Pt. Nikhil Banerjee can be called an exceptional amalgamation of modesty, honesty, reticence, brilliance, and overpowering imaginative prowess. Coming from an erstwhile extremely orthodox Brahmin family, he boldly stood against all odds, and under the preliminary tutelage of his father, he was able to draw the country`s attention at a very young age. However, by obstinate determination to learn under a trained guru, he was also able to catch the attention of the legend Baba Allauddin Khan. And this extensive period under the Baba changed his life everlastingly. Through unrelenting riyaz he was capable to venture into the competitive world to take part in concerts. And his magical intellect in alaaps, meends, gats and taans emote the rare rhythmical tonal quality and methodical way of approach, so very typical of the Maihar gharana. Some of the memorable renditions of raagas Komal Rishabh Asavari, Poorya Kalyan, Jaunpuri or Marwa have fortunately been recorded to be imbibed for centuries to come. His smooth movements from the immeasurable depths to the sense of the present are haunting even to this day.

Nikhil Banerjee was born into an orthodox Brahmin family in Bengal in 1930. His romance with the sitar began at the age of five, when he heard his father Jitendranath Banerjee practice. His grandfather, who was conservative, forbade his grandson from learning music and forcibly drove him back to his textbooks. But the lad was not persuaded. He continued to watch and hear his father practice. Noticing the earnestness of his son, Jitendranath bought him a small sitar and taught his son the rudiments of music until he turned seven. Convinced of his deep interest, he taught Nikhil the intricacies of the musical scale as also the system. When he turned nine, Nikhil won a prize at the All Bengal Sitar Competition. All who heard him declared him to be a precocious child.

The next phase in his flowering came when his precocious brilliance came to the notice of Birendra Kishore Roychoudhry, the Maharaja of Gauripur (now in Bangladesh). A profound and widely renowned musicologist, this regal musician was a renowned exponent of dhrupad, as also instruments like the surbahar, the sursringar and the rabab. He was a vast ocean of musical knowledge, who knew scores of compositions penned by Tansen, Baiju and Gopal Nayak. Nikhil basked in this golden environment for a while, learning everything he could from this master musician. It was Roychoudhry who directed him to continue his training under Baba Allauddin Khan. Now in his teens, Nikhil was at the turning point of his life. His father advised him to make up his mind once and for all whether he planned on becoming an amateur musician or a professional one. His orthodox household was appalled when they heard of his resolve to pursue music earnestly. Those were the days when music, at least on a professional basis, was thought to be contemptible of orthodox Brahmins. As a profession, music had come to be associated with courtesans and the lower castes. Yet, Nikhil stood firm in his decision. He reached Calcutta soon and also began giving small-time concerts over the radio.

Baba`s entry into Nikhil`s life altered it forever. Baba was in the habit of visiting Calcutta a few times every year. Whenever he did so, a group of earnest musicians gathered around him. Nikhil was a habitual visitor of soirees. Noticing the earnest-looking Nikhil, Baba called him to his side and enquired about his intentions. Nikhil instantly fell to his feet and asked that he be accepted as his disciple, because he wanted nobody else as his guru, or else he threatened to commit suicide. Baba was already on the threshold of crossing seventy, and thus wanted rest from such mammoth tasks. However, Nikhil did not stop pleading, and was literally kicked out from the room by the much-enraged Baba. Nikhil solicited Baba one last time to listen to his any of the radio recitals, and after hearing it, the guru quite innovatively called him to Maihar. Needless to mention, Nikhil rushed to Baba and soon became a part of the Maihar gurukula.

Through Baba`s exceedingly strict and rigorous training, in the form of riyaz from morning till night, Nikhil was slowly nurtured towards perfection. Following a set of rules, listed by the guru, after five years Nikhil was ready to venture out into the big world to make his own mark. After leaving Maihar, Nikhil proceeded to Bombay to learn under Ali Akbar Khan. His style acquired the lyricism so characteristic of the Ali Akbar of the 1950s. The one great musician who was to influence his alaap, as also his vistaar, was Ustad Amir Khan, under whom his sister trained in the 1940s. He also picked a thing or two from the Senia virtuoso Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan, the sarod maestro, Pt. Radhika Mohan Moitra, as also from Benjamin Gomes, a gifted, but little known, Calcutta-based guitarist belonging to the Etawah gharana. Gomes` influence aided Nikhil incorporate elements of gayaki-ang into his style.

Later in life, he learnt under Baba`s daughter, Annnapurna Devi, the very high peak of all that is inspirational in classicism. It was Annapurna`s magical touch that transformed Nikhil`s early golden lyrical glow into the iridescent diamond-edged flow of later times that was to become his trademark. He continued to learn under Annapurna Devi all through his life, until the verge of something mysteriously tremendous at the time of his death.

One witnesses a lovely confluence of the precision of classicism and the deeply felt quality, typical of romanticism in Nikhil`s art. Some of the outstanding features of his music are its radiant clarity, keenness in tone and introspective poise. His alaaps have that ruminative gravity, accomplished only in the rudra veena. His haunting meends leave a lingering trail of echoes in the mind. His approach to the raaga is very methodical and bears absolute loyalty to his Maihar inheritance. He moves from the lower octave to the middle and higher octaves very conscientiously, feeling and caressing every note as it emerges from the unfathomable depths. His gats abound with brilliant tonal shades and rhythmic complexities. His swift taans, especially sapat taans, characterized by clarity and agility are a class by themselves.

Luckily, his recorded renditions are quite ample in number even in the present day, and have not been lost or gone unnoticed through the passing time. The instances of Komal Rishabh Asavari, Poorya Kalyan, Jaunpuri, Hemant and Marwa epitomize all the hallmarks of his approach. His alaap in Mian ki Todi poignantly bring out the pensiveness underlying this profound raaga. His HMV recording of Malkauns has become a classic; only the vilambit and drut sections are presented. The taans and fast figures he unleashes in the drut, possess clarity and brilliance. What makes the live recording a treat, is the manner in which he blends the gravity of his style with the lyrical grace of his imaginative flourishes.

Nikhil Banerjee`s Sohini and Megh are masterpieces. Sohini being a raaga, whose emphasis falls on the upper octave (uttaranga), requires the musician to emphasise the high octave notes. It is played in the madhya laya, with unfailing melodic sense and sustained exhilaration. And, Nikhil Banerjee renders each note with such precision that each glows with diamond-fire. His Megh offers the innumerable beauties of his art and style within a short scope.

In the last decade or so, the Sttutgart-based Chhanda Dhara has brought out a steady stream of Nikhil Banerjee`s recordings of live concerts; he gave in Europe and UK. They, without exception, only go to affirm the many-sidedness of his raaga-dari. The Bhimpalas and the Multani brought out by New York-based Raga Records is again a treasure. Form and technique, sincerity and authenticity, aesthetics and ethics are beautifully coalesced in Nikhil Banerjee`s art, as also in his heart. Though a concert performer, he always remained an introverted artist, possessing a fertile imagination and a luminous improviser with a teeming brain.