LEXINGTON, Ky.—Hear the melody and beat of Indian music when Pandit Santanu Banerjee performs an evening of Indian classical music Thursday, October
5, at 7:30 p.m. in Transylvania’s Carrick Theatre. He will be accompanied by Gurupada Das on the tabla and percussionist Neel Adhicary. The concert,
which is free and open to the public, is part of Transylvania’s World Voices series.
Santanu most recently performed at a September 11 concert at the Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C., under an invitation from the M. K. Gandhi Institute
for Nonviolence.
About Pandit Santanu Banerjee
Vocal music in India is as old as the Vedas, the ancient scriptures or revelation of the Hindu teachings. Santanu Bandyopadhyay (Banerjee) is the natural,
sole torch bearer of the famed Vishnupore Gharana, the house of the northern Indian vocal tradition. Santanu was a noted prodigy. Born into a family
of glorious musical tradition, as a child he spent hours at riaz (practice) to attain standards that the stalwarts in his family had set. Today, the
vocalist directly represents the fifth generation of the Vishnupore house in Bengal.
At a young age, Santanu received careful training in Hindustani (Northern Indian classical music) from his late grandfather and father. This tradition
is based on a complex and engaging method of improvisation based on hundreds of ragas, melodic formulas that must be internalized to such a degree that
they become second nature. Dedicated to music, Santanu consciously balanced his life and academics. He graduated from Calcutta University with physics
honors in 1980. He earned the first place ranking in vocal music (Khayal) from Rabindra Bharaty University and took first place in the All-India Radio
Khayal Competition in 1983. He is an attending musical lecturer with the university and has been a regular artist with All India Radio and Doordarshan
since 1982.
Beyond India, Santanu has performed in the United Kingdom, Scotland, London, and Paris as well as in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, St.
Louis, Texas and Florida. Journals, columnists, dailies and critics have keenly followed his rise to the top. Santanu is the performer and natural heir
to reckon within in today’s world of Indian classical music