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About Raga Gawoti Amsterdam 1984
About the Artist Padmabhushan Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986) was one of the greatest sitarists of this century. His music earned deep respect among India's classical music aficionados as well as gaining him a devoted international following. He was the disciple of the two greatest forces in 20th Century Indian classical instrumental music, Padmavibhushan Allauddin Khan and his son Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Though he recorded many LPs, few were of live concerts, in which his leisurely, majestic raga development was unsurpassed. Mr. Banerjee disliked being recorded, feeling that the process distracted and somewhat compromised the inner meditative quality of his music, and high fidelity live recordings are rare. Abhijit Banerjee was born in Ranchi near Calcutta in 1964. He began his early training with Sri Tushar Kanti Bose, Sri Manik Pal and finally came under the tutelage of Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. He won his first award at the age of 8 in the Tansen Music Competition. Many awards and trophies followed, including first place in All-Bengal, All-India and All-India Radio music competitions. He has also studied vocal music with Sri Ajoy Chakraborty. He has accompanied many great artists in recordings and on concert tours in India and abroad, including Nikhil Banerjee, Amjad Ali Khan and Parween Sultana. Product Description Live concert recorded at Mozes en Aaronkerk, Amsterdam by Huib Schippers in 1984. Tabla: Abhijit Banerjee. From the Artist About touring with Nikhil Banerjee: "When I was only twenty, he asked me to accompany him on a world tour. At that time, I was not a professional musician but a college student in English literature. As he liked my playing at that young age, he made me the offer and I grabbed it. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. The following year (1985), I had to prepare for my final exams, and could not go with him to Europe. The next year he died, so that was my only tour with him. I played just one concert with him in India." - Abhijit Banerjee
