My Music Diary

Pt. Arvind Parikh, an important figure of Indian Classical Music, specially in the history of the famous Etawah Gharana, is the eminent musician, musicologist and the senior most disciple of Sitar legend Ustad Vilayat Khan. Early l ife: Arvind parikh was born in Ahmedabad into a Gujrati Business Family with cultural and spiritual influences. His father was a business man and mother was a gifted painter. Parikh inherited business acumen from father and artistic streak from his mother. His primary and secondary education continued in a school which inculcated keen nationalism. In home he was taught Indian music by well known musicians when he used to play several instruments like Dilruba, Violin, Mandolin, Jaltarang and flute. Later he started Sitar, which he found to be the most suitable medium for expressing his musical vision. In 1944, at the age of 17, he moved to Mumbai and started learning Sitar from sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan. It was as per the Ustad'...

Kashinath Mukherjee is a Hindustani classical musician and sitar player of Etawah Gharana. Kashinath Mukherjee was born in Kolkata into a aristocratic family having a rich cultural heritage. His father Shital Chandra Mukherjee was a scientist specialized in chemistry, as well as a learned dhrupad singer, a disciple of Pramatha Nath Mukhopadhyay, who himself was disciple of Wazir Khan of Rampur. He is younger brother of world renowned film director Hrishikesh Mukherjee. His whole family comprises of academic super achievers. Inspired by elder brother Hrishikesh Mukherjee (who became world renowned film director later), he started to play sitar of his own, even before starting to learn formally. Pt. Kashinath Mukherjee with Ustad Vilayat Khan   Later he learned Sitar from Srinivas Nag (disciple of Ustad Enayet Khan) for twelve years. After demise of Srinivas Nag, he was under tutelage of   Ustad Vilayat Khan, one of the greatest sitarist. During this period he kept...

Sri Ram Udar Bhattacharya (Sitar) Born and brought up in a traditional Brahmin family in which Hindu scriptures and classical music were the part of daily life, Ram Udar Bhattacharya was no exception to take up Sitar in his early age. His grandfather being a noted clarinet and Sarangi player, Ram Udar wanted to pursue his music with Clarinet. However, he was deeply pondered over to listen to Ustad Ali Ahmed Khan’s ‘alap’ on Sitar on raga Multani, live at Ustadji’s home. Hence he started learning Sitar under tutelage of UstadJi, which was continued uninterruptedly till Ustad's demise.  Then he was fortunate to have close association with Sitar greats including Ustad Mustaq Ali Khan of Senia Gharana and Pt. Gokul Chandra Nag of Vishnupur gharana. Study under these great musicians helped him to carve his own niche in the field of music.   After demise of these great Gurus,as per the advice of the great Sitarist Pt. Nikhil Banerjee, he continued to st...