Sraboni Chaudhuri

GHARANA

Gwalior

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Sraboni Chaudhuri is a Hindustani vocalist well versed in the thumri style, who also sings ghazals and bhajans. Her mother and first guru, Smt. Lakshmi Mukherjee, was a disciple of Shri Ranjit Bose, who in turn was a disciple of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. She trained first in Kolkata and then in Cochin, where her family moved. In 1987 she moved to Mumbai and completed her Sangeet Visharad in first division from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, under Smt. Shashikala Kaikini. She then learnt from Pt. Dinkar Kaikini for a year and from Smt. Shampa Pakrashi. After a B.A. in Economics from St. Xavier's College and an M.A. in Economics from Bombay University, she became a lecturer at Sophia College, later Lecturer-in-Charge of Economics, but gave this up for music after the chance to learn from the thumri singer Smt. Shobha Gurtu. She is currently training under Smt. Shubha Joshi, the senior-most disciple of Smt. Shobha Gurtu, and has taken a few lessons from Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty. Sraboni has received the Surmani from Sur Singar Samsad and is a "B-High" graded artiste at All India Radio (AIR). She has performed at youth festivals at Nehru Centre, given solo performances at NCPA and the Kesarbai Kerkar Sangeet Samaroh, and accompanied Smt. Shobha Gurtu at the Sawai Gandharv Festival in Pune. She has recorded for Films Division, accompanied Kathak dancers such as Bireshwar Gautam and Prachi Shah, and appeared several times in "Khazana - a festival of ghazals".