Tapan Bhattacharaya an illustrious Hindustani classical vocalist currently resides at Chicago, United States of America. For the last two decades, he has been involved in executing and conducting seminar-workshops on Hindustani classical vocal music in North America. Tapan Bhattacharaya today has been reckoned as the advocator of several forms of Indian classical music including Khayal, Thumri-Dadra, Tappa, classical Bhajans, Bengali Ragprodhan and old style Bengali songs and devotional songs. He has always attempted to represent his music in an astute blend of technical complexity and tender emotions.
Early Life of Tapan Bhattacharaya
Tapan Bhattacharaya during his early training period received training from the Arya Sangeet Vidyapeeth of Kolkata and Sri Akhilbandhu Ghosh, who was a disciple of noted Sri Tarapado Chakravarty and Chinmoy Lahiri. Mr. Shankar Bose of Kolkata later on trained him. Mr. Shankar Bose was a disciple of Nagendranath Datta of Ranaghat, Mehdi Hossain Khan of Rampur Gharana and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan of Patiala Gharana.
Career of Tapan Bhattacharaya
Tapan Bhattacharaya has performed at many concerts and seminars. He has also conducted many workshops as an invited guests at respective musical and cultural organizations, Toronto & Chicago TV and educational institutions, such as the Raagmala of Toronto, Hindustani classical music society of Ottawa, Tribeni of Buffalo, N.Y., Bengali Association of greater Chicago, Indian Classical Music Society of Chicago, the Vedanta Societies of Chicago, Seattle, and Nashville, Cultural Committee of the City of Chicago, Williams College, Massachusetts and the Unitarian Church-Bharat Samaj of Evanston, Illinois. In the year 1984, he fetched the honour of being the coordinator of a seminar and concert `on the evolution of music in Bengal` at the prestigious Bengal Studies Conference organized by the South Asian Studies Department of the University of Toronto. Several towering academicians and scholars attended this seminar. The seminar received rave acclamation.
Tapan Bhattacharaya in the respective years of 1992 and 1994 was invited to conduct lecture-demonstration on Bengali Tappa and classical songs at the North American Bengali Conference (NABC) in Toronto and Houston in the order. In the year 1993, he was selected as an invited artist to perform at the Parliament of Religions held at Chicago. During the summer of 1999 in Mumbai, Tapan Bhattacharaya was officially acquainted to the foremost teachers of Hindustani vocal music. At that occasion he rendered a performance of Khayal and Thumris.
Musical Records of Tapan Bhattacharaya
In the years 1989 and 1990 respectively Tapan Bhattacharaya brought forth two audiocassettes on Thumris, Bhajans and classical Bengali songs. He has also launched a CD of Khayal, Thumri and Bhajan in the year 2001. This CD has received well appreciation throughout the world. Apart from all these he has also contributed many articles written by him in music journals on various prospects of Indian classical music. He has also written criticisms and liner notes for CDs of eminent musicians.
Other Ventures of Tapan Bhattacharaya
Tapan Bhattacharaya for the last two decades stays in Canada and U.S.A. and simultaneously gives training to the aspiring students of different ages and nationalities about the art and science of classical vocal music. Under the Master-Apprenticeship program (2000-01, 2002-3), the Illinois Arts Council has been conferred grants for his teaching of Hindustani vocal music. Apart from being an illustrious Hindustani classical music vocalist Tapan Bhattacharaya also possesses a professional identity of being a biologist. He is a doctoral degree holder and presently serves the College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago.
