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A few noted Austin previous tabla teachers & visitors:

SUBHANKAR_BANERJEE  SWAPAN CHOUDHURI  GOURISHANKAR KARMAKER  SANJAY PATEL
SANDIP_BURMAN AlOKE_DUTTA PRANESH_KHAN SADANAND NAIMPALLI 
ANINDO CHATTERJEE MALLAR GHOSH SHAFAAT AHMED KHAN  YOGESH SAMSI
SAMIR  CHATTERJEE NAYAN GHOSH UDAI_MAZUMDAR VINEET VYAS 
SHUBEN CHATTERJEE ZAKIR HUSSAIN  SUDHIR PANDEY 

                           Austin's Past Visitors 

Subhankar Banerjee

A representative of Farukhabad gharana, Subhankar is an highly talented tabla player. He received his initial training from his father, Sunil Kumar Banerjee. Later he continued his training under the guidance of Preetimoy Goswami and Swapan Siva.

Subhankar has performed with distinguished vocalists such as Pandit Jasraj, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Rashid Khan, and with instrumentalists such as N. Rajam (violin), Budhaditya Mukherjee (sitar), Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), Ronu Majumdar (flute), Shahid Parvez (sitar), Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (guitar), and Shivkumar Sharma (santoor). He has been on concert tours with many of these artistes many times over.

 

 

Udai Mazumdar 

is a promising Tabla Player of the Benares Gharana. He hails from a family of musicians and fine artists in Allahabad. His father, Partho Sarathy Mazumdar,is among the first-generation in the field of Indian classical music.

Udai's Initial training was in vocal music, but was simultaneously drawn to the resonating rhythmic possibilities of the Tabla. His first encounter with the Tabla was under the tutelage of Dilip Kumar and Alok Ganguly. In 1981, he turned to the eminent Pandit Asoutosh Bhattacharya, one of the foremost disciples of the legendary Pandit Kanthe Maharaj, to hone his skills. In 1989, Udai shifted to Delhi to further his musical experience and became the disciple of the world-renowned Sitar Maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, lived with him and learnt the art of Table accompaniment.

Udai has participated in many noteworthy Indian and International festivals, besides playing for Pandit Ravi Shankar on different occassions. He is a regular performer on the Indian national radio and television channels. 

Sandip Burman

Mr. Burman is an accomplished tabla player, and his performances are marked
with spontaneous innovation and tonal purity even when he is delivering
complex rhythmic patterns at dazzling speeds. His repertoire is vast and
includes both commonly and rarely played rhythms. He began studying tabla
at the age of six with Pandit Shyamal Bose of Calcutta, one of India's
distinguished tabla maestros. Recently Sandip has collaborated and toured
with Béla Fleck. He has also played with jazz legends Jack DeJohnette and
John Scofield in addition to Glen Valez, Howard Levy, Paul McCandless,
Victor Wooten and many others.

YOGESH SAMSI 

Born on November 17th, 1968, in the family of the renowned vocalists Pandit Dinkar Kaikini and Smt. Shashikala Kaikini, was initiated into tabla by his father at the tender age of six. He continued under the able guidance of Pandit H. Taranath Rao and since the age of ten has been under the gifted tutelage of Ustad Alla Rakha.

An 'A' grade artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan and a musician with a keen sense of rhythm and an intricate understanding of tala, Yogesh has given numerous solo performances as well as accompanied many musicians of repute, viz. Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, Late Pandit K.G. Ginde, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Smt. Shobha Gurtu, Ustad Shahid Pervez, Dr. N. Rajam, Ustad Rashid Khan. He has also accompanied Ustad Allah Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain in their solo performances.

Yogesh has performed in prestigious music festivals throughout India as well as Europe, USA, Canada, Japan and South Africa. Special mention must be made of his performance in the prestigious music festival of Parampara in Germany, Theatre De La Ville in Paris, and tabla workshop conducted in the Shinshu University in Japan.

Today, Yogesh has the distinction of being regarded as one of the most promising young tabla players in the world.

 

Nayan Ghosh

Born on 28th April, 1956 to Smt. Usha Ghosh and the late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh. Nayanji's training on the tabla commenced under the able tutelage of his father at a very early age. By the age of four, he was giving public performances on the tabla, and had become an empanelled artist of All India Radio.

He was hailed as a child prodigy, and has done ample justice to the expectations of his elders and peer community in the process of his growth into a mature musician. In his teens, Nayan Ghosh was fortunate to be a constant companion to Badshah-e-Tabla Ustad Ahmedjan Thirakwa, and learnt many rare and treasured compositions from the latter. Thirakwa Khan Saheb also supervised Nayanji's riyaaz for all those years. 

Nayan's tabla playing retains the authentic flavour of the Laliyana and Farrukhabad Gharanas, and his individual style is distinct and powerful, while being reminiscent of Ustads Ahmedjan Thirakwa, Amir Hussain, Sheik Dawood, as well as his father and mentor Padmabhushan Pandit Nikhil Ghosh.

Nayan is always in demand. He has accompanied three generations of musicians, including such 'all time greats' as Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar & Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. 

Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan 

 

Started to play the tabla  before he  could walk, taught by his  father Ustad Chamma Khan, a maestro of the Delhi gharana. His maternal grandfather, Ustad Chand Khan was a vocalist of repute, his uncles Ustad Nasir Ahmed Khan and Ustad Bande Navab Khan were vocalist and sarangi player respectively. Armed with such an illustrious musical family, it was but natural that young Shafaat continued the tradition. His first initiation into music was as a vocalist but when he was five he formally started taking lessons in tabla from his father and his guru.

`` My father was against my decision to take up tabla playing wanted me to become a doctor as earning a livelihood from just playing was not assured. But I stuck to being a tabla player,'' recalls Ustad Shafaat with fond memories of his father's instructions. 

Ustad Shafaat has accompanied almost all the present day musicians. He has performed at prestigious concert hall of England, America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Africa regaling audiences with the magic of his fingers. Interestingly, he is perhaps the only tabla player who has accompanied the Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj and the Bharat Natyam exponent Leela Sampson.

Web Article

 

 

Mallar Ghosh

Mallar Ghosh A brilliant tabla solist and accompanist. He is the son and disciple of Pnan (Gyan) Prakash Ghosh,  renowned percussionist and composer who trained many great musicians, including Dilip Das, Kanai Dutta and Shyamal Bose Shankar Ghosh, Gobindo Bose, Sanjoy Mukherjee and Anindo Chatterjee. vocalist ; Prasun Banerjee, Arun Bhaduri, Tanima Thakur; Ajoy Chakravarty; and Abhijit Banerjee.

Aloke Dutta

A native of India, Aloke received his first lessons from his father, Anadinath Dutta, and later undertook advanced study with Shankar Ghosh and Jnan Prakash Ghosh. From 1976 to 1984 he was tabla instructor at Viswa Bharati and Rabindra Bharati Universities. He began his performing career in 1974, sharing the stage with many noted musicians in India, Europe, Japan, and North America. Aloke's tabla playing combines the complexity of classical Indian forms with contemporary ideas to create a unique, emotionally-charged music.

Aloke Tabla Instruction Book has been very popular and is still available.

Aloke Dutta lived in Austin for several years and taught a number of the resident tabla students who are still part of the Austin Tabla Gang.

 

 SANJAY PATEL 

Studied Under Pandit Shree Divyang Vakil, who is a disciple of Lt. Ustad Shree AllahRakha And Ustad Shree Zakir Hussein (Panjab Gharana), Lt.Ustad Shree Latif Ahmad (Delhi Gharana) And Shree Sudhir Saxena (Ajarada Gharana)  

Sanjay has performed in India, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and all over the U.S.A. and worked as a Music Instructor from 1986 to 1999 for Harmonium, Tabla and vocal at the London Borough of Ealing, Harrow, Brent, U.K. Presented Tabla Workshops at The Arsha Vidya Gurukulam- PA, and B.A.P.S. Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Atlanta, GA.

Sanjay Patel is currently teaching workshop in Georgia  Click here for more info