About the
Artists
Mita Nag
Mita
Nag, daughter of veteran satirist, Pandit Manilal
Nag and grand daughter of Sangeet Acharya (a
master musician) Gokul Nag, belongs to the
Vishnupur Gharana of Bengal, a school of music
nearly 300 years old. In terms of lineage, Mita is
the sixth generation sitar player in her family,
the tradition having begun with her fore fathers.
It was with her grandfather Gokul Nag, who had
become the Guru of a noted zamindar (feudal lord)
family of Uttarpara, a Northern suburb town of
Kolkata, that the music of the Nag family came
into limelight. With her illustrious father
Manilal, the sitar tradition of Vishnupur gharana
was made known to the world. This Gharana
follows the Dhrupad style of song and the
instrumental recital too, imitates the dhrupad
style in the Alap phase.
Mita (born,1969) was initiated into music at the
tender age of four . She had shown rather early
gestures of her love for music. Toddling with her
tiny sitar Mita began her early training under the
guidance of her mother who was also a disciple of
Gokul Nag. Her grandfather’s encouragement and
instructions through singing had much influence on
her early reception of music, most noticeably,
associating the instrument with song. Her tutelage
under her father started at the age of six.
Mita appeared for her debut performance at the age
of ten years, the year 1979 being observed as the
International Year of the Child. The same year
Mita won the Junior National Talent Search Award
of the Govt .of India.
Mita has performed in a number of concerts, solo
as well as duet recitals with her father in major
cities of India and in many cities of the US,
Canada, Japan and Europe. She was awarded the
Junior Fellowship Award by the Human Resource
Development, Govt of India, for her research
project on Vishnupur Gharana.
As a soloist Mita has been performing in
numerous cities of the country and has
participated in famous Sangeet Festivals such as
The Doverlane Young Talents, The Doverlane Music
Conference, 2013, The Uttarparha Sangeet Chakra
Conference 2013, Salt Lake Music Festival ( a
number of times), Sangeet Piyasi, Kolkata, Khyal
Trust, Dadar Matunga, Swar –Yatra in Mumbai
. Darbar Festival, London, 2015. She
has also performed at many cities and towns of
Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.
Mita has founded the Gokul Nag Memorial
Foundation, a Trust for the promotion of Indian
Classical Music, in the fond memory of her
grandfather. Mita is a Masters in English
Literature and an M.Phil. in English from The
University of Kolkata.
(Biography sourced from artists' website: http://www.mitanag.com/)
Hassan Haider
Hassan Haider is an acknowledged Sahnai
player. His family hails from Allahabad, and he
was born in Kolkata (Calcutta) on April 6th 1985.
His father Ud. Ali Ahmed Hussain was a famous
Sahnai maestro. His family has been representing
this art form for generations.
Hassan Haider received his training in Benaras and
Senia Gharanas from his father. He also learned
from Pt. Arvind Parikh, the famous sitar maestro
from school of Ud. Imdad Khan, Ud. Enayat Khan and
Ud. Vilayat Khan. Hassan’s great grandfather Ud.
Wazir Ali Khan was a musician of distinction who
was the first musician to ever perform the Sahnai
at the Buckingham Palace in London, England in
1910 and was awarded by Pt. Motilal Nehru, the
father of India’s first Prime Minister Jawharlal
Nehru.
Even at this young age, Hassan Haider has already
performed at many important music festivals,
venues and occasions in India, such as The Autumn
Festival of Dance and Music in celebration of
India’s 50th year of independence, Dover Lane
Music Festival in Kolkata, Harballav Festival in
Jalandhar, Uttarpara Sangeet Chakra in West
Bengal, Sri Ram Shankarlal Festival in Delhi, Ud.
Alauddin Khan Academy in Bhopal, Sangeet Natak
Academy in Pune, only to name a few. All of his
performances have been well reviewed in newspapers
and magazines.
He had toured and performed with his father in
several countries outside India. Those include the
USA, Canada, U.K., France, Switzerland and
Belgium. He is regularly featured on Indian radio
and television.
Subhen
Chatterjee
Subhen
Chatterjee bases his style of playing to
Lucknow Gharana that he learnt from his
illustrious Guru tabla maestro Pandit Swapan
Chowdhury. Not restricting himself to one
single Gharana-Subhen went on to learn the
intricacies & beauty of other Gharanas
that he introduced in his playing & which
has made his style of playing so unique &
distinctive.
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Smt. Girija Devi, Pt.
Jasraj, Smt. Sobha Gurtu, Pt. V. G. Jog, Pt.
Rajan-Sajan Misra, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ustad
Shahid Parvez, Pt. Viswa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad
Ashish Khan, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt. Manilal
Nag, Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, Pt. Ronu
Mazumder, Pt. Chitresh Das and many others and
has earned a very good name both from the
audience as well as the press. Subhen is also
a very fine soloist.
WOMAD(World Organisation of Music & Dance,
founded by renowned guitar player Peter
Gabriel) by collaborating with such
distinguished artistes such as Paul Horn
(Flautist), David Cosby (of Crosby, Still,
Nash & Young famed) etc. Subhen has also
created India’s leading fusion band, KARMA,
(in the year 1985) which is still the only of
its kind from the easter part of India.
Subhen’s recent collaboration with renowned
percussionist, SIVAMANI, has enabled him to
form another unique fusion band called FRIENDS
OF DRUMS (F. O. D) whose main objective is to
help the lesser known yet very talented
musicians sharing stage with renowned ones. F.
O. D. has also planned for supporting old and
handicapped musicians (financially or
otherwise) who had served the music world for
years.
His
album BANDISH FUSION was nominated for JPF
Music Awards (one of USA's leading music
awards) in 2006.
Subhen's latest albums "BANDISH FUSION:
Redefind" & "BANDISH FUSION: the lasting
legacy" are already in the charts, both in
India & abroad. For more details on this,
please log on to: www.bandishfusion.com
Artists'
website: http://www.subhenchatterjee.net
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