Name Ajoy Chakrabarty Role Vocalist | Children Kaushiki Chakraborty Siblings Sanjay Chakrabarty | |
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Albums Je Sure Bajale, Geetinandan Similar People Kaushiki Chakraborty, Parveen Sultana, Utpalendu Chakrabarty | ||
Shakhsiyat with ajoy chakrabarty
Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty (Bengali: অজয় চক্রবর্তী; born 25 December 1952) is an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, composer, lyricist and Guru, poised nearly as a cult figure among all the legendary Indian classical musicians.
Contents
- Shakhsiyat with ajoy chakrabarty
- Soulful tagore i audio jukebox i regional i vocal i ajoy chakrabarty
- Early life and Gurus
- Awards
- Singing career
- Personal life
- References
Although considered a scion and doyen of the Patiala-Kasur Gharana (style), primarily representing Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Barkat Ali Khan sahibs gayaki, he can equally portray even the most subtle features of other major classical gharanas of India like Indore, Delhi, Jaipur, Gwalior, Agra, Kirana, Rampur and even Carnatic music of South India.
He is a recipient of the Padma Shri (2011) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Delhi, 1999-2000) and the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 1989- in Bengali Film "Chhandaneer" 1989.
He was the first Indian classical vocalist to be invited by Pakistan and China and by BBC for their Golden Jubilee Celebration of India’s Independence.
Soulful tagore i audio jukebox i regional i vocal i ajoy chakrabarty
Early life and Gurus
Chakrabarty was born in Kolkata, West Bengal to Shri Ajit Chakraborty in a Hindu Brahmin family. He moved to India from his homeland, Mymensingh of Bangladesh during the partition and raised two sons in Shyamnagar. His younger brother, Sanjay Chakraborty is a world class lyricist and composer.
He graduated top of his class in music, both in B.A and M.A from the prestigious Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata and joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1977. Being the academy’s very first outstanding scholar, he became their only gold medalist fellow, a member of their Experts’ Committee and a senior Guru where he still serves as a prime mover in all its promotional courses to date.
His father, late Shri Ajit Kumar Chakraborty was his first Guru. After this Shri Pannalal Samanta and Shri Kanaidas Baigari were the ones with whom his initial orientation with music happened, before he was warmly accepted by the ultimate and the greatest Guru of all times, Padmabhushan Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.
Besides that, he had learnt from several other maestros like Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, Pt. Nibruttibua Sarnaik, Vidushi Hirabai Barodekar and in Carnatic styles from Professor, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, that kept enriching his musical expression and repertoire. Despite having such pure classical "taleem" in the Dhrupad-Khyal genre, he is amazingly adroit and a trend setter, in rendering all the lighter forms like Thumri, Tappa, Geet, Bhajan, Keertan, Folk, Film/Non-Film and modern songs, in several different languages, like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Persian and even in English, which all together, has given him the single distinguished recognition of being an absolutely one-of-a-kind musical personality, in the music scene of India today.
Awards
He had received several prestigious awards including – Padma Shri (2011), Sangeet Natak Akademi (Delhi, 1999–2000), Kumar Gandharva (National Award, 1993) and the Best Male Playback Singer (Bengali Film "Chhandaneer" 1990) ("For bringing the rare depth of emotion, adorned by his command on the classical idiom") and National Tansen Samman 2015 - by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh,. He has also received felicitations from both the former and present Chief Ministers of his own State, West Bengal. In 2012, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee conferred him the Maha Sangeet Samman and the Banga Bibhushan, two of the State’s highest awards. In 2015 he has received Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh Lifetime Achievement Award.
He also was awarded honorary citizenship in New Orleans, after performing with jazz musicians at Preservation Hall, the birthplace of jazz music.
Singing career
Chakrabarty is considered one of the vocal legends of Indian classical music. He is notable for imagination and sensitivity to lyrics, coupled with his uncanny sense of rhythm. Thus far, Chakrabarty has recorded over 100 albums, mostly published from India, the United States, Canada, UK, and Germany, composed of pure classical numbers including live performances and various other genres – Thumri, Dadra, Bhajan and other devotional songs like Shyamasangeet and many Bengali numbers, including songs of Tagore and Qazi Najrul Islam.
He has performed in some of the most prestigious venues around the world like the Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz Preservation Hall – in the USA, including being the recipient of Golden Key to the city of New Orleans; The Royal Albert hall and Queen Elizabeth hall in the UK, Theatre de la Ville in France; Sammukhananda, Nehru Center, NCPA in Mumbai, Shirifort auditorium in New Delhi-India et al.
Inspired by the ideals of his Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh, Chakrabarty founded Shrutinandan – a school of music.
Personal life
Chakrabarty is married to Chandana Chakraborty. Their daughter, Kaushiki Chakraborty is an accomplished vocalist of Hindustani classical music. Their son, Ananjan Chakraborty is a sound engineer .