Sitar Brothers – Live in Concert
“Sur-Mani” Deepsankar Bhattacharjee is the fourth generation sitarist of an enlightened musical family. He embarked on his musical journey at a tender age under the tutelage of his father, Pandit Hara Shankar Bhattacharya. He also trained under the watchful guidance of his dadaguru, Padmabhusahan Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan Saheb. He is the torch bearer of the JAFFERKHANI BAAJ, a unique style of sitar playing invented and perfected by Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan saheb. Deepsankar is an ” A-GRADE ” sitarist from ALL INDIA RADIO (AIR). He has performed at various places in India and abroad. His performances in New York and in various cities of Austria, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, CzechRepublic, Netherlands, France, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Sweden have been highly appreciated by the cognoscenti and the commoners alike. Deepsankar has been awarded by several Gold medals and titles from various organizations all over in the world.
Rohan Dasgupta has been nurturing the art of Sitar playing for nearly 30 years and remains a humble student of music. Felicitated by Yadubhatta award, Surmani title, Pandit Vishnu Digambar award and Gidnaar Ratna award, Rohan is a seasoned performer, composer and teacher, performed in over 16 countries across the globe including India, various European countries, Russia and South America, credited for his dynamic classical solo performances around the world and numerous international collaboration with renowned artists of various genres. Carrying forward the legacy of one of the rarest and intricate style of Sitar ‘Jafferkhani baaj’, he has presented lecture demonstrations and seminars in Santa Cecilia and Giuseppe Verdi Music conservatories in Rome and Milan respectively. He has performed in the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy and has composed for Indian classical dance drama, classical and contemporary instrumental ensembles internationally. Belonging to a rare style of Sitar playing ‘Jafferkhani Baaj’, of Indore Gharana, Rohan has learnt under the tutelage of Pandit Harashankar Bhattacharya and also from his Dadaguru Padmabhushan Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan.
Subrata Bhattacharya is one of the leading tabla players in India today. He has received his taalim under Shri Tamal Krishna Chatterjee, Shri Nripen Karmakar and Shri Tapan Kr. Banerjee before he was finally accepted as a student of tabla maestro Pt. Shankar Ghosh, all of whom honed his talent to the level of refinement now witnessed by audiences everywhere. He has since proved himself a worthy exponent of the Farukhabad Gharana. Recognition of his talent has come in the form of such awards as the Sangeet Prabhankar and the Gold Medal and the Saangeet Praveen from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahadad, and Sangeet Bhushan from the Bhatkhande College, Lucknow. Renowned artists whom he has accompanied in the past few years are Dr. L. Subramaniam, Dr.N. Rajam, Pt. Buddhaditya Mukherjee, Ud Shahid Parvez Khan, Ud Ali Ahmed Hussain, Chitraveena Ravikiran, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pt. Samaresh Chaudhury, etc. The next milestone of his creativity and innovation is “Naad- The Everlasting Sound”, a group he has formed to experiment with fusion music. It seems the next inevitable step in Subrata’s career as a mingling and merging of eastern, middle eastern and western styles of music is the trend among makers and lovers of music these days. He is been a part of the Chicago based Indo -Jazz band Flat Earth Ensemble since its inception.