Kushal Das

Pandit Kushal Das (pronunciation:[kuɕəl̪ d̪ɑːs̪] कुशल् दास्) is one of the iconic maestros of Indian Classical Music across the globe. He plays Sitar and Surbahar. He is a Top-grade musician at All India Radio and Doordarshan.^[1]

Early life

Kushal was born in a highly enriched musical family of Kolkata. His grandfather Late Shri Bimal Ch. Das was a renowned ‘Esraj’ player and his father & uncle were both sitarists of high repute. His father Late Shri Sailen Das was a disciple of Late Pt. Lakhsman Bhattacharya & Bharat-Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar. His uncle Late Shri Santanu Das was a disciple of Swar-Samrat Ud. Ali Akbar Khan.

He started his training at a tender age of five under the guidance of his father and uncle. Later he received intensive & rigorous training in advanced sitar techniques and the art of creating music, under the affectionate guidance of Pt. Sanjoy Banerjee. Kushal is also proud for having the privilege of learning from great musicians like Late Pt. Ajoy Sinha Roy (a disciple of Ud. Allauddin Khan), vocal lessons from Late Pt. Manas Chakraborty and Late Pt. Ramkrishna Basu.

Career

Kushal has participated in most of the major concert festivals in India & abroad, some of which include:

The Doverlane Music Conference (Kolkata)

ITC-SRA Sangeet Sammelan (Kolkata)

Swami Haridas Festival (Delhi)

Bengal Classical Music Festival (Dhaka)

Philharmonie (Paris)

Darbar (Queen Elizabeth Hall, UK)

Theatre de la Ville (Paris)

Discography

Raga – Bilaskhani Todi & Sohini from “Ocora Radio France”(France).

Raga – Desh & Mishra Pahadi from “Peshkar” (Germany).

Raga – Aabhogi & Sindhu Bhairavi from “Mavas Music” (India).

Raga – Marwa (Sur-Bahar) from “Ocora Radio France” (France).

Raga – Kaushi kanada & Jhinjhoti from “Rhyme Records” (U.S.A).

Raga – Malkauns, Gorakh Kalyan & Bharavi from “Sumani” (U.S.A).

Raga – Marwa (Sitar) from “India Archive Music” (U.S.A).

The Divine Soul-Raga – Ahir Bhairav, Bageshree & Folk Tune from “Bihaan Music” (India).

Double CD [A] Raga- Mishra Shivaranjani, Mand, Mishra Kafi & Madhyam Se Bhairavi. [B] Raga- Nat Bhairav from “TIM International Music Company” AG, Pastels (Germany).

Essence of time – 11 Ragas from “Rhyme Records” (U.S.A).

Bandishana – from “Bihaan Music”

References