514 Pt Debu Chaudhuri with his son Pt Prateek Chaudhuri (L) Both died of Covid-19 within a week of each other recently. Photo courtesy: Avinash Pasricha
Shailaja Khanna
AMID a raging pandemic, the world of Hindustani classical music does not remain unaffected and is losing many established names. Recently two stalwarts, Banaras gharana vocalist Pt Rajan Mishra (70) and Senia gharana sitarist Pt Debu Chaudhuri (85), and more recently and tragically, Pt Debu Chaudhuri’s son, sitarist Prateek Choudhury, died due to Covid-19.
Pt Rajan Mishra (L) with his brother Pt Sajan Mishra
Born in Bangladesh, Pt Debu Chaudhuri moved to Delhi in the 1960s. He virtually established the music department at Delhi University. In the 1960s, teaching music en masse was looked down upon by elitist musicians, but Debu da was bold enough to choose this path.
January 31, 2021
Legend: Pt Shivnath Mishra poured all his musicality into the instrument, developing what one can call the singing sitar style of playing
Legend: Pt Shivnath Mishra poured all his musicality into the instrument, developing what one can call the singing sitar style of playing×
How Pandit Shivnath Mishra founded the first sitar gharana of Banaras and took it to the world stage Shivnath Mishra captured the essence of the
gayaki the singing style of the Banaras gharana on his sitar, a style of playing often called the “first sitar gharana” of Banaras His Academy of Indian Classical Music, an institution he founded in 1999, upholds the dignity of the