AN UPCOMING GIANT OF RHYTHM
Pt. Biplab Bhattacharyya
Pt Biplab Bhattacharyya is one of those rare table players whose reputation has been built on his consummate artistry in both fields of accompaniment and solo playing. At the very tender age of three he was introduced into Tabla by his father Pt. Kanai Bhattacharyya. Since 1993, he has been taking teleem from legendary Tabla Maestro, Acharya Shankar Ghosh. For a short period he also took talim from late Prof. Arabinda Ghosh at Bengal Music College (Calcutta).
A gold medalist both in Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in music, Biplab has received numerous awards – a Senior National Scholarship in 1995 from Dept. of culture, Ministry of Human Resources, Govt of India; the prestigious Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Scholarship from Sourav Centre of Art and Culture, Kolkata in the year 1993-94; Biman Ghosh Memorial Challenge Trophy from H.M.V. for obtaining best new talent in the year 1995; the ‘Sangeet Kala Ratna’ award from Matri Udbodhon Ashram – Patna (2001) and many more.
He stood first in all Bengal Tabla competition in the year 1990-91 and stood first in Dover-Lane Music Talent search Calcutta in the year 1995 and scored highest marks according to all subjects and was awarded by prestigious trophies for obtaining all groups championship.
He has participated in so many Indian musical concerts including Dover-Lane Music Conference, Indo Occidental Symbiosis, ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Uttarpara Sangeet Chakra, Gurupurnima Festival at Patna etc. He has also performed as an accompanist for SPIC MACAY. He has represented the ICCR (Govt. of India) as an accompanist in Mongolia, Jordan, Egypt, Argentina and Chile.
He has performed in so many prestigious venues in the world, among which are The Kennedy Centre, Washington DC; Carnegie Hall, New York; Queen Elizabeth Hall, UK; International Art Festival-2005, South Africa and many others.
He has performed in U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Mongolia, Jordan, Egypt, Argentina, Chile, Bangladesh and so many European countries like England, Scotland, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Spain and Italy with well known artists.
In addition to being a reputed Solo Tabla Player Biplabji is one of the few choicest accompanists of most celebrated artists like Late Pt. Srikant Bakre, Late Padma Bhushan Pt.V.G. Jog, Padma Bhusan Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, Late Pt. V. Balsara, Vidusi Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury, Ustad Maskoor Ali Khan, Pt.Gokulotsav Maharaj, Ustad Ashish Khan, Pt. Manilal Nag, Pt. Santosh Banerjee, Pt. Shyamal Chatterjee, Pt. Kartik Kumar, Late Pt. Kumar Prasad Mukherjee, Late Vidushi Meera Banerjee, Late Pt Jagdish Prasad, Late Pt. Manas Chakraborty, Pt Ulhas Kashalkar, Acharya Jayanta Bose, Pt Arun Bhaduri, Pt. Samaresh Chowdhury, Vidushi Purnima Chowdhury, Vidusi Shuvra Guha, Pt. Kushal Das, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumder, Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain, Pt Tarun Bhattachharya, Pt. Ronu Majumder, Prof. Ken Zuckerman, Pt Parthasarthi, Pt Shubhendra Rao, Smt. Saskia Rao De Haas, Smt. Sova Kosar, Pandit Chitresh Das, Late Dr. Madhukar Anand, Pt. Rajendra Gangani, Vidushi Bhaswati Mishra, Pt Krishna Mohan Maharaj, Pt Ram Mohan Maharaj, Smt. Madhumita Roy, Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty, Smt. Reena Sribastava and many other reputed artists.
He has been a wholehearted researcher and composer of both North Indian as well as South Indian Rhythm. He is a regular artist of ‘LAYAVINYAS’ – conducted by Vidwan N. Shankar. His rhythmic composition (Prabah) at Viswavarati, based on Kathak dance and Indian Classical Music was very popular. He was also attached to ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata for many years.
Pt Biplab Bhattacharyya is a regular “A-Grade” artist of All INDIA RADIO and DOOR DARSHAN.