Two Maestros - at their peak
by Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta
& Pt. Anindo Chatterjee
Buddhadev Das Gupta is the senior most exponent of one of the most authentic sarod gharanas today. He is a true genius with numerous achievements and one of the best known cultural ambassadors of our country.
Born in 1933 at Bhagalpur, he started his training from the age of ten from the sarod maestro, Radhika Mohan Maitra. His training continued for a period of 38 years until the demise of his teacher-the longest and most intensive training imparted by the great maestro to a disciple.
Since Radhika Mohan took his talim from Md. Ameer Khan, whose gharana's forte was the rabab-style of playing and also from Md. Dabir Khan of the Rampur Senia gharana, Buddhadev's style is based largely on that of his teacher's-emerging from a synthesis of the two gharanas. However, it is his unique musical personality that has shaped a distinctive style, completely his own. A deep understanding of the raga, a rare accuracy of the swaras, a superb balance between a gayaki and tantrakari, together with powerful bol patterns and fluent ekhara taans, of which he has been a pioneer, mark his music.
He started broadcasting at the age of 16 and has featured at over 20 National concerts and Radio Sangeet Sammelans. A veteran performer at all the major festivals for over five decades, he also has a number of commercial recordings to his credit. He has done considerable research work on sarod and music in general, and is known for his lucid articles and lectures. He has held the bengali audience spellbound by his bandishes based on Rabindranath Tagore's songs, a unique concept pioneered by him. He has been honoured with many awards including the Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1993), Shiromani Awards (1989-99), and ITC Award (2002).Buddhadev Das Gupta is an accomplished teacher. His education, articulation and communicative abilities have combined with intelligent teaching techniques to bring some of his students of high order on to the performing stage.
At present, he is attached to the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, as member of its Experts Committee. He is also the Guru of the newly formed instrumental division, which imparts advanced training on the sitar and sarod.
Pt. Anindo Chatterjee
Great musicians are not made they are born. Anindo Chatterjee was born to be a musician, loved by all musicians and music lovers around the globe. From the beginning he has worked only to realize this destiny. In May of 1954, his amazing story began.
The torch bearer and inspiration of his amazing musical journey was his beloved uncle Biswanath Chatterjee. Early childhood lessons were received from his uncle Amarnath Chatterjee, followed by two years of taalim from Ustad Afaq Hussain Khan (1964-66) of Lucknow Gharana.
The Legendary Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh saw a gleam of genius in Anindo eyes and accepted him as his disciple training him for over thirty years. During this period Anindo perfected his technique and learned the rich repertoire of traditional tabla.
With laya firm as stone, and tone sweet as a flower, he is the preferred accompanist by almost every musician. The first dubut initiated with Late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee is a World tour in 1975. Which laid a benchmark in Anindos musical career and he regularly performed with Nikhil Banerjee till his death. He has shared the stage with the late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Dr. L. Subramanium, Dr. Balmuruli Krishna and many others and made uncountable albums through out the world.
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