Federations of Musicians, and voting member of The Recording Academy (Grammies). Indrajit has been touring extensively toured in the UK, Europe, Caribbean Islands, Lebanon, Hawaii, Alaska, Costa Rica, Brazil and Canada for the last 20 years as a solo sitar artist. He also collaborated with several artists from the West, including STING (Channel V Awards), Steve Smith Yaron Herman, Abbos Kosimov, Goodman Theatre (Sherman Brothers ), Fareed Haque, Jeff Coffin, Stefebn Lessard Bass, Carter Beauford Drums etc. He has several solo sitar albums to his credit and also has been featured in many albums. Indrajit has National and International awards from India and the U.S.A. Indrajit is also a composer and has arranged music for several albums and award winning documentary films.
Pandit Gourisankar Karmakar a leading tabla maestro of the present generation, studied tabla under the able guidance of his father, Pandit Shib Sankar Karmakar. Since 1979, he has been under the tutelage of the tabla Maestro Pandit Sankha Chatteriee. Gourisankar is an "A" grade Artist of All India Radio and Television. His talent and creativity are manifest in classical performances, experimental East-West World Music collaboration, and North- South musical interactions. He has performed with most of India's eminent artist like Pandit Hariprasad Chourasia, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan etc. In world Music, performed with World famous Drummer Steve Smith, Grammy winner Mamadou Diabate (Kora Player), World famous Steel Pan player Liam Teague and many others. In 2008, Gourisankar established the "School of Indian Percussion & Music" in Austin, Texas. Many of his students have benefited from his teaching expertise, and perform regularly.
Swarnendu Mandal is a young sarod player and music composer from Kolkata, who is known for his purist and melodious style of playing and is rightly considered to be one of the most prominent torch bearers of the Senia Shahajahanpur Gharana. He is a disciple of Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta, and currently a senior scholar at ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) and working at the esteemed SRA since 2013. He is also receiving sarod training from Abir Hussian of SRA since 2014. Swarnendu has performed extensively in various notable venues across South Asia and Europe. Notable venues include the following: ITC Sangeet Sammelan (2022), Ministry of Sports and Culture, Taiwan (2019), Performance for the Italian Consulate General (2022) and Krypta, Vienna (2022). He holds degrees in Bachelors of Science (Geology) and Bachelors in Music (Sangeet Visharad). Swarnendu is a graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan and has also recently received the prestigious CCRT National Scholarship by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
|
