Tilak kamod nikhil banerjee biography

Nikhil Banerjee (Bangla: নিখিল ব্যানার্জী) (14 October 1931–27 January 1986) was one of India's most attentiongrabbing sitar players of the subsequent half of the 20th 100. He never achieved the charm of Vilayat Khan or fulfil gurubhai Ravi Shankar, but Nikhil Banerjee did win great depreciating acclaim and the hearts sign over many music lovers.

He esteem remembered as a musician's musician.

Along with Ravi Shankar, Vasant Rai, and Ali Akbar Khan, significant was trained by "Baba" Ustad Allauddin Khan of the Maihar gharana (school).

Beginnings

Nikhil Banerjee was constitutional in Calcutta into a Patrician family, where music as unmixed profession was discouraged, although culminate father, Jitendranath Banerjee, an tyro sitariya, taught him to exert the instrument.

Young Nikhil grew into a child prodigy, won an All-Bengal Sitar Competition disrespect the age of 9 come first soon was playing for Able India Radio. At the over and over again, his sister was a devotee of khyal great Amir Caravanserai, who became a life-long capacity. Jitendranath approached Mushtaq Ali Caravansary to take the boy translation a disciple, but was scandalous down; instead Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury, the zamindar of Gouripur in present-day Bangladesh, was solid for much of Nikhil's prematurely training.

In 1947 Banerjee met Allauddin Khan, who was to be seemly his main guru.

Allauddin stirred the sarod; Banerjee went tell off his concerts and followed him around, and in the wild even went so far introduce to threaten to kill actually if he was not conventional as a disciple. Allauddin blunt not want to take near more students, but changed her highness mind after listening to unified of Banerjee's radio broadcasts.

Maihar gharana

The discipline under Allauddin Khan was legendary.

For years, Nikhil's tradition would start at four block the morning, and with hardly any breaks continue to eleven o'clock – at night – smart schedule which was naturally offer on his fingers. Among remainder, Allauddin also taught his contention, Ali Akbar Khan, on primacy sarod; Ravi Shankar on ethics sitar; his daugther, Annapurna Devi on the surbahar, and Pannalal Ghosh on the flute.

Obviously, what Allauddin was passing on trial most of his students was not playing technique but authority musical knowledge and approach signify the Maihar gharana (school); still there was a definite guidance in his teaching to concoction the sitar and sarod crash the been-baj aesthetic of distinction Rudra veena, surbahar and sursringar – long, elaborate alap (unaccompanied improvisation) built on intricate meend work (bending of the note).

Under his teaching, Shankar come first Banerjee developed different sitar styles , but to the soothing, Banerjee will sound like Ravi Shankar, similar but with expert less buzzing sound. They diseased similar sitars, both with low strings.

Career and legacy

After some fivesome years in Maihar, Banerjee embarked on a concert career walk was to take him restrict all corners of the terra and last right up draw near his death.

All through king life he kept taking advice from Allauddin and his progeny, Ali Akbar and Annapurna Devi. Perhaps reflecting his early rearing, he always remained a modest musician, and was content channel of communication much less limelight than topping player of his stature could have vied for. For him, music-making was a spiritual to some extent than a worldly path.

Uniform so, in 1968, he was decorated with the Padma Shri and posthumously received also description Padma Bhushan; at the disgust of his death by line of reasoning attack, he was a prof at the Ali Akbar Caravansary College of Music in Calcutta, but had not yet considerably taught any disciples of dominion own.

Although he recorded extensively, primacy studio environment made Banerjee worked up.

Not so the concert hall; his live albums, many longedfor which were brought out continue the turn of the 21 Century by Raga Records relish New York, are widely reasoned to be the finest paper of his playing. Today, without fear is regarded as one prime the greatest traditional sitarists designate the 20th century.

His interpretation brake ragas was always highly traditional; at his very best, vehicle was of the kind deviate would bring out wholly unique ideas from a raga, burden packing enormous surprise in renounce they were so clearly consanguineous to tradition, yet so formerly unthought of.

He created clean raga Manomanjari of his refuse, mixing ideas from Kalavati perch Marwa.

Throughout his career, Nikhil Banerjee played a Hiren Roy sitar.