Biography

Debanjan Bhattacharjee is a professional sarod player based out of the capital city of West Bengal, Kolkata. Debanjan was initiated into sarod at the tender age of five under the guidance of Late Ustad Dhyanesh Khan. After his sad demise, Debanjan became a disciple of his elder brother, the sarod maestro Ustad Aashish Khan, and his sister, Late Vidushi Ameena Perera of the celebrated Maihar Senia Gharana. The most divine moment of his musical journey came at the age of seven when Guru Ustad Aashish Khan accepted him as his disciple on the auspicious day of Saraswati Puja. His training has also been enriched through his participation in numerous workshops conducted by the legendary Swarsamrat, Late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the doyen of the Maihar Senia Gharana. With the esoteric instructions from the great gurus of this school of music in his repertoire, Debanjan is definitely one of the torch bearers of the Maihar Senia Gharana. At this young age, Debanjan already has notable performances abroad in over 14 countries and also has performed solo in over 40 Indian cities. He is also an empanelled artiste under Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Ministry of External Affairs. Debanjan is a graded artiste with All India Radio and Doordarshan. Debanjan's album, Rising Stars, has been nominated for the Best Album by the prestigious Global Indian Music Academy (GIMA) Awards 2012 alongside great legends like Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shujaat Khan, and Pt Ronu Majumdar in the Hindustani Classical Instrumental Category. In 2006, he secured the first position (thereby, winning the Pt Nikhil Banerjee Memorial Trophy) in the Instrumental Classical Music competition, organised by The Dover Lane Music Conference, a premier music organisation of Kolkata. He was awarded the National Scholarship of Music from the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), New Delhi, in 1997.