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accompanied by Shubhojyoti Guha (tabla) Time: 6:00 PM Venue: TBA Tickets: $20 (adult), $10 (Sr/Stu) Free for ICMCA members. Join today! |
Rare, indeed, is the genius and artistry of this man who has, for almost six decades, single handedly represented the pedagogical lineage of the great masters Murad Ali Khan, Mohammad Ameer Khan and Radhika Mohan Maitra. It is for his incomparable sacrifices for music and the sarod, and for his soulful mastery of the instrument, that Buddhadev Das Gupta is recognized worldwide as one of the finest masters of the classical musical tradition of North India.
Born in Bhagalpur, a small city in the state of Bihar in India, on February 1, 1933, Buddhadev Das Gupta is one of the greatest living exponents of the Sarod, a complex 23 string Instrument from India.
Buddhadev's story is quite unique
for that of a Classical Indian musician. Though he was fond of
music and had training from Pandit
Radhika Mohan Maitra, Buddhadev dared not take music as a
profession for he came from a middle class family of Bengal,
where, in those days, music was not considered a very honorable
profession for the son of a civil servant and besides, most Classical
musicians of those
days lived on the verge of starvation.
Therefore, Buddhadev studied to be a mechanical engineer and worked with an engineering firm for thirty-two years. Despite this, his musicality and musicality grew as he learnt from Radhu Babu (as Radhika Mohan Moitreya was affectionately called by people) for thirty-eight years! Buddhadev became a regular broadcaster from the All India Radio, Calcutta in 1949.
Presently, he is a Top Grade Artist with AIR. A very unique style of sarod playing handed down through Radhu Babu by the Afghan forefathers of the instrument, combined with personal wit and breathtaking technique mark Buddhadev's music. He is possibly the most original and yet authentic performer of the Sarod in India today.
A representative of the Seniya Shahjahanpur Gharana, Buddhadev traces his musical lineage to the ancestors of the younger sarod player Amjad Ali Khan. A highly respected musician and musicologist, Buddhadev has toured, performed and lectured in many parts of the world including all of Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and Australia. He was, in fact, the first Indian sarod player to travel and perform abroad when he made his European debut in 1954. Apart from performing, Buddhadev has devoted a lot of time to teaching many young students, eleven of whom are high grade artists of All India Radio. Among Panditji's innumerable contributions to music are his pioneering efforts in deriving sarod bandishes out of Rabindra Sangeet, his experimental research on the universal nature of music as an emotional medium, and the ergonomics of instrument manufacture - in particular, that of the sarod.
At 66, Buddhadev remains as one of the most important links with the glorious past of sarod playing and has taken the sarod, through his efforts, to entirely new heights. His son Anirban Das Gupta is probably his most remarkable disciple and has attained tremendous heights as a sarod player.
In 1993, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award was bestowed on Pandit
Buddhadev Das Gupta by the President of India. He has also been
honored with the Asian Paints Shiromani Award twice in 1989 and
1992 and inducted into the Asian Paints Hall of Fame.
Buddhadev has many recordings to his credit. This is a great recovery for a Gharana that was almost wiped out for the lack of recordings. Some of his most impressive recordings are:
Rare Morning Ragas
Raga
Ahir Bhairav
Nayak
Ki Kanra
A
New Dimension To Sarod
There is a detailed, in depth interview with Buddhadev Das Gupta by Ira Landgarten at the Raga Records Web Site. Also, the Indian Music Group at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai interviwed him in 1997. Click here to read.
Biographical details courtesy
of: http://www.angelfire.com/ma/sarod/bdg.html
