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Shatavisha Mukherjee

Domain: Hindustani Classical Vocalist | Educator | Rabindrasangeet Singer | LIVE Concert Performer | Community Builder | Mentor

Genre: #IndianClassical #Rabindrasangeet #HindustaniClassical 

Location: Kolkata, India

InterviewsPerformance

Journey

THE CHILD PRODIGY ARTIST

At 5 years of age, Shatavisha Mukherjee was taken to a janmashtami puja event by her then Guru Pandit A T Kanan, where she gave her first public performance with a bhajan. Shatavisha learnt her first notes of music at the tender age of 3 years under Pandit A T Kanan where she continued learning for 5 years. She is the youngest scholar at ITC SRA at 8 years of age, when she was officially admitted to the academy, as a scholar, to receive taalim from her Guru Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. At 10 years of age, she performed at ITC SRA Sammelan. She has come a long way since then. She has received authentic knowledge of Gwalior, Jaipur and Agra gharanas from her Guru Pandit Kashalkar, who she continues to learn from. Apart from excelling in music, Shatavisha has shown brilliance in her academics as well. She is a Master degree holder in History from the very well known Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and went off to do her second M.A in Music from Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University in Pune. At present she’s pursuing her PhD degree in music.

THE GURU-SHISHYA RELATIONSHIP

Shatavisha met with her Guru Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar in March 2002, and has known him for 22 years now. She had learned not just music from him, but also human values and lifestyle standards fit to evolve as a fine Hindustani classical vocalist. By virtue of her association with her Guru, Shatavisha was also blessed to get opportunities to learn from and meet with legends like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Dinkar Kayikini – father of Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Vidushi Girija Devi, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Rajan Mishra Sajan Mishra, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ramashraya Jha, during the period of her training and workshops that she attended, where they interacted closely about music and life.

EARLY RECOGNITION AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS

Shatavisha is the youngest empanelled artist for Workshop-Demonstration panel by SPICMACAY and has successfully conducted several workshops under them. At 19 years of age, Shatavisha travelled to Mumbai for her debut public performance in the city, in the presence of veteran listeners, who appreciated her performance so much so that many of them personally greeted her with favourite delicacies as a token of sincere affection.

Shatavisha has left an indelible mark in each of her performances across India, some of which are highlighted below:

  • ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata in 2003, 2011, 2014
  • Saptak, Ahmedabad
  • Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Pune
  • India International Centre, New Delhi
  • India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
  • Khayal Trust, Mumbai
  • Raza Foundation, New Delhi
  • Chowdhury House Music Conference, Kolkata
  • Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Kolkata
  • ITC Young Maestros Music Festival, Kolkata
  • Veereshwar Punyashram, Gadag, Karnataka
  • Rajya Sangeet Academy, West Bengal

Shatavisha has been awarded the national scholarship by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 2014 and also bestowed with the prestigious Inlaks Music Award and Fellowship for the year 2017.

One of her memorable Concert experiences was in Patna, at a housefull concert, on the day of a India-Pakistan cricket match, and everyone was seated till the end of 2 hours of the recital. Members of audience mentioned the fact (about the cricket match happening during the recital) in appreciation of Shatavisha’s performance and expressed their interest in watching more of her LIVE concerts in future. Recently, in 2023, Shatavisha is being promoted to “Musician Scholar” (at ITC SRA), which is the highest level for a “Scholar” at the academy.

HER LEGACY OF A LIFETIME OF BONDING

Shatavisha started an initiative to nurture Hindustani classical music at a bigger scale and celebrate highest quality of musicians, with her Aarohan Music Foundation, which organized four events so far, in Kolkata, where legends like Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, Apoorva Gokhale, and Tabla prodigy Yashwant Vaishnav, performed in 2018. Aarohan Music Foundation is on its way to conduct more events.

Sincere learners of music from across the globe, and from age spanning 3 years to 67 years, take taalim from her. Some of these learner had started early, and they grew in their levels, some others came from other schools, re-gained their lost self-confidence and built trust with Shatavisha, as they had given up on learning music altogether, but now they continue to learn from her. She makes it a point to be available to her students when they visit city to specially meet with her, even when they are unable to attend regular classes. Some of her students have been accompanying her on concert stages, and have won several prestigious awards on their merit. Shatavisha looks forward to championing her community activities, while prospering further as a sought-after concert performing, recording artist, and Rabindrasangeet singer, and guiding her students to reach newer heights in their respective levels.

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