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SHANTANU BHATTACHARYYA |
Shantanu
Bhattacharyya, the Indian Classical vocalist, believes that Indian Classical
Music, expressed in its truest form, has the power in it to elevate the listeners
to the highest spiritual level. It is one of the surest means to make the mind
turn inward, and bring about true harmony with the soul. In his performances,
Shantanu has been focusing on this aspect, and making the best possible efforts
to uplift the listeners in terms of awareness and appreciation.
Gifted with a voice that possesses all the attributes - exactness of sur, flexibility, range and tonal modulations of the highest level - his singing is also characterized by delicate imagination, exquisite creativity and the best of taalim. Groomed in music from childhood by his mother, Shantanu later learned profusely from Pandit Prasun Banerjee, Shrimati Meera Banerjee and Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. With valuable advice from and association with great maestros while at the Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta, he perfected himself into a musician aiming to combine the best of all the styles, focusing centrally on the gayaki of Ustaad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.
A Graduate from University of Calcutta with Honours in Economics, Shantanu is an 'A' graded artiste of AIR and Doordarshan. He was awarded the AIR Gold Medal for winning first prizes in Khayal and Thumri at the AIR music competition in 1989. He top ranked at the Dover Lane Music Conference's competition, the West Bengal State Music Academy's competition and that of the Bharatiya Sanskriti Samsad in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1996 respectively, for Khayal and Thumri.
His performances have taken him all round the country and abroad; the major ones being the ITC Sangeet Sammelan, New Delhi, Calcutta; The Dover Lane Music Conference, Calcutta; Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Samaroh, Maihar; The India Habitat Centre & The India International Centre, New Delhi; the Sangeet Natak Akademi Festival at the Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; Gandharv Mahavidyala, New Delhi & Chandigarh; concert at The Indian Museum, Calcutta, for The Indian Council for Cultural Relations; The Thumri Festival, Jaipur; Ustad Amir Khan Memorial Conference and GanPrabha Sangeet Samaroh, Mumbai; West Bengal State Music Academy's Annual Conference, Salt Lake Cultural Association Conference, Calcutta; the UP Sangeet Natak Academy, Lucknow; the Gururao Deshpande Sammelan, Bangalore; The Ramakrishna Mission, Calcutta, Delhi, Almora; Shrutinandan, Calcutta; and the National Programme of Music (Live) for AIR.
Shantanu has been performing since many years now in France, Germany, USA, UK, Switzerland, Kuwait and Bangladesh for concerts, recordings and lecture-demonstration sessions. He also has several albums of Khayal, Thumri and Bhajan, and has composed music for Meditation and Yoga courses, available on CDs & audio cassettes.