19th of March, 2011
Trafó, Budapest

Pandit Biswajit Roy Chowdhary – Sarod
Pandit Abhijit Banerjee – Tabla, Pakhawaj
Somnath Roy – Ghatam

from 19.30 showing a Music of Kalkutta – a documentary in English

Pandit Biswajit Roy Chowdhary
Sarod

Pandit Biswajit Roy Chowdhary was born in 1956, in Deogarh, Chowdhury was initiated into music by his father Shri Ranajit Roy Chowdhary, who was teacher of chemistry by profession but, more importantly, a serious Sarod player trained under the Late Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan and others. In 1978, Roy Chowdhury’s talents were spotted by the Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan accepting him as a disciple. A turning point came when Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur took an interest in young Roy Chwdhury’s quest in 1982. The union of an instrument player with Pandit Mansur set the journey on the path of fulfilling this quest. Biswajit Roy Chowdhary’s tutelage with Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur was formalized in a gandhabandhan ceremony in 1985 and the intensive guidance and training lasted till the demise of the guru in 1992. He is perhaps the only Sarod player who plays the coveted compositions from the Jaipur-Atrauli tradition.

Over the years Biswajit Roy Chowdhary has performed in various locations all over India and has participated regularly in some of the prestigious concerts. These include The Tansen Festival in Gwalior, the Shankar Lal Festival, New Delhi, the Harvallabh Sangeet Samaroha in Jalundhar, the Vishnu Digambar Jayanti in Delhi, the Sankat Mochan Music Festival in Banaras, the BKF Mansur Festival in Bangalore, among others.

Biswajit Roy Chowdhary is an acclaimed artist of the All India Radio and Doordarshan and has featured in the National music concert and the annual Radio Sangeet Sammelan.

some of his awards:

  • SUR MANI title (Sur Singer Samsad, 1981)
  • Ustad Allauddin Khan memorial award (1999)
  • Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur memorial award (BKF , Bangalore)
  • The knight of the order of arts „Chevalier de Arts et Letters” (by the French Government in 2006)

Pandit Abhijit Banerjee
Tabla

photo by Daniel Zafir ©

Considered among the front ranking tabla players from India, Abhijit Banerjee is one of the most sought after creative artists in the realm of Indian classical music. Recognizing his talent and natural inclination towards music his father steered him to tabla at the age of four. Abhijit also studied vocal music and violin making a complete musician out of him. Now he is accepted as one of pioneering disciples of the illustrious guru, the late Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.

Abhijit has accompanied nearly all the top ranking luminaries of Indian classical music including Pt.Ravi Shankar, late Pt.Nikhil Banerjee, Begum Parweena Sultana, Pt.Jasraj, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Dr. Balamurali Krishnan to name a few. As a tabla soloist he has also made his mark in numerous performances and recordings in India & abroad.

Abhijit has been holding center stage in all of the major classical music festivals in India . and touring extensively in USA, Canada, U.K., Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, South East Asia and Mexico giving concerts, conducting workshops and attending seminars in the Universities and music schools. His International performances of note include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Gevant Haus in Germany , Paleis in Brussels , Theatre de la Ville & Radio France in Paris , South Bank, U.K. Abhijit also has had the honor of representing India in the Granada Festival of Music in Spain.

In addition to a highly successful career in Indian Classical music his crossover work includes collaborations with musicians such as Ry Cooder, Larry Corryell and Trilok Gurtu. Abhijit founded his own touring ensemble TARANG performing his original compositions, and released a CDs of the same title. He is also member of the Raga Jazz group, Arohi Ensemble.

Abhijit has scored music for Indian television & won the National Award for Documentary Music for the film about Calcutta ‘The Trail’, which was screened in the Munich and Amsterdam film festivals. Abhijit has founded & established Dhwani Academy of Percussion in Los Angeles, New York, Singapore and Calcutta attracting talented students from around the world. The Academy also works towards the promotion of Indian music and has initiated needy blind children in the art of music.

In his academic life he is a graduate in English literature and post graduate in Journalism.

http://www.abhijitbanerjee.com

Somnath Roy
Ghatam

photo by Daniel Zafir ©

Somnath Roy is truly a name to reckon with in the select band of versatile percussionists. Born in a pious music loving family in 1971 at Howrah, West Bengal, Somnath has shown remarkable inclination towards various musical instruments even from his very childhood. Keenly observing classical and neo classical music and trying a variety of instruments whenever an opportunity strikes. Somnath kept his passion intact for many years. He started learning the Hindustani Flute from Sri Nepal Sarkar and went on to learn dholak from Sri Bablu Biswas respectively.

His unbridled urge to explore beyond frontier of Hindustani laya system took him to Pandit S. Shekar, the legendary Mridangam maestro of Kolkata who comes from the acclaimed Palghat Mani Iyer School of Mridangam playing. Shri Shekar advised Somnath to learn unique art of Ghatam playing from the ‘numero uno’ in Ghatam today, Shri V. Suresh who lives in Chennai. Shri Suresh trained Somnath under Gurukula system (where the student lives with the guru’s family and learns the art for some years) for more than two years, guiding him in the authentic, fingering techniques of Ghatam. Somnath had his maiden performance as a Ghatam player in a Carnatic classical concert in 1999. He also accompanied legend classical Artists like Sangeeta Kalanidhi Dr. T.K.Moorthy, Dr. N. Vijay Shiva, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Pt. Abhijit Banerjee, Grammy award winner Pt. Viswa Mohan Bhatt. Etc.

Somnath has been working as a composer for film music for 22 years. He worked with legend film director like Sandip Roy, Goutam Ghosh, Budhadev Dasgupta etc.

He has many CDs published internationally as a solo artist as well as accompanist. He played prestigious festivals in India and abroad like Dover Lane Music Conference, International society for Laya Awareness, Etni Malaga Festival, World sacred music festival and many more. Somnath got Best percussionist award from ATN at 2003.