Santosh Banerjee

PLAYS

Surbahar

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GHARANA

Shahjahanpur

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Pt. Santosh Banerjee was a sitar and surbahar player of the Rampur Senia gharana. He was born on 24 November 1931 in British-ruled India into a family with a rich cultural heritage, was drawn to Indian classical music from a young age, and took up the sitar in his teens. After learning for some time from the sitar artist Aparesh Chatterjee, he became a disciple of the veenkar Ustad Md. Dabir Khan, an association that lasted almost 25 years. As his 'ganda bandh' pupil, he was entrusted by Ustad Dabir Khan, upon the latter's death, with the torch of the Rampur Senia gharana. He became an exponent of the 'dhrupadi-baaz' on the sitar and on the rare surbahar, and for a long time remained the only artist to play the traditional veena baaj of the surbahar. His music combined emotion and romanticism with the purity of the tradition. Pt. Banerjee headed the Department of Instrumental Music at Rabindra Bharati University for many years and lectured at many universities in India and abroad. From 1955 he performed at prestigious concerts, appeared for a long time in the National Programme of Music of All India Radio and Doordarshan, and toured France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. A respected teacher, he trained many students who carry forward the Rampur Senia gharana. He passed away on 19 October 2019, and is survived by his daughter, Smt. Sahana Banerjee, a sitar player.