Buddhadev Das Gupta

For the filmmaker born in 1944, see Buddhadeb Dasgupta.
Buddhadev Das Gupta

Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta at a concert accompanied by Pandit Chandra Nath Shastri with Tabla, Calcutta, 1987.
Background information
Born 1 February 1933
Bhagalpur, Bihar, India
Genres Hindustani classical music
Instruments sarod
Website www.buddhadevdasgupta.com

Padmabhushan Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta (Bengali: বুদ্ধদেব দাশগুপ্ত Buddhodeb Dashgupto) is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod.[1] Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta resides in Kolkata, India. He is one of the artists featured in Nimbus Records's The Raga Guide.

Early Life and training

Buddhadev Das Gupta was born in 1 February 1933 in his maternal home at Bhagalpur, India to parents Prafulla Mohan Dasgupta and Bhabani Dasgupta. His father was District Magistrate by profession and an avid lover of music although he never learnt music. Since childhood little Buddhadev grew up with a musical atmosphere at his home. At a very early age he started taking Sarod lessons from the eminent Sarod maestro Sangitachrya sri Radhika Mohan Maitra. His first program in the All India Radio was as a guest artist. He has done more than 17 national programs in All India Radio, which is a very rare incident among known Indian Classiscal Musicians.

Academics

Besides his world-wide fame as a Sarod maestro, Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta has had an equally brilliant track record in Academics. He stood 2nd in the Matriculation Examination, held in 1948. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the prestigious Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, which was then affiliated to the University of Calcutta and stood 2nd. He received the honorary D.Litt degree from the Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur (his alma mater) at its annual convocation on 16 February 2010.

Felicitation

In 2011, Sarod maestro Buddhadeb Dasgupta, was offered the Padma Shree by the government of India, but he turned it down saying "it was far too late in the day". In Jan 2012, he has been conferred with Padma Bhushan by Govt. of India.[2]

Autobiography

His famous autobiography Bamaner Chandrasparshavilash (meaning: "The desire of a dwarf to touch the moon"), was periodically published in a Bengali Magazine "Disha" and has been published in the form of book in 2004 (part-I) and in 2010 (part-II). The book became instant hit and is a best-seller among Bengali autobiographies.

References

  1. Hunt, Ken. "Biography: Buddhadev Das Gupta". Allmusic. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  2. "Padma Awards". pib. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.

External links