Magic of Strings - Sitar & Sarod Recital
Sitarist Indrajit Banerjee is one of the leading exponents of the Maihar Gharana. He was born in a musical family, unique due to the large number of accomplished artists in Hindustani Classical Music. Some of these family members include his guru, Pandit Kartik 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 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 Kartik Kumar, who is a senior disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Indrajit has a special touch on Sitar combined with technical virtuosity and sensitivity. The use of subtle meends (glide) and chikari Strings towards the end of Jod is quite unique and fascinating. Indrajit is an A-grade artist of All India Radio and television and also an approved artist of I.C.C.R (Govt. of India). He has been awarded several prestigious awards. He is a graduate of Arts from Calcutta University and ‘Sangeet Bibhakar’ . He has performed in numerous music festivals in India and abroad (Europe, USA, Caribbean, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Brazil, Middle East, etc. ). Presently he teaches in Rhythm and Raag in Chicago for the spring and fall semesters and summer in Samhati (France) and in Kolkata India.
Partho Sarothy’s virtuosity on the sarod makes his exploration of the raagas an exercise in harmony and tranquility, and his serious meditative approach makes his music literally soar to unscaled heights of fulfillment. Partho started his musical training under his father, late Sudhamoy Chowdhury, who was a disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Moitra, the great sarod maestro. Then he took lessons for nearly a decade from Ustad Dhyanesh Khan – son and disciple of legendary sarod player Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Since 1980, Partho has been under the direct guidance of Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar, India’s greatest musician. He is also fortunate to have the great vocalists Pt. Prasun and Meera Banerjee as his parents-in-law. With this long and illustrious training under these great gurus, combined with an inherent creative sensibility, Partho Sarothy’s music is truly a symphony in serenity. Born in 1960, Partho is based in Kolkata, the cultural Mecca of India. He has been performing for the last 40 years in India and all over the World as a soloist and also with his great guru Pt. Ravi Shankar as an accompanist in the Kremlin Hall in USSR, The Carnegie Hall in USA, The Royal Albert Hall & Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and other numerous places around the World.
Arup Chattopadhyay is recognized as one of the most outstanding and sought after Tabla artists of this generation. As a premier disciple of world-renowned maestro Pt. Shankar Ghosh, Arup has established himself as a top-notch accompanist as well as a formidable soloist. He began studying Tabla at age six with his father, the eminent Tabla player, Shri Pankaj Chattopadhyay, and later came under the tutelage of Pt. Shankar Ghosh, with whom he continues to train. Having achieved grade-A status as an artist, Arup’s performances are broadcasted on radio and TV throughout India. He has accompanied many of the leading musicians of India such as Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Rais Khan, Ustad Aashish Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Pt. Ajay Chakarbarti, Lakshsmi Shankar, Pts. Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan, the late V.G. Jog, Pt. Manash Chakravarty, Pt. Arun Bhadhuri, Pt. Samaresh Choudhury, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Kushal Das, Partha Bose, Partha Sarathi, and Debashish Bhattacharya, among a host of others. Since 1998 Arup has been honored to accompany the living legend Pt. Ravi Shankar in tours throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and India, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Barbican Hall in London. Arup is also a highly sought after teacher of Tabla. He was previously a professor of Tabla at Baratiya Vidya Bhavan in London (Institute of Indian Culture) and has been a member of the faculty at UC San Diego since 1999.