Hindu tradition attaches paramount importance to spiritual gurus. Gurus are often equated with God and always regarded as a link between the individual and the Immortal. Just as the moon shines by reflecting the light of the sun, and glorifies it, all disciples can dazzle like the moon by gaining from their Gurus.

Swami Sivananda Saraswati spoke of the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the Guru's role in the evolution of man. “It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the Guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby re-affirms its belief and allegiance to it. For, the true Indian knows that the Guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality.“

The full moon day in the Hindu month of Ashad (July-August) is observed as the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyasa, regarded as the scribe of the Vedas. It is also known as Vyasa Purnima. On this day, all student aspirants and spiritual devotees worship Vyasa in honor of his divine personage and all disciples pay their respects to their respective spiritual preceptor or 'Gurudev'. Traditionally, students and spiritual seekers vow to intensify their spiritual 'sadhana' from this day.

We too, at Sangeet Research Academy, celebrate this day and venerate our gurus.This year, on the eve of the auspicious day, students gave precise yet dazzling performances as their gift to their respective gurus. The theme was beautifully planned by one of our most senior gurus and the prima donna of the Banaras gharana, Vidushi Giraja Devi [fondly called Appaji by one and all at the Academy).

The season being rainy, she chose Malhars to be the theme for all the performers. Scholars performed mostly in duets and a group presentation was the grand finale.

Abhijeet Apastambh & Deborshee Bhattacharya, students of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, provided a scintillating vocal performance in Raga Mian Ki Malhar, with Sandeep Ghosh on the Tabla and Rupashree Bhattacharya on the Harmonium. This was followed by awonderful Violin and Sitar Duet in Raga Megh by two more of Pandit Chakrabarty’s students,Saket Sahu & Joyeeta Sanyal. They were accompanied on the Tabla by Indranil Bhaduri.

Two senior scholars of the Academy, Manali Bose & Sucheta Ganguly, [students of Pandit Arun Bhaduri and Vidushi Girija Devi ] presented Raga Sur Malhar with Sanjay Adhikary on the Tabla and Rupashree on the Harmonium.

Nivedita Ghosh and Saurav Ganguly, [students of Pandit Manilal Nag] then presented Raga Desh in yet another Sitar and Sarod Duet with Bilal Khan on the Tabla. Sameehan Kashalkar and Alick Sengupta, [students Of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar] sang Raga Gaud Malhar in a vocal duet with Sanjay Adhikary on the Tabla and Sarwar Hussain on the Sarangi.

Abir Hossain & Sandeep Bhattacharya, [students of Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta and Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan] provided a fabulous recital in Raga Jayant Malhar in an unusual Sarod & Vocal Duet with Prangopal Banerjee on the Tabla. This was followed by a Sitar & Sarod duet by Supratik Sengupta & Dwaipayan Roy [students Of Pandit Budhhadev Dasgupta]. They presented the wonderful raga Surdasi Malhar with Bilal Khan on the Tabla.

As the grand Finale Kasturi Banerjee, Sucheta Ganguly & Soumi presented Thumri,Dadra & Kajri with Sanjay Adhikary on Tabla and Rupashree on Harmonium.

Sri Amar Paul, the famous Bengali folk artist was invited to a lecture-demonstration at ITC-SRA on the 24th April ’10. It was the first time that a folk artist ever performed at the Academy. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Award and a D Lit from Burdwan University, the 88 year old artist was introduced by the Executive Director, Mr Ravi Mathur. Sri Paul started the evening appreciating SRA’s gesture.

Amar Paul commenced his lecture demonstration with an introduction to the folk traditions and structure; the emergence of songs from the daily walks of life of a rural man, songs emerging from the basic rituals of the daily chores: for farmers while they sow, the songs of boatmen; songs sung for birth, marriage and death; songs sung for seasons; lullabies and chants of the lord from the Geet Govind. He also sang the tunes of baul music and the peer fakirs of the area, and songs describing women at work while pounding rice. These tunes, a fine blend of rhythm and melody, have all evolved from ragas.

Sri Paul’s introduction to the commercial world of music occurred when he met Pt Jnan Prakash Ghosh for the first time at the All India Radio Station, Kolkata. Pt Ghosh specially took to his early morning songs or ‘Prabhati’ which, even today, are held in great regard by many listeners. Sri Paul also got the opportunity to perform in Japan in 1978. He regretted the way folk music is “lifted” by composers even today and who earn enormously from such productions, ignoring the folk musicians who established the original music. At this point, Sri Paul put forward the life of the late Sri Sachin Dev Burman, folk artist and music connoisseur. Unable to gain recognition in the East, Dev Burman moved to Bombay where he received national acclaim for his work.

The evening recital at ITC – SRA will be remembered for Sri Amar Paul’s knowledge of, and his vast repertoire of folk music. In spite of his age, he still continues to inspire his audiences with his gifted voice. He is a true icon for future generations of musicians, whether classical, folk or popular.

On this festive and colorful occasion, the Gurus and scholars of the ITC – Sangeet Research Academy celebrated Holi with a 3 hour long session of live music. It took place at the academy’s auditorium, and was a grand occasion as everyone thoroughly enjoyed the performances and ended the session dancing away.

The event began at 11 in the morning with Vidushi Girija Devi, who was also the one to organize the whole event. Girija jee began with singing a hori dhun in raga pilu. After her performance, Sucheta Ganguly, Manali Bose and Sohini Bhattacharya sang a holi song in raga des. Following their performance was that of three of the instrumental scholars; Dwaipayan Roy, Mallar Rakshit and Abhir Hossain, who performed a short rendition of raga Kafi. It definitely brought some balance to the mood as it was mellow, yet pleasantly soothing. The next performance was also an instrumental one, given by the scholars Joyeeta Sanyal, Saurav Ganguly, and Rakae Jamil, a visiting scholar. They performed a gat in madhlaya jhaptaal and a gat in drut teentaal.

The celebrations continued with five vocal scholars, Aditya Sharma, Adarsh Saxena, Sandeep Bhattacharya, Sameehan Kashalkar and Shankoo beautifully rendering a holi thumri in chanchal taal. Following them were another group of female scholars singing a geet, and to wrap up the even, Pt. Arun Bhaduri sang a few light and cheerful compositions in holi geet.

The conclusion, however, was the climax of the celebrations as everyone in the recital room, included all the Gurus, the administrations and the scholars danced while singing a ‘holi khelay rang veera’. It was a truly a magical moment at ITC- Sangeet Research Academy, and probably the only place which managed to create a blend of serious music and playful celebration on the occasion of holi

Following the three days of ITC SRA’s Sangeet Sammelan at Kolkata in early January, a special evening was added on, for the classical dance loving public of Kolkata, dedicated to a unique artist, who has taken India’s classical tradition to the world. On January 15th, ITC SRA presented the dynamic feet, dazzling rhythms and decades of excellence embodied by the son of Bengal, Pandit Chitresh Das. Pandit Das performed to a packed audience comprising of some of India’s most respected, notable artists, including Vidushi Girija Devi, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pandit Shankar Ghosh and Pandit Bachan Lal Mishra, to name a few.

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty’s introduction was one of the most profound descriptions of Pandit Das. He described Pandit Das not only as one of Bengal’s living legends, but also prayed that Panditji would live for another hundred years, so that he may continue his work for the generations to come. And so, the concert began on such a warm, welcoming note.

The performance began with Pandit Das’ signature Shiva Vandhana, Hare Hare Mahadeva. He entered the stage majestically holding an offering of flowers and incense, singing, dancing, and invoking the power of Lord Shiva, accompanied by musicians Pandit Ramesh Misra, on sarangi, Sri Abhijit Banerjee on tabla, Sri Jayanta Banerjee on sitar, and Sri Debashish Sarkar on vocal, and Amitavo Majumdar on sarod.

His thaat was marked with lightning -fast flourishes of footwork ending in crisp karanths that took the audience’s breath away. He performed bandishes from both the Lucknow and Jaipur gharana. His signature chakkars were highlighted in an old Jaipur bandish jaga jaga tunjey where he made five sounds with the left foot while creating the effect of akash chari.

He proceeded to dance in a fascinating 12 and a half Taal. The element of ‘upaj’ was dominant throughout the concert. His 12 ½ beat Taal, in a dhamaar ‘ang’ was intricate and exciting for Das and for all the musicians attempting to follow along. Replete with all the elements of a traditional Kathak solo, Pandit Das joyously danced tihais, without anyone reciting for him, including a farmaishi chakradar tihai and a kamali chakradar tihai. The aura of joy was created by the exchange between Das, the musicians and the audience.

His variety and ingenuity were at times stunning. There was one particular bandish where Pandit Das recited tabla bols, in a dhamaar ang, where sam is ‘kat,’ so he ended with his left foot. Emulating the tabla players, where ‘kat’ is played with the left hand, Pt. Das ended his 12 ½ beat ‘dhamaar ang’ creation taal on his left foot – the abruptness of the arrival of sam left all on the edge of their seats.

He then performed, without any accompaniment from the musicians, an evolution in the dance called Kathak Yoga. Here yoga refers to the Sanskrit word meaning union of mind and body. Kathak yoga is a ground breaking innovation within tradition where he played tabla in one taal and performed with his feet different chhands, singing the nagma and playing theka, all simultaneously bringing these traditional elements into harmony. This piece has been the subject of a dissertation at Harvard University. In this particular piece, he not only played tabla, but danced and sang, giving the impression of pure sadhana.

He then introduced Jason Samuels Smith, an Emmy-Award winning tap dancer who toured with him to sold-out audiences throughout India. In an electrifying sawal jawab, the exchange between Smith’s taps and Das’ footwork were full of speed, clarity, power, and joy.

He then performed Madan Bhasma, in raag Shivaranjani in Japtala. Here he portrayed Parvati’s dance in lasya ang with tremendous Khubsurti and nazakat. He then showed the sringara ras of Madan and Rati in raag Basant Bahar and then through tayyari and layakari he showed Lord Shiva’s anger burning Madan to ashes. The four elements of khubsurti, nazakat, tayyari and layakari were presented in a full length gat bhav incorporating the concept of Ardhanarishwara.

He ended his concert with Maha Prabhu Sri Krishna to the audience’s demand where he brought a pure bhakti ras. He intertwined the classical Lucknow gharana na dhi dhi na footwork at a high speed matching with Abhijit Banerjee’s hands, sound for sound. He concluded his performance with a final pranam and as he raised his head, he was blessed and honored with a standing ovation from the learned and eminent crowd.

The energy between Das, the audience and the musicians was truly magical. And the joyous and enthusiastic appreciation by all made the occasion a fitting finale to ITC SRA’s extended sammelan week.

20th January, 2010 was the auspicious day of Saraswati Puja in Bengal. This being a Wednesday, at ITC SRA this day was celebrated with a special Wednesday recital featuring Guru Ulhas Kashalkar. The evening began with the Executive Director, Mr Ravi Mathur paying tribute to Ulhasji and acknowledging his huge contribution to Hindustani Classical Music in the country.

Performing before a packed auditorium, with music lovers jostling for space, Ulhasji started the evening with Raga Jayatshri. The next raga chosen by him was Kedar. The evening culminated with a superb rendition of Raga Basant. Ulhasji was accompanied on the harmonium by Sri Jyoti Guho, on the tabla by Sri Gopal Mishra and on the tanpura by scholars Sameehan and Aditya.

On 25.11.09 an important visitor, Mrs Kusum Awasthi Gupta, Chief Commissioner Income Tax, Kolkata visited the Academy. A special recital by our scholars was organized for her.

The first scholar was Joyeeta Sanyal on the Sitar who demonstrated raga Charukeshi. Pt Gopal Mishra accompanied her ably on the tabla. Next, Manali Bose put up a recital of raga Bilashkhani Todi. This was followed by a sarod recital by Abir Hussain. Abir played an enchanting version of raga Mishra Khambaj. The final recital was by scholar Brajeshwar Mukherjee who sang a Thumri in raga Sohini.

On 17.11.09 Corporate Human Resources of ITC Ltd invited us to host an event showcasing our talented scholars for the Managers Training Programme held at the ITC Sonar. The five scholars who performed were Anindita Deb, Deborshee Bhattacharya and Manali Bose in classical Vocal, Saket Sahu on the Violin and Abir Hussain on the Sarod. They were accompanied by Gopal Mishra on tabla and Rupashree Bhattacharya on harmonium. Abhijit Apasthamb and Sohini Bhattacharya provided tanpura support.

Gurus Pt Arun Bhaduri and Pt Falguni Mitra were present to give encouragement to the scholars. Anindita gave a beautiful presentation of Raga Multani, Saket presented an uplifting Raga Hamsadwani, while Deborshee presented Bihag. Abir played a version of Raga Desh learnt from his Guruji and the concluding performance was by Manali. She sang two bandishes of Raga Rageshri.

The performances were extremely well received and as a token of ITC Ltd’s appreciation, the Gurus were felicitated by Mr Kurush Grant. The scholars were given a token of appreciation by Mr R Srinivasan and the accompanists by Mr Anand Nayak. The evening ended with an elaborate dinner.

The last Wednesday of October ( 28/10/09) brought tabla prodigy Rimpa Siva to the ITC SRA platform once more. Rimpa, who is still attending college, started performing when she was six. All her learning is from her father Pt Swapan Siva, disciple of the Late Ustad Keramatullah Khan of “Farukhabad Gharana”, who has not only trained her but also numerous other well known tabla players of this generation - notably Shubhankar Banerjee. She has already performed all over India and the world and has accompanied maestros like Pt Jasraj and Pandit Hariprasad Chourasia . Honours and accolades have been showered upon her.

Rimpa began with a performance in Teentala. It began with a vilambit gat after which she started her display of various compositions by legendary tabla artistes. The first and second compositions were a Kaida and Rela by Ustad Keramatullah Khan followed by Ustad Abid Hussain Khan’s Kaida. Then she displayed a Tukra by Pt Ananth Nath Bose and Ustad Keramatullah Khan. She concluded with a Chakradhar by Pt Kanai Dutta. She went on to demonstrate Tala Rupak. She used a lot of Bols for her display which added grandeur to her performance. The audience, enthralled by her skill and dexterity, responded with tremendous applause at the end of her recital .

Dr Ronald Kurt visited ITC SRA on 10th October 2009, Saturday as a guest of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Prof Kurt is Professor for Sociology at the University of Kassel, Germany and is also head of a research project “Intercultural Understanding in Schools of the Ruhr Region”, KWI Essen (Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities).

Prof Kurt showed snippets from his documentary film “Be a Medium” with a special emphasis on “Guru Shishya Parampara”. This film was partly shot in ITC SRA about four years ago. The campus and Gurus were featured for about 10 mins in the film.

Later another documentary by the professor was screened. This is a documentary on a Fusion Music Workshop held in Germany. The film laid emphasis on the divergence as well as convergence in the world of Western as well as Indian music. The film showed a final recital of Fusion music by German and Indian students of Music, a composition by Pandit Madhup Mudgal.

The film show was followed by a recital by our own students. Our Musician Scholar Supratik Sengupta gave a recital on the Sitar after which young Junior Scholar, Subha Ghosh gave a Vocal recital. A gala lunch capped the morning’s events.

Ukrainian ethnomusicologist, Olha Kolomyyets is a lecturer at the Franko National University in Lviv. Faculty of Culture and Arts, currently teaching subjects like Ukrainian musical folklore, World music and the Music of the Orient. Her special interests are Traditional Rites in family life in Ukrainian folk music, Hindustani classical music (vocal genres, especially khayal) and comparative analyses between Ukrainian and world traditional culture. A recipient of numerous scholarships, she has conducted intensive research, participated in many conferences and has had several papers published on her range of subjects. 

Olha poses on the verdant lawns of ITC SRA.

Introduced to the Kirana style of Hindustani Classical Music by a friend in Ukraine, Olha spent 17 days at our Academy in August 2009, researching various aspects of the Kirana gharana, under Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. Her quest was to describe the gharana itself, its origin and roots; investigate the contribution of the historical figures of the gharana as well as modern musicians; and finally, to analyze the origin and development of the genre, its position among other genres of vocal varieties of Hindustani music and its musical characteristics. Her research is the first of its kind in Ukraine.

During her stay here, she had the opportunity to listen to ITC SRA’s immense archives and take taalim (training) from Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. She also conducted in-depth interviews with the Ustad to facilitate her study. Thus, she acquired both theoretical and practical knowledge, the latter being a valuable add-on, which helped her go deeper into her research.

Over and above the call of her research, Olha was able to observe and be a part of a day in the life of a practicing musician. This was the highlight of her research trip to ITC SRA – to witness the relationship between guru and shishya, to observe all facets of their professional and personal relationship – a most interesting experience.

Olha interviews Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan with his student, Shounak Chatterjee acting as interpreter.

Over and above the call of her research, Olha was able to observe and be a part of a day in the life of a practicing musician. This was the highlight of her research trip to ITC SRA – to witness the relationship between guru and shishya, to observe all facets of their professional and personal relationship – a most interesting experience.

Olha benefited immensely from all the help she received – from staff, scholars and musicians alike as well as from the library and archives facilities. She was, in particular, very impressed with the extremely well organized program that was tailor-made for her. Thanks to this, her day was filled with numerous interesting activities that gave her a multi dimensional insight into the world of Hindustani Classical Music.

On the eve of her departure, she gave a very interesting presentation to all of us at the Academy – giving us a peep into traditional Ukrainian music.

Sometime in early August, we had yet another visitor, Mr Pierre Grammon. Here is his story :

“Coming from France, one of the main targets of my third trip to India was to listen, enjoy and learn more about Hindustani music and I feel really lucky that I found by lucky chance, the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, where people welcomed me and kindly took some of their time to show me and teach me some aspects of this music that I love.

First, although I am a 32-year-old mechanical engineer working in Paris, France, listening to and playing guitar has been my main passion for years. After concentrating on Jazz (in particular the saxophone player, John Coltrane), I started to discovered Indian classical vocal and instrumental music a few years back. The more I listened to CDs and concerts, the more I loved the melodic and rhythmic subtleties of this highly sophisticated and beautiful music that speak to both to my brain and my heart. My CD player finally playing almost only Indian classical music during the last year, I started to learn tabla in Paris with Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan a few months ago. Naturally, I decided to visit India again during my summer holidays, this time, for a music-focused journey.

I arrived in Kolkata on August the 2nd, and I immediately liked the city's relaxed and cultural atmosphere. On the second and third evenings I really enjoyed a music festival in Jhulanbari Temple. But, during the days, I tried to find a music school without success. Quite by chance, an employeeof the India Tourist Office "Incredible India" told me that I ought to go to the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, in front of the Tollygunge metro station. I decided to go there immediately, without knowing yet at all the prestige tthat the Academy enjoys.

As soon as I entered in the ITC-SRA complex, I noticed, as a good omen, the sculpture of the singing bird on the tabla. While I was trying to explain my case at the reception, I met the webmaster, Ratnaboli Bose who impressed with my interest, immediately took me across to meet Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta. Pandit Dasgupta spoke to me and asked me to come and attend class the following day. Almost immediately, Pandit Dasgupta started to show me the notes on the Sarod. That evening, after a wonderful Wednesday Recital (featuring the Sarod scholar Abir Hossein), I had the great opportunity to meet the ITC-SRA Executive Director, Mr Ravi Mathur who kindly introduced me to Pandit Arun Bhaduri and Pandit Samar Saha, with the authorization to also attend their vocal and tabla classes during my stay.

Although I quickly understood that I was a complete beginner in the middle of really advanced scholars and students, I listened and learnt as much as I could in these few weeks: melodies, rhythms and a fascinating approach to the music purity and creativity. I found all the people really nice and patient with me and I have been particularly impressed by the really respectful relationship between master and pupils.

I would like to thank everybody at the ITC-SRA, and, when I return to France, I will be happy to help the academy by networking with the Hindustani music lovers, musicians or concert organizers community in France.

Thank you very much again,

Pierre”. 

Pierre poses in front of the tabla-koel (cuckoo) sculpture which is the ITC SRA logo, and his "good omen".

The term guru means one who dispels the darkness of ignorance and infuses the light of awareness into our lives. And the word Purnima means full moon day. Guru Purnima celebrates the might of one's teacher or guru through respect and reverence.

Mr Anand Nayak lighting the inaugural lamp

The full moon day in the month of Ashad (mid-June to mid-July) is observed as the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyas, to whom is attributed the authorship of the great epic "Mahabharata", the eighteen Puranas, the Brahma sutras and the classification of the four Vedas.

Samarth Nagarkar chanting the Gurupoojan mantra

In ancient India where there were gurukuls or ashrams, it was this day when the shishya venerated his or her guru. In continuance of this tradition, on Tuesday July 7, 2009, the scholars and general class students of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy paid homage to their gurus.

Manali Bose and Sucheta Ganguly singing the invocation

The celebrations began with the lighting of the inaugural lamp by Mr Anand Nayak, trustee ITC-SRA. The gurus were then felicitated in turn, with Samarth Nagarkar chanting the Gurupoojan mantra. This was followed by an invocation by Sucheta Ganguly and Manali Bose.

Scholars in performance

 The students began with a group presentation of a khayal in Raga Bhairav “Guru hamare antaryami”, set to teentala. This was followed by a solo performance by scholar Brajeshwar Mukherjee who sang khayals in Raga Jaunpuri, “Guru charana bina mohe kachhu nahi bhave” in jhaptala and “Prabhu mohe bharosa ek tiharo” in teentala.

Brajeshwar Mukherjee singing Raga Jaunpuri

The programme ended with a sitar-sarod jugalbandi of alap and gat in Raga Bhairavi by scholars Supratik Sengupta and Abir Hossain.