Firstly, Arnab Chakrabarty will played his Sarod with Bhupinder Singh Chaggar's tabla accompaniment. Secondly, Vinayak Chittar showed his musical skills on his Sitar. And finally, a breathtaking trio with all the three artists on stage. Three concerts - one night!
From 19.15 we were showing "Vilayat Khan - a rare genius"
- a documentary film!
Maestro Vinayak Chittar has evolved into a most unusual member of the famous Imdad Khan gharana of sitar players. Chittar's music is noteworthy for a distinct subtleness in raga presentation that comes very rarely to instrumentalists, who are mostly absorbed in the pursuit of showcasing technical prowess. Mr. Chittar's cultivation of a balanced technique puts him among the absolute top tier of sitar players today, but what is more interesting is the fact that Chittar views raga music as an art of storytelling.
Vinayak Chittar has spent over twenty-five years in intensive study of his art. His teachers are the late Pandit P G Parab and Pandit Arvind Parikh. Vinayak has also had the occasional privilege of receiving some direct instruction from Ustad Vilayat Khan. He has spent the past seven years in rigorous self-guided studies, and the result is a style of sitar playing that is uniquely his own.
“After hearing the two sitarists in succession, Vinayak Chittar's superlative sitar playing seemed to give an impression that genius skips a generation. ”
- Times of India (2008)
Arnab Chakrabarty is one of the best-known sarode musicians of his generation. He is orthodox in his choice of repertoire, but a rational modernist in his approach to technique and delivery of music.
Arnab has studied with three outstanding sarode masters of India, Pandit Brij Narayan, Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta, and Professor Kalyan Mukherjea. Of them, Mukherjea has had the most influence on Arnab's outlook on music and life itself.
Through his studies under Das Gupta and Mukherjea, Arnab is considered an important member of the Shahjahanpur stylistic lineage as represented in the 20th century by the legendary sarodiya, Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra.
Arnab has also played for several documentary and feature films in India and the USA, the most noteworthy of these being the Oscar winnerBorn into Brothels (2005).
“One of the brightest prospects for Hindustani music...” ”
- Time Out Magazine, Mumbai (2006)
“A prodigiously talented Sarode player...” .” - The Hindu, New Delhi (2001)
Bhupinder Singh Chaggar is one of the foremost disciples of the gharanadar of the Benaras Gharana, the late Pt. Sharda Sahai. Over the years, Bhupinder has established himself as one of the top tabla soloists and accompanists in Europe and in India as well. After rigorous training, Bhupinder was launched giving solo performances in India.
This was only the start for Bhupinder as he continued to progress and over the years performed alongside many established artist from varying musical backgrounds. His exhilarating solo performance in the esteemed Indian classical music festival 'Darbar' was highly praised by senior artists and audience alike with a standing ovation and was later selected to be televised on Sky Arts.
