Vocal by Vd Shubra Guha

The second event of our 10th Anniversary mini-festival features renowned Agra Gharana vocalist Vd Shubra Guha. She will be accompanied by her disciple Smt Somdatta Chatterjee (Vocal), Shri Jagadeesh Kurthkoti (Tabla) and Shri Bhargav Sridhar (Harmonium).

ARTIST BIOS:

Vd Shubhra Guha is regarded as one of the leading female vocalists of her generation and a distinguished exponent of the Agra Gharana. She is also widely recognised as one of the finest practitioners of the Poorab Ang tradition of thumri.

Shubra ji received her initial training from Shri Satish Bhowmick before becoming a disciple of Pandit Sunil Bose, under whom she trained for ten years as a scholar at the prestigious Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. She subsequently received guidance from Pandit K. G. Ginde and Pandit D. T. Joshi, from whom she learnt the nuances of musicality, aesthetics and thumri rendition, and also received guidance from Pandit Vijay Kichlu in developing her distinctive style of gayaki.

Alongside her mastery of khayal, Vd Shubra Guha has developed an exceptional repertoire of rare thumri, dadra, kajri and chaiti in the pure Benaras tradition, as well as rare ragas and compositions. She is a regular artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan and has released albums with HMV, RPG, Music Today and IAM. She was a scholar and subsequently a Guru at the Sangeet Research Academy for 11 years, becoming its only female scholar to attain the stature of a Guru. She has performed extensively across India and internationally, including in Canada, USA, UK, France and Germany, while continuing to impart talim to the next generation of musicians.

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Shri Jagadeesh Kurthkoti is a versatile musician, renowned Tabla artist, and distinguished composer. His received his initial training in Tabla under Sri. Praveen D. Rao, and further honed his skills under Pandit Udayraj Karpoor. He also studied Carnatic music rhythm with Vid. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma and is currently receiving advanced talim from Pandit Yogesh Samsi.

He has been honored with titles such as the Swara Kala Gourav Puraskaar from Saraswati Sangeeta Vidyalaya, Bengaluru and has accompanied numerous musicians, as well as performing solo in India and internationally. Jagadeesh ji brings together the aesthetic understanding of music, mastery of taal, and strong command of laya to bring a distinctive blend of technical mastery and musical sensitivity to his performances.

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Shri Bhargav Sridhar is a Hindustani classical instrumentalist and architect based in Melbourne. While pursuing a successful career in architecture for the past 13 years, Bhargav's has been learning Hindustani classical music across a variety of instruments. Bhargav holds a deep reverence for his lifelong mentor, late Surmani Pt. Prabhakar Dhakde, an esteemed violin maestro and composer. It is under his invaluable guidance that Bhargav has honed his skills on the harmonium and saxophone. He is currently continuing his training on the sarod with Abhishek Borkar. Bhargav has had the privilege of accompanying acclaimed musicians like Pt. Rajendra Prasanna, Pt. Abhijit Banerjee and Pt Yogesh Samsi.