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Budhaditya Mukherjee |
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A purist marked by austerity, Budhaditya has gained the highest acclaim by the some of the greatest connoisseurs of Indian music and today, hails as a giant amongst the contemporary Sitar players of India. The Oscar winning world renowned film maker, the Late great Satyajit Ray had his breath taken away by this young genius. "Simply fantastic", he had commented - "I felt stunned after hearing him. He is incredibly good - really extraordinary and his performance is soul filling." The king of veena, the Late S. Balachander, was not sparing in his praise either - "When I listened to the sitar recital of Budhaditya Mukherjee" he said, after a Sangeet Sammelan broadcast, "I felt I was listening to the 'Sitar Artist of the Century'. God bless him with long life and a most befitting future." Holder of an Engineering degree in Metallurgy, Budhaditya has completed his academics with superlative marks and has pursued music simultaneously. Initiated into the sitar at an early age by his illustrious father, Acharya Pandit Bimalendu Mukherjee - a doyen of the famous Imdadkhani gharana, Budhaditya's tutelage continued solely under the guidance of his father under whose infallible supervision, Budhaditya has risen steadily in fame and in perfection. For over thirty years now, Budhaditya has focused entirely on his music, distilling it to a level of near-impossible perfection which he attributes to his unremitting practice. Practice (riyaz) for Budhaditya, carries with it the stamp not of exaggeration, but of the Indian classical ideal of steady aspiration - dhira. "I have never put in more than five hours a day", he insists. In this, he belongs to a new breed of modern Indian musicians - urbane, articulate, managing an incredibly complex lifestyle, dedicated to uncompromising perfection in their art, but focusing primarily on quality, not quantity. Budhaditya's father is a veritable encyclopedia of the Imdadkhani style. The Imdadkhani style is based on vocal music, and thus is known as "gayaki ang". Budhaditya considers his sitar to be an extension of the singing voice, expressive of its ornamental subtleties of emotional mood. According to Budhaditya, within this gharana, string deflections were enlarged to the full capacity of the instrument. "Khatkas and jhatkas form the language of the sitar and fullest exploitation of the aas becomes an important aspect of the raga development in this gharana." Budhaditya does not believe in experimentation with form or mixtures. He plays only the ragas which have stood the test of time. He is uncompromising in his presentation, never pandering to popular taste. |
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