Sarod Maestro Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar
and Tabla player Arup Chattopadhyay enthrall Atlantans

By: JYOTI M. MONDY

It was indeed a treat for the art lovers of Atlanta to witness the Grammy nominated maestro, renowned “sarod” player, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar of the “Senia Maihar School of Music” give an electrifying performance at the two and a half hour concert at the Student Center Theatre at Georgia Tech at Downtown Atlanta, Sunday evening (March 29, 2012). Accompanied by renowned “tabla” player, Arup Chattopadhyay, Pandit Tajender Majumdar created a “bhakti-related” atmosphere with his soulful rendering of melodious “ragas” which stirred the emotions of the audience who gave a thunderous applause. The concert was organised by the Indian Classical Musical Society  (ICMS) of Atlanta under the leadership of Dr. Sham Navathe and members of ICMS, Kakali Bandyopdhyay , Shekhar Pendalwar and Aruna Navathe, who left no stone unturned to make this concert a great success. Pt. Majumdar is on a 37 days US tour and will be performing in New York, Portland, San Francisco, New Jersey and Washington D.C and already had a concert in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday, (April, 27, 2012).

Clad in peach embroidered silk “kurta”, black “churidar” and a black stole draped on his shoulders, Pandit Tejendra Majumdar captivated the audience with the fascinating display of his fingers on the “sarod”. He built an instant rapport with the spectators with his rendering of Raga “Mishra Pilu” during the second half of the concert which transported the spectators into the “bhakti” atmosphere with his fingers moving with dexterity on the strings of the sarod in various variations and “layas” presenting the renderings of the “bhajans’ ”Vaishnav Jan Ko Tene kahiye Je, Peer Parayi Jaane Re” and “Raghupati Ragahav Raja Ram, Patit Pawan Sita Ram”. It reminded one of India’s “Father of the Nation”, late Mahatma Gandhi. A multi-faceted personality, Pandit Majumdar earlier gave an excellent account of his versatility by plucking on the strings of the “sarod”, Raga “Marwa”, “Alap Jhor” and “Gat” with an extraordinary tone, touch and an ambient melody.

Tejendra Narayan Majumdar’s music sparkles with a rare combination of virtuosity with classical purity and a deep sense of aesthetics. He represents the legendary “Senia Maihar School of Music”, the most notable exponents of this style being Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pt Ravi Shankar. His repertoire combines elements from the “Dhrupad”, “Tantrakari” and “Gayaki” styles of music.



Tejendra trained in music at an early age with his grandfather, Bibhuti Ranjan Majumdar and later with his father, Ranjan Majumdar. He further trained in vocal music too from Amaresh Chowdhury and obtained rhythm training from Anil Palit.
He showed considerable talent eversince his early teens and trained for eighteen years under the tutelage of Ustad Bahadur Khan. His outstanding achievement was receiving the “Pandit D. V. Paluskar Award” and “President's Gold Medal” for standing first in the All India Radio Music Competition (1981). After the untimely demise of his “guru”, he later trained under Ajay Sinha Roy. Thereafter, he was accepted as the disciple renowned instrumentalist, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
Tejendra has performed in the major concerts in India comprising the “Dover Lane Music Conference”, “Tansen Music Festival”, “Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Conference”, “I.T.C. Golden Greats Festival” and the “Park Circus Music Conference”. Tejendra has also given numerous performances in U. S, Canada, and Europe. He has been accompanied by renowned “tabla” players like Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Shankar Ghosh, Pandit Swapan Chaudhury, Anindo Chatterjee, Kumar Bose, Sabir Khan and maestro, Zakir Hussain, heart-throb of millions. It was a joyous moment for Pt Majumdar in 2009, when he was invited by legendary Pt. Ravi Shankar to perform at Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar pursued his interest in composing, arranging and experimenting in other areas of music. He has composed the music for Bengali films like ‘Songshoy’ and ‘Hononkal’ of Saibal Mitra, “Tollylights” of Arjun Chakraborty and numerous Bengali telefilms. He has also composed and arranged music for renowned singers like Ghulam Ali, Ajoy Chakraborty, Haimanti Shukla, Arati Mukherjee and many more. His latest achievement has been when one of his music albums “SOUL CALL- OM NAMOH NARAYANAY” was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Awards.

“Tabla” maestro Arup Chattopadhyay too gave an excellent account of his hand work by cutting out gem-like syllables of rhythm and blending filigree on the right hand drum with the depth of the left one. A disciple of maestro Pt. Shankar Ghosh, Arup Chattopadhyay is a renowned accompanist and a formidable soloist. Admired for his overall clarity, tonal quality, crystal clear “bols”, and spontaneous sense of rhythm and melody, Arup began training in “Tabla” at the tender age of six from his father, renowned Pankaj Chattopadhyay. He has accompanied leading Indian musicians like “sitar” maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Rais Khan, Ustad Aashish Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Pt. Ajay Chakarbarti, Lakshsmi Shankar, Pt. Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan, late V.G. Jog, Pt. Manash Chakravarty, Pt. Arun Bhadhuri, Pt. Samaresh Choudhury, Tarun Bhattacharya, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Kushal Das, Partha Bose, Partha Sarathi, and Debashish Bhattacharya etc.

Arup has been accompanying Pt. Ravi Shankar in concerts all over US, Canada, Europe, and India, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, in US, and Barbican Hall in London since 1998. He has toured U.K. with late Pt. Deepak Choudhury many times. He was a professor of “tabla” at Baratiya Vidya Bhavan in London (Institute of Indian Culture) and toured with renowned “sitarist” Kartik Seshadri in USA, Canada, India, Mexico and Australia since 1997 besides being associated as a guest lecturer at UCSD with him, where Seshadri heads and directs the department of Indian Music. Arup has done many concerts hosted by SRA in India, Bangladesh and USA with internationally acclaimed artists.

Pranab Lahiri, an art lover from Atlanta remarked, “I enjoyed watching Pt Majumdar’s concert immensely. I am in Atlanta since 1976 and had the privilege of witnessing Panditji’s concert way back in the 1980’s in Augusta where he had performed as a young “Tabla” player and had accompanied another artiste.”

During an exclusive interview before the concert at the Student Center Theatre, Georgia Tech with this writer, Pt Tajender Majumdar revealed that he was excited in performing at Atlanta which held a special place in his heart. He expressed his happiness over his performance in Birmingham, Alabama (on April 27) where he got a tremendous applause adding that he was also happy after being nominated for the Grammy Awards last year for his composition for his albums, “SOUL CALL- OM NAMOH NARAYANAY”. “In the Fall of 2012, I will be in New York working with singer Chandrika Krsihnamurthy Tandon for the following project for which I have composed and arranged the entire thing and this project was done in Kolkutta, Mumbai and now New York”, he further said. It was at this time I learnt that Panditji began his musical journey by performing as a “Tabla” player and efficiently plays the “Mandolin” too.

Replying to a question as to which place he got the maximum response, Pt Majumdar said he enjoyed performing in Canada and USA where the audience has ample knowledge of “classical music” on account of his Guru’s and Pt Ravi Shankar’s contribution in popularising Indian “classical music” by means of their concerts since last 55 years. On being asked if he planned the sequence of the “ragas’ to be performed before a concert Majumdar categorically stated that nothing is pre-planned. “I play a “raga’ based on the mood of the audience and the atmosphere in the theater. We are prepared to make the audience happy.” When asked as to with which “tabla” player he enjoyed performing the most, pat replied the maestro, “I have had the privilege of performing with all the maestros like Pt Krishna Maharajh, Zakir Hussain (playing with him since last 15 years), Shankar Ghosh and Swapan Chaudhri and I enjoy performing with all of them.” He attributed his success to the teachings of his “Guru” and the blessings of the Almighty.

Majumdar said that “sarod” had a great future ahead and his disciple Pratik Srivastava is a bright and outstanding student who is currently performing at a concert in France. His son is also taking “Sarod” lessons and is yet to give his debut performance, he revealed.



During a “tete-e-tete” with this writer before the concert, “Tabla” player, Arup Chattopadhyay (also attired in peach embroidered silk “kurta” and black “churidars”) cited an interesting incident in Hawai, USA. “I enjoyed performing in Maui, Hawai few years ago where the people had never seen the “live” performance of the “Tabla”. I got great applause from the audience and that boosted my morale” adding that it was wonderful performing in Birmingham, Alabama, two days ago with Pt. Tejender Majumdar. He further said they both trained together since childhood in Kolkutta.

Later, Dr. Sham Navathe, president of I.C.M.S. thanked the artistes for their “inspiring” performance and the members of I.C.M.S who had assisted with effective lighting, decoration and sound arrangements. Ms. Aruna Navathe presented momentos to both the artistes. The breathtaking concert was organized in cooperation with “Aarohi”, the student organization of Georgia Tech supporting Indian classical music.