Samanwaya Sarkar
Story Of Samanwaya Sarkar
“I always believed in myself as a sportsman every way, in fact my fi rst passion was spending infi nitehours in the ground playing Cricket untiringly that in turn boost my confi dence and spirit and alsopower as a Sitarist, I would say so, I never learnt to say this is impossible in Sitar.”
…Gleefully adds Samanwaya.
Samanwaya was a marvelous Cricketer who played at First Division levels. Born in a family oflearned musicians and music lovers since his childhood he got his father Sri Swapan Kumar Sarkarin every step of his musical pursuit. His Father was a desciple of Sri Lalit Mohan Sanyal (seniordisciple of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), and his great uncles were disciples of Vidushi HirabaiBarodekar and Pt. Viswadev Chattopadhyay.
Musical journey Of Sam
“I think that I was destined to play Sitar and won’t do anything else. As my father bought a Sitar forhimself which he found tough to learn being a Govt high profi led executive for time and also age so,he decided to give it to someone in need.But my Mom then insisted to try why would you do sorather try it with your son. And the nightmares for me started …. I still remember those hard dayswhen Papa would simply push me off the bed around 4 am mercilessly. He would say ‘I am goingoffi ce so keep on practicing and don’t get up before the next hour’. I would wait to listen to hear thesound of the closure of the gates of the staircase to get confi rmed that he had left for offi ce,
(laughingly) but after all he is my father so he was aware of my instinct and as soon as I startedpacking the Sitar he would appear in front of me and would make me sit for another hour even hebeing late for offi ce. That’s how I grew up knowing the importance. It was not for me to excel incompetitions or become a professional Sitarist rather to be a perfectionist in my learning. As areward to do well at Guru ji Manilal Nag ji’s place, I used to get pets too quite often, but had it beenthe opposite then I had to starve till I reach home (laughingly)
. Those days from my place atSonarpur to Guruji’s place were not an easy travel at all. ”
…..smilingly says Samanwaya
Samanwaya is an A Graded Sitarist of All India Radio,a National & Presidant award Winner and anoutstanding artiste of the younger generation. He is admired and respected for his technicalbalance between both the hands, mastery over strokes, lucidity of fi ngerings on his expression ofmeends, heavy and subtle gamaks(heavy oscillation) , choot (swift jumps between notes) , fast andintricate tans(trills) from the lower octaves to soaring heights with ease. The Soothing tone at thesame time powerful that he conceived and developed in his playing makes him unique. He startedhis primary lessons from his very childhood at the hands of Pt. Sasanka Bandopdhyaya of Senia DevaSaman gharana. His subsequent taalim from Pt. Manilal Nag for 12 years, Pt. Shyamal Chatterjee and Pt.Kumar Prasad Mukherjee respectively belonging to Bishnupur, Senia Maihar and Agra Atrauligharana has greatly contributed to his unique style of blending Tantrakaari ang ( i.e. style ofinstrumental music) with gayaki ang (i.e. style of vocal music) of Dhrupad and Khayal. Finallyfor adecade he got the tutelage of the legendary vocalist Padma Vibhushan Girija Devi as a Gandabandhdisciple, from whom he has imbibed the intricacies of khayal, thumri, tappa, dadra, jhula etc in his Sitar .
According to her gurumaa Smt. Girija Devi ji
“He is the only Sitarist of the country who is playingtappa after learning the proper intricacies of the form.”
His learning with Maestroes of Vocal Music made him more well versed with ragas, bandishes ofKhyal, Thumri, Tappa, Tap Khyal and many more gems enriched his artistry to a level that hisaudience get a rare aesthetic bliss of mind. These all have achieved him a remarkable reputationthroughout the country and abroad.
Prizes & Awards
