Antara School Of Indian Classical Music

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About Antara School Of Indian Classical Music

Sitarist Indrajit Banerjee is one of the leading exponents of the Maihar Gharana. He was born in a musical family, unique due to the large number of accomplished artists in Hindustani Classical Music. Some of these family members include his guru, Pandit Kartick Kumar (Sitar), Pandit Barun Kumar Pal (Hamsa Veena), Niladri Kumar (Sitar), Partho Das (Sitar), Aparna Roy (Surbahar). He got inspiration from his sitarist mother, Manju Banerjee, who was a disciple of late Nikhil Banerjee, and afterwards, Santosh Banerjee. Indrajit''s training began with his maternal grandfather, Bankim Kumar Pal, who was the disciple of Inayat Khan, and Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhuri (Kochi Babu). He then took training under Pandit Manilal Nag of Bishnupur Gharana. Later on, he took intensive training from his uncle, Pandit Kartick Kumar, who is a senior disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. All of this training developed a strong foundation for Indrajit''s music, and creative individuality. Indrajit has a special touch on Sitar combined with technical virtuosity and sensitivity. Indrajit is an A-grade artist of All India Radio and television and also an approved artist of I.C.C.R (Govt. of India). He was awarded the Gokul Nag Memorial Medal in 1987 by Bangia Sangeet Parishad, (W. Bengal), "Sur Mani"in 1990 by Sur Sringal Samsad Bombay, Avinav Kala Samman in 1997 by Avinav Kala Parishad (Bhopal). Parangotsava-2007 (a festival held in Mysore, Karnataka) recognised him as Veteran (Pandit). He is a graduate of Arts from Calcutta University and ''Sangeet Bibhakar'' . He has performed in numerous music festivals in India and abroad (Europe, U.S.A, Carribean , Canada, Alaska, Hawai, Brazil, Middle East, etc.) Indrajit takes a special interest in teaching, he has some outstanding students and a following across the world in this regard. Presently he teaches in Rhythm and Raag (an Institute for Indian Performing Arts) in Chicago.