John Bell
Sitar, Violin, Guitar, Sarod, Flute
John Bell began studying North Indian Classical music in 1973. Since 1978, he
has spent summers at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California
learning from maestros such as Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, and Swapan Chaudhuri.
He performs weekly at the Bombay Tandoor Restaurant in Vienna on Sitar and Bansuri,
as well as at weddings and house concerts in The D.C. area. He also repairs
Indian instruments. He teaches the instrumental and vocal compositions of Ali
Akbar Khan and welcomes the players of all instruments who want to learn this
music.
Debu Nayak
Tabla
Devapriya Nayak (Debu) was born in West Bengal, India, and began learning tabla at the age
of three from his grandfather, Chaudhury Kausalya Nandan, who was an accomplished pakhawaj
and tabla player of the Punjab Gharana. Later, Debu became a disciple of Pt. Radhakanta Nandi of
the Benaras Gharana. In 1981, Debu came to the US to pursue higher studies and continued his
tabla taalim from Maestros like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and Pt. Samir
Chatterjee.
Currently Debu remains a Ganda Bandha shishya of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. Debu is an accomplished soloist and accompanist. He has performed with renowned artists like Pt. Vinayak Torvi, Pt. Ramesh Mishra, Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar, Habib Wali Mohammad, Asif Ali Khan, Shahanaz Begum, Gaurav Mazumdar, Partha Bose, Mitali Banerjee-Bhawmik, Tulika Ghosh and many others.
To know more about this artist, please visit www.tablaguy.com
Amit Dey
Keyboard
He has been teaching keyboard since last 4 years. He is the founder member
of band "Harmony" and he used to perform during the bengali/Indian
festivals/parties in NJ, NY,PA and CT. He has been playing the keyboard
for more than 15 years.
Sibsankar Mahanty
Tabla
Sibsankar Mahanty was born in West Bengal. He began his studies early with his Guru Late
Sri Sekhar Mohapatra. Mr Mohapatra was a disciple of the illustrious Tabla maestro and
khalifa (representative) of Farrukhabad Gharana, late Ustad Keramatullah Khan Sahib.
His training with Sri Sekhar Mohapatra continued till his early-twenties. Later, after
his move to US he continued his study under the guidance of Pt. Sameer Chatterjee. Both
his Gurus belong to the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of Tabla-playing, which he now represents.
Along with the extensive Tabla training, his training and understanding on classical music was
possible due to the environment he was raised on. His younger sister is a renowned classical
Oddisi dancer, a direct disciple of the legendry Guru Padmabibhusan Sri Kelucharan Mohapatra
and his elder sister is a classical Hindustani vocalist. He spends months on practicing with
various vocalists and instrumentalists. Sri Kelucharan Mohapatra has played a key role in his
understanding of various aspects of Indian classical music and Tabla. During his young age
along with his popularity as a young performer he participated on various competitions. He
claimed gold medal number of times on various competitions and Inter University music festivals.
Gauhati University selected him to represent ‘All India Youth Music Conference’ in 1995.
Today he remains as an accomplished soloist and accompanist.
