Arnab Chakrabarty (born 19 September 1980) is a

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

ian and

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

player based in Toronto, Canada.

Early life and education

Arnab Chakrabarty grew up in Mumbai, where his father was a professor of chemistry at the

Indian Institute of Technology The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Institu ...

. His tutelage commenced under the sarod exponent

Brij Narayan Brij Narayan ( hi, बृज नारायण; IAST: ) (born 25 April 1952) is an Indian classical musician who plays the string instrument ''sarod''. Narayan was born in the Indian state Rajasthan and began to study ''sarod'' from a young ag ...

, disciple of his father the

sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

Pandit A Pandit ( sa, पण्डित, paṇḍit; hi, पंडित; also spelled Pundit, pronounced ; abbreviated Pt.) is a man with specialised knowledge or a teacher of any field of knowledge whether it is shashtra (Holy Books) or shastra (Wea ...

Ram Narayan Ram Narayan (; born 25 December 1927), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument ''sarangi'' as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first international ...

and also

Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian language, Persian, , Azerbai ...

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

of the Seniya Maihar Gharana. Arnab subsequently trained under Pandit

Buddhadev Das Gupta Buddhadev Das Gupta (1 February 1933 – 15 January 2018) was an Indian classical musician who played the sarod. He used to reside in Kolkata, India. He was one of the artists featured in Nimbus Records' ''The Raga Guide''. Early life and tr ...

of the Shahjahanpur Gharana. Arnab studied

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

and

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

as a scholarship student, graduating in 2002. This experience exposed him to other traditions of music, and led him to experiment with new ideas in sarod construction and design, as well as musical idioms.

Subsequent tutelage and influences

Arnab's early training followed the Maihar and Shahjahanpur schools, which both derived from the Senia idiom founded by the legendary Mian

Tansen Tansen ( – 26 April 1589), also referred to and commonly known as Sangeet Samrat () , was a Hindustani classical musician. Born in a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family, he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pra ...

. However, he has long been influenced by the vocalism-inspired style of the

Etawah Gharana The Etawah gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music and named after a small town close to Agra where Imdad Khan (1848–1920) lived.Vilayat Khan Ustad Vilayat Khan (28 August 1928 – 13 March 2004) was an Indian classical sitar player.Kalyan Mukherjea Kalyan Kumar Mukherjea (1943–2010) was an authority on Indian classical music, particularly the Senia Shahjahanpur Gharana (school) of Sarod. He was also a mathematician. Early life Mukherjea was born in Calcutta in 1943. His father, A K Mu ...

, until Mukherjea's death in March 2010. He has received several dozen traditional sarod compositions from the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana master, Ustad Irfan Muhammad Khan.

Performative career

Arnab has had several significant concerts. He made his solo debut in 1994, and won the National Collegiate Competition for Music and Dance three years in a row between 1995 and 1997. In 1999 he performed before Dr

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder ...

, then the

United Nations Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

, a memorial programme for the Pakistani peace activist

Eqbal Ahmed Eqbal Ahmad (1933 – 11 May 1999) was a Pakistani political scientist, writer and Academia, academic known for his Anti-war activist, anti-war activism, his support for resistance movements globally and academic contributions to the study o ...

. Notable performances at home include recitals at the

Saptak Festival The Saptak Annual Festival of Music is an annual thirteen-day Indian classical music festival held in Ahmedabad, India. It is organised by Saptak School of Music and takes place January first to the thirteenth every year, and is attended by h ...

in Ahmedabad; the Uttarpara Music Conference, Kolkata; and concerts at the Nehru Centre and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. While capable of fast and articulate playing on the sarod himself, Chakrabarty believes that a lot of current Indian instrumental music tends to sacrifice aesthetic qualities in favour of raw speed and loud amplification. For this reason, he makes a conscious effort to subjugate his virtuosity to the demands of the music he plays.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chakrabarty, Arnab 1980 births Bengali musicians Hindustani instrumentalists Musicians from Mumbai Sarod players Living people Indian classical musicians