Abir Hossain - ITC-SRA Scholar

Abir Hossain was born into a musical family of Burdwan, West Bengal. His father, Gulam Emam was his first mentor. Later, he came under the tutelage of the sarode maestro Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta from whom he continues to receive talim. Subsequently, he joined ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a scholar under the aegis of his Guru. In 1997, he received the National Scholarship from the Department of Culture, Govt. of India. He has also been a gold medalist at the Sangeet Prabhakar examination. He has successfully participated in many music concerts in India, including Kalavati Foundation, Bangalore, Bihar Sangeet Natak Akademi, Patna and ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Raipur in 2005 and Ballygunge Maitreyee Music Circle in 2006.

Aruna Sairam
Aruna Sairam was born in Bombay into a family with a deep love for music. Her mother, Smt. Rajalakshmi Sethuraman, was her first teacher in the art of Carnatic music, while her father was a fine and knowledgeable connoisseur. Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. T. Brinda taught her for several years, training her in the style of her own mentor, the great Veena Dhanammal, one of the most outstanding figures in Carnatic music.
Drawing on her long concert career and a number of significant encounters with other great musicians, Aruna Sairam is known for her own style. Aruna's voice is a beautiful blend of resonance and range. It has an unusual timbre which gives it a special quality. Add to this the musical legacy rooted in the traditional classicism of her guru, as well as her own openness, you have Aruna Sairam. She has created a large audience for Carnatic Music among the European listeners through her concerts. She also has the distinction of performing Carnatic Music in dialogue with internationally renowned artists of European and African countries. The deep emotional impact of Aruna's music intensely moves her listeners and has deservedly made her the favourite of pundits and the public alike.

Malini Rajurkar
Smt Malini Rajurkar is one of the most well known vocalists of her generation. Born in 1941, she grew up in Rajasthan, finishing her Sangeet Nipun from Ajmer Music College. She studied music under the guidance of Govindrao Rajurkar and Vasantrao Rajurkar. She was influenced by musicologist K.G.Ginde, Jitendra Abhisheki and Kumar Gandharva. Thus, she is not a pure Gwalior gharana follower.
Her concert career started in 1964. Ever since then, she has been a regular on the Indian concert circuit. She also had successful tours of the US (1980) and UK (1984). Since 1970s she has settled down in Hyderabad. Malini Rajurkar sings khayal in the slow tempo, like in Kirana gharana. She is the acknowledged master of tappa, a composition with fast phrases Malini Rajurkar has received several awards, including the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy awards in 2001.

Padmabhushan Kishan Maharaj
Padmashree, Padmabhushan, Pandit Kishan Maharaj is one of the finest tabla players of our time. Born on the auspicious day of Sri Krishna Janamashthami in the year 1923, in the holy city of Varanasi, his career spans over half a century and began at the tender age of eleven years, accompanying the principal artistes of the day.

Pandit Kishan Maharaj, whose ancestry boasts many professional musicians, also has an illustrious pedigree of teachers. His father Pandit Hari Maharaj first taught him. After the untimely death of his father, his training was taken over by his uncle, Pandit Kanthe Maharaj, one of the great old masters and himself a disciple of Pandit Baldeo Sahai. Pandit Baldeo Sahai was the son of Pandit Bhairav Sahai who was the son of Pandit Ram Sahai, the founder of the great Banaras gharana.

Pandit Kishan Maharaj’s ability to play cross rhythms and produce complex calculations, particularly in tihai patterns has made him one of the most respected and popular tabla players of his time. He has immense versatility with regard to playing any kind of accompaniment, be it with the sitar, sarod, dhrupad, dhamar or dance. He plays in his own distinctive style and the world follows him.

Prateesha Suresh
Prateesha took her first steps in dance with Sattriya. After her initial training in Bharatanatyam she took up the task of studying the five hundred years old dance form of her state, founded by the great philosopher and saint Shrimanta Shankaradeva. Traditionally, Sattriya is danced only by men inside the precincts of the Sattra. Therefore it required a deeper understanding of the art form. Prateesha felt committed in studying the classical features of the dance and establishing them which led her into studying the various facets and nuances of the dance form in detail. She not only worked on the technique of the dance but also on the music, costume and presentation.

The Sattriya style of dancing is unique. Studying the technique and presenting the classical features of the dance keeping the underlying spirit of philosophy of the dance intact became the most difficult yet the sole aim for this dancer. She took it up as research work and with support from her Guru and co-musicians she could create pieces of solo dance dramas as never done in Sattriya before. She brought forth the original music and unearthed the style of costume as existing before and created costumes that were traditional and yet suitable for the stage. They were subtle in concept but rich in content. She started her performances outside the state and combined them with lecture demonstrations for a better understanding of the dance form by one and all. It became important to present Sattriya amongst the other Indian classical dances. Towards this Prateesha has been performing all over the country and in prestigious dance festivals. In her pursuit for excellence she has received recognition from the entire dancing fraternity and dance critics.

Ulhas Kashalkar
In an age when maestros of the older generation express fear of the decadence of our grand tradition, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar’s voice and music stand like a colossus, as it were, an eternal reminder of the strength of this great art.

Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar was born in a family of musicians. His father, Shri N.D. Kashalkar, a musician in his own right, initiated him into vocal music. In time, he was accepted as a disciple by such great masters of the art as Pandit Ram Marathe and Pandit Gajananbua Joshi. Thus he received training of the highest order in three distinct prominent gharanas - Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur.

Blessed with a melodious voice and the gifted ability to blend three gayakees with authenticity and aesthetic excellence, he soon emerged to be one of the most formidable vocalists of the country. While his music remains well within the confines of tradition, the listener revels in an experience of listening to a seemingly new gayaki. Panditji is one of the most sought after artistes, both in India and in several other countries. The number of record companies that have released his cassettes and CDs world over is a reiteration of his popularity.

For over a decade now, he has been with the ITC Sangeet Research Academy as a Guru, producing numerous students of high calibre. A torchbearer of our pristine tradition, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar continues to enthral and take his audiences on an ecstatic journey through his music.

Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay
Initiated into music by his father, Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay was later trained by Pandit Mahadeo Prasad Mishra of the Benaras gharana. A top graded artiste of All India Radio today, Ananda Gopal has had a brilliant and successful career as a tabla player, who is adept both as a soloist and an accompanist. He is a widely traveled artiste and has played with virtually all the leading performers of Hindustani music at festivals all over the world. Apart from his performances, he has been associated with prestigious organizations like the Song & Drama Division (Delhi), Faculty of Music &Fine Arts (Delhi University) and the Amir Khusro Society, Chicago. Ananda Gopal is a senior faculty member of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata.

Bharat Kamat
Born in 1967, in a family with a tradition of music, Shri Bharat Kamat started learning to play the tabla at the tender age of four. He is the grandson of the late Master Shantaram Kamat who was an accomplished singer and a famous "Natya Sangeet" artist. He came under the tutelage of the well known tabla maestro Late Pundit Samta Prasad. Bharat Kamat won the Akashvani Music Competition award for 1991. He has accompanied several eminent artists of Hindustani music including Pundit Bhimsen Joshi with whom he has toured India and gone overses sincea since 1990. He has given many successful programs at various places in Europe, USA and the Middle East. He also tutors this art to eager learners.

Dr Arawind Digambar Thatte
Arawind, a Ph.D. in Mathematics, is a well known accompanist who has contributed considerably towards establishing the harmonium as a solo instrument. An adept soloist as well as accompanist, he is known for his clarity of notes even while improvising especially layakari as well as tappa accompaniment. Born in a musical family of intellectuals, he was closely associated with Pandit Jasraj, both as a disciple (for vocal music) and a harmonium accompanist. He has also accompanied most of the renowned performers of classical music and has participated in more than 125 programs of Marathi light music.

A recipient of the first prize in the All India Radio solo competition in 1982, he has also received the coveted first Kumar Gandharva Puraskar and several other awards. He has to his credit several music cassettes and CDs, with a variety of vocalists.

Gopal Mishra
Hailing from a family of traditional tabla practitioners of Benaras, Shri Gopal Mishra has proved himself not only as a soloist but also as an accompanist and is a well-known name in his generation. He was trained by his father Pandit Damodar Mishra, son of Pandit Bundi Maharaj,. His repertoire in the Benaras style got further enriched after he became the son-in-law of the great maestro Pandit Kishen Maharaj. A regular artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has performed at major festivals all over the world and is currently a staff musician at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.

Ramesh Mishra
Born in 1952, Ramesh Mishra is one of the outstanding exponents of sarangi from the Benaras gharana and represents the twenty-third generation of sarangi players in his family. Initiated by the great sarangi maestro late Pandit Gopal Mishra and later groomed by his father late Pandit Ramnath Mishra, For several years now, Ramesh Mishra has been under the tutelage of legendary Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. The association has brought both the maestro and the disciple together in performances, recordings and projects all over the world. An artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has accompanied almost all the leading musicians of India and performed in numerous conferences and festivals all over the world both as a soloist and as an accompanist. He has been honoured by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his sincere service to music.

Aruna Sairam’s accompanists

Photo Gallery of Events