Biography

Brothers, Debshankar and Jyotishankar Roy, have been spreading a unique concoction of music through their violins for years now. They are the most respected violin act in this part of the world and have collaborated with celebrated musicians from all over the globe in the past. Violin Brothers, as an act, will surprise you with their instrumental renditions, and also perform with featuring vocalists in special LIVE shows. They also run a huge music school in Kolkata. Debshankar and Jyotishankar were born into the family of a classical musician in Kolkata. They began to receive training in violin from Mihir Gupta at the tender age of eight. They started working as professional violinists in their late adolescence. While their profile as violinists grew in stature, the Violin Brothers had the opportunity to play under the direction of great musical maestros such as Pt Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and the pair also played background music in the last ten films of the internationally- renowned film director, Satyajit Ray. The duo received their diploma in music from Trinity College of Music, London, in 1987. They were fortunate to have the privilege to play for Zubin Mehta (the then-conductor of New York Philharmonic Orchestra) and received impressive recommendations from him. Initially, the Violin Brothers had their basic training in Indian classical music from their father, Sri Nikhilesh Roy, and later on, they had the opportunity to become the disciple of the Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Besides classical music, they are open to different genres of music like pop, jazz and world music. The Violin Brothers have been performing with their group since 1998 in India and abroad. The most remarkable venues and forums where the two brothers have performed include Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Forum in Barcelona, various music festivals in France, Belgium, Morocco and the Paleo festival in Switzerland.