My Compelling Story

Barnali Datta Acharya is a professional singer based out of the IT capital of India, Bangalore. Her musical journey started at a tender age under the tutelage of her mother, Sri Kalyan Banerjee. Very soon after, she learnt music under Smt Sreela Banerjee, daughter of the legendary vocalist, the late Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty in Kolkata. Barnali's presentation of various thumri and khayal bears the essentials of Banaras and Gwaliar Gharana. But it is the assimilation of various Gharanas which Expectedly bears the chief characteristics of her taleem during her stay at Banaras. It is not only khayal and thumri; forms such as kajri, chaiti, bhajan, and hori also mark her spirit of music. The same spirit of music made her to grace the various forms of Bengali raga, najrulgiti, and pradhan songs. Laurels such as various scholarships, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur memorial prize, and selection in the AIR competition from Varanasi in Thumri-Dadra are a few of her achievements. She is a casual artist in AIR and Doordarshan. In pursuit of her dream to reach the heights of musical fraternity, she went to Banaras Hindu University and completed her bachelors, masters, and Phd in Hindustani vocal classical music. Presently, she has started her own music institution called Kalawati Music Classes at Bangalore. She provides lessons in Hindustani classical vocal music through regular and online mode as well.