Biography

Sandip Chatterjee is a professional santoor player based out of the capital city of West Bengal, Kolkata. A disciple of vocal maestro, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, and Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, he is a rich and accomplished santoor player. He has been heralded as the torch bearer of two Gharanas at the same time – Patiala and Maihar. With his magical strokes over strings, he makes his unique melody speak. A deep rooted explorer in himself has helped him give a dynamic approach to his playing style with one hand where he uses his left hand to lift the strings to play the Jod Jhalla, Alap, and a part of bandish (Gat) by creating an ineffable resonance. Sandip’s music has thickly embroidered innumerable ears by reaching out to a greater world. He has been extensively performing in many concerts and music festivals all around the globe. He has also collaborated with many overseas musicians across genres such as rock, jazz, contemporary, and fusion. His collaborations in Calcutta Express with Guy Strazz (jazz guitarist), Shanti with Claudio Gigilio (saxophonist) and Fulvio Farkas (Afro-Cuban percussionist); Emotion with Elin Larsson (Swedish jazz saxophonist), Feelings with Giuliano Modarelli (guitar player) have been very much acclaimed in contemporary world music and jazz genre. The musical virtuosity and talent exhibited by Sandip over the years have been noted through his albums that range up to 21 in number.  His expertise has also been utilised by renowned music directors like Jatin-Lalit, AR Rahman, Rabindra Jain, Gulshan Kumar, Pt V Balsara, etc. Awards: President of India Award Jadubhatta Award Sangeeth Ratna Award Abhinaba Kala Sanman Performances: Tansen Sangeet Samaroh (Gwalior) Alauddin Khan Sangeet Samaroh (Mihar) Ameer Khan Sangeet Samaroh (Indore) Chalukya Music Festival (Karnataka ) Karnataka Music Festival (Bangalore) Nikhil Banerjee Memorial (Barackpur) Sangeet Research Academy (Kolkata) Rajya Sangeet Academy (Kolkata) Moghubai Kurdikar Sangeet Samaroh (Goa) India International Centre (IIC Delhi) World Habitat Centre (Delhi)