Bhuwalka Award

On 10th March at a ceremony attended by most of Kolkata’s senior musicians, ITC Sangeet Research Academy guru Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta was given the Bhuwalka Award 2006. The award, conferred by the Saurabh Academy of Music and Dance on a classical guru every year, was instituted by Shri Ajit Kumar Bhuwalka and has reached its 31st year. At the felicitation ceremony, the veteran sarodiya was offered sweetmeats, fruits, a shawl, citation and cash prize. Earlier awardees include Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan, Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Vidushi Gangubai Hangal, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Amiya Ranjan Bandopadhyay and many others.

Veteran musician felicitated

Veteran musician and Advisor, Scientific Research Department, ITC-SRA, Shrimati Dipali Nag was felicitated by the Chowringhee Priyadarshini Indira Gandhi Memorial Foundation which celebrated the birth anniversary of the late Prime Minister on November 19, 2006. Noted personalities who have perpetually excelled in their fields, including Dr Pratap Chandra Chandra, Dr Hosseinoor Rahman, Dr Phulrenu Guha and others have been felicitated earlier. Shrimati Mamata Shankar, Shri Sailen Manna, Shrimati Sabitri Chatterjee and Shri Sanjib Chattopadhyay were amongst the awardees this year.

Padmashree Rashid Khan

There have been very few classical vocalists who have created such a mesmerizing impact on listeners from their adolescent days. Ustad Rashid Khan’s astounding influence on the gayaki of budding singers is proof of his universal acceptance. In awarding him the Padmashree on Republic Day, 2006, his contribution has been acknowledged by the nation. ITC Sangeet Research Academy is indeed proud to have nurtured this brilliant musician.

Hailed by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi as one of the most notable torchbearers of the Hindustani classical tradition in the twenty first century, Rashid is a gandabandh shagird of his illustrious great uncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan of the Rampur Sahaswan gharana. Debuting in performance at the age of eleven, he has continued to innovate and improve his performances. In April, 1980, he joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a scholar, when he was barely 14 years of age.

By 1994, the Academy had acknowledged his status as a musician. He had been adjudged an ‘A’ graded artiste by AIR in his very first audition, and never looked back. He has diligently developed his remarkable ability to enthrall listeners and has incorporated nuances of other styles. He has included the slow elaboration in his vilambit khayals in the manner of his maternal uncle, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. He has also developed exceptional expertise in the use of sargams and sargam taankari. His style includes the slower tempo vilambit, while his taankari is as powerful and variegated as any of his predecessors of the Rampur Sahaswan style.

The brilliant Enayat Hussain drut and medium pace khayals ring as true in his voice as they have done down the ages. He is also a master of the tarana like his guru, but sings them in his own manner, preferring the khayal style rather than the instrumental stroke-based style for which Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan Sahab was famous.

Ustad Rashid Khan’s singing bears a distinctive stamp of his very own. The ITC Sangeet Research Academy is indeed honoured to have been a part of this incredible musician’s life.

The unique tonality of her voice, the mellifluous renditions of over five thousand songs in several Indian languages over six decades and the remarkable skills that she developed through talim and rigorous riaz have made the inimitable Sandhya Mukhopadhyay what she is today - the heartthrob of music lovers all over the world.

Her industry and basic foundation in Hindustani classical music paved the way towards her epic achievements in the semi classical genre of music. Initiated into music by Shri Santosh Basu Mullick, she has had the privilege of studying under great mentors like Shri Jamini Ganguly, Shri Dhruva Tara Joshi, Shri Chinmoy Lahiri, Shri A Kanan and Shri Kalachand Lahiri. Her quest for the very best and her persistence for perfection finally brought her to the legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. After his demise, she continued in the Patiala tradition under his illustrious son, Ustad Munawar Ali Khansahib.

Sandhya Mukherjee made her debut in 1943 at the All Bengal Music Conference and was honoured with the title of “Geetashree” in 1946. Her classical performances have always been highly acclaimed by connoisseurs and critics alike. However, her versatility and natural ability to do justice to diverse forms of vocal music made she opt for bangla music as a career. She has brought unmatched glory to the world of bangla film and modern music, bhajans, songs of Rabindranath and Nazrul, which may be attributed to years of immaculate training and diligent practice as a classical vocalist.

As a true reflection of her contributions, her honors include among many others, the National Award for Best Playback Singer in 1970, Allauddin Puraskar in 1991 and the HMV Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. She was also the recipient of the ITC Award for 2005 at Kolkata.

Pandit Kashinath Mukherjee, a profoundly accomplished Hindustani Classical instrumentalist, has successfully kept aloft the taalim of the great Ustad Vilayat Khan. He has enthralled veterans, amateurs and the uninitiated alike over the years with the sheer merit, dexterity and the irresistible appeal and force of his music.

Inspired by his father Shital Chandra Mukherjee, a learned Dhrupad exponent, Kashinath trained under Srinivas Nag for twelve years. His brother, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the well known film director, was also a student of Srinivas Nag, learning Esraj. After the passing away of his master, he continued his taalim under Ustad Vilayat Khan. For the five years that he remained with the Ustad, he kept away completely from public appearances, as directed by his master. His insatiable hunger for learning later led him to luminous maestros such as Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Amir Khan.

Pandit Mukherjee has participated in major concerts both at home and abroad and is the recipient of the ITC Award this year.

On the 25th year of its existence, ITC SRA honoured Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi for their lifelong dedication to the cause of Indian Classical Music at the 32nd ITC Sangeet Sammelan at Delhi . At the 4-day extravaganza which took place between February 12th and 15th, 2004, ITC Awards for the year 2003 were given to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Ravi Shankar by the Chairman of ITC Ltd., Mr. Y.C. Deveshwar. 

In his acceptance speech, Pt Ravi Shankar, one of the earlier trustees of the board of the ITC SRA, pointed out that the time has come to counter the onslaught of television and Bollywood. Acknowledging the government’s contribution to preservation of the arts, Panditji added that corporate involvement needs to focus on our classical traditions rather than concentrating on modeling and fusion music! 

The other recipient, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi spoke of the changes that the world of music has seen in the last few decades - in the early days the best musicians received Rs. 50 and tabaliyas only Rs. 10 or 20! He heartily acknowledged ITC SRA’s encouragement to artistes, and hoped that the work would continue to improve.

At the three-day creatively charged ITC Sangeet Sammelan in Kolkata, held from November 7 to November 9, 2003, marking the Silver Jubilee of the ITC-SRA, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, presented the ITC Award for 2003 to the renowned musical legend Smt Girija Devi of the Banaras Gharana.

At the 31st ITC Sangeet Sammelan held at Delhi between January 31 and February 2, 2003, the ITC Award for 2002 was presented to the illustrious “Gaan Saraswati”, Smt Kishori Amonkar, the brilliant doyen of the austere Jaipur Gharana for her contribution to the world of Hindustani classical vocal music. After the lighting of the inaugural lamp, Kishori launched into her much awaited performance and the music lovers of Delhi, filling up every available space in the auditorium, were not disappointed.

At the ITC Sangeet Sammelan held at Kolkata between November 8 and 10th, 2002, the ITC Award for 2002 was presented to the internationally renowned Sarode Maestro, Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, the Guru of the instrumental section of the Academy and a member of the Expert Committee of ITC SRA.

The prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindustani music (sitar) for the year 2003 was bestowed on Shri Arvind Parikh. He is an industrialist, a well-known sitarist, the senior most disciple of Ustad Vilayat Khan, a member of the Board of Trustees, ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata and the Chairman, ITC SRA (Western Region). The Award was in recognisation for his tremendous contribution and untiring efforts to popularise Hindustani classical music in India and abroad by way of organising seminars, workshops and lecture-demonstrations by eminent performers and scholars.

Shri A Kanan, a guru of ITC Sangeet Research Academy since its inception, is a celebrated vocalist representing the Kirana Gharana. He received the Hafiz Ali Khan Award on December 22, 2003 for his incredible contribution to Hindustani classical vocal music.

Akashvani Kolkata has awarded the ‘B’ High grade to our scholars, Maitreyee Roy and Supratik Sengupta for Kheyal and Sitar respectively. Congratulations!

A resident scholar of ITC SRA and a celebrity in her own right, Kaushiki Chakraborty [daughter of Pt Ajoy Chakraborty] received the North Calcutta Junior Chamber’s Outstanding Young Person of Kolkata award on September 1st, 2002.

Shri Arnab Chatterjee, a resident scholar of ITC-Sangeet Research Academy under Pt A Kanan was awarded the 1st position at the All India Vocal Music Competition by Pt.Omkarnath Thakur Sangeet Mandal. The competition was held on 22nd September, 2002 at Bharauch. The judges included maestros Vidushi Gangubai Hangal,Ustad Hafiz Ahmed Khan and Pt Rajan Mishra.

The 'ITC Award' for the year 2001 was presented to the eminent sitarist, Pandit Manilal Nag by ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar at the ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata in December, 2001. An outstanding musical personality, Pt Nag is acknowledged for his stellar contribution to Hindustani classical instrumental music over four decades.

At the ITC Sangeet Sammelan held at Delhi in January 2002, the ITC Award for 2002 was presented to Vidushi Gangubai Hangal, the doyen of the Kirana gharana, for her resplendent contribution to the world of Hindustani classical vocal music.