Hindustani Vocal Recital By Ajoy Chakrabarthy

The road from heritage to decadence is punctuated by glowing roadblocks. Three of them are in town today, under the auspices of a fourth. Hindustani vocal doesn't get better.

The ITC Sangeet Research Academy is organising a Hindustani vocal recital by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, on 18th November, at Ravindra Bharathi. Pandit Chakrabarthi will be accompanied by Samar Saha on the tabla and Jyoti Goho on the harmonium.

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty is one of the most important vocal musicians of his generation, and a popular concert vocalist of India today. He showed such potential as a child that his father Ajit Chakrabarty initiated him early into singing and thereafter oversaw his training under great teachers like Kanaidas Bairagi, Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh and Ustad Munawar Ali Khan.

He was awarded the gold medals in the BA (Honors) and MA examinations of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. Currently, he is a guru of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, which he had joined in 1977 as the first research scholar.

In 1993, his deep interest in propagating music among children prompted him to begin Shrutinandan, a non-profit society that offers a holistic approach to the teaching of music to young people.

Samar Saha is known for his dexterity and rare musicianship. He was trained initially by his father Sudhangshu Bhushan Saha and his elder brother Tarak Saha. Later he received extensive taalim from Satchidananda Goswami before becoming a disciple of Krishna Kumar Ganguly (Natu Babu) of the Benaras gharana.

A much sought-after soloist as well as an accompanist, he has participated in all the prestigious music festivals in India and overseas, accompanying vocalists and instrumentalists alike. He has been a full-time faculty member of ITC Sangeet Research Academy since its inception. He has been encouraging young performers by organising concerts and awarding scholarships through the non-governmental organisation called Sangeet Piyasi.

Jyoti Goho was inspired by his mother’s melodious voice and developed a keen interest in music, which was carefully nurtured by his parents. He was trained in the harmonium by Deb Kumar Banerjee. He also has profound knowledge of vocal music in which his mentors were Sanat Banerjee, Biren Bose and Pandit A Kanan.

Known for his sensitive playing and appropriate embellishments, his supportive role has been acknowledged, among other stalwarts, by the great maestro Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. He has performed with all the great vocalists of Hindustani classical music, appearing at the major Sangeet sammelans in India and abroad. He is currently a faculty member of the ITC-SRA.

ITC Limited established the prestigious ITC Sangeet Research Academy (ITC-SRA) in 1978 with the objective of preserving and promoting Hindustani Classical Music. ITC-SRA has played a major role in reviving and nurturing India's rich heritage of Hindustani Classical Music.

Please contact N P Raju at 98494-92050 for further details.