About Pt. Debi Prasad Chatterjee

Born in Calcutta, India in a family of rich cultural and musical heritage, he developed a distinctive and unique style of his own by receiving extensive training (Talim) from various Maestros. He learnt his first Sitar lessons from elder brother Pandit (Pt.) Biswanath Chatterjee and later from Pt. Aparesh Chatterjee, aanother noted Sitar exponent. Since 1965 he received training from the famous Late Pt. Nikhil Banerjee for 20 years - also training extensively under Smt. Annapurna Devi. After the death of Pt. Banerjee in early 1986, he became the disciple of World Famous Maestro, the living Legend, 'Swara Samrat' Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His control over the Ragas with systematic exploration has placed him among the top instrumentalists in India.

Pt. Debi Prasad Chatterjee

Since years, he has been performing in major Music Conferences all over India and abroad - including various prestigious programmes organized by All India Radio and Doordarshan (TV) such as Radio Sangit Sammelan and National Programme of Music. Also creditably performed in concerts across U.S.A., Europe and Canada to propagate Indian Classical Music in the western World.

 

He has been honored with various titles and awards through out his successful and illustrious career. Some of his key achievements are: Receiving the 'President’s Award' in 1962 in India, Becoming a National Scholar of Music in 1966 for his contributions in Indian Classical Music, Adjudged the “Best Artist” by West Bengal Journalists’ Association in 1974 & 1997.

 

From 1977 to 2001, he was a professor at the Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, where he was the Head of the Department of Instrumental Music & Percussion from 1994-2001. He has delivered numerous lectures, conducted workshops with demonstrations on Hindustani Music and its technique at many Indian Universities along with the Universities at abroad, including University of Pennsylvania, University of Central Florida, University of Texas at Austin in U.S.A. a number of times. Also performed in Concerts in U.S.A., Europe and Canada to propagate Indian Classical Music. He also delivered lecture demonstrations at different universities including Inter Cultural School of Music in 1981 & 1982 in Venice (Italy) organised by International Institute for Music Comparative Studies, Berlin. Under his able guidance many research Scholars obtained the Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) and a number of disciples of him are performing successfully over All India Radio/Television as well as in concerts.