Kamlesh Maitra Biography In English Life Story – Kamlesh Maitra – 1928 – 2005

Kamlesh Maitra Biography In English

Birth Details –

Place– Bengal

Date of Birth – 28 April 1928

Nationality – Indian

Early Life –

• Kamlesh Maitra was born in 1928 in Tangail, East Bengal. His father was an Ayurvedic doctor, and the family lacked the musical lineage usually associated with Hindustani classical music.
• Maitra spent his early years in Calcutta, absorbing most of the European influence on the city. At the age of twelve, he started playing various types of drums including the tabla.

• Kamlesh Maitra, often known by the title Pandit, was an Indian classical musician, composer and teacher. He is recognized as the last guru of Tabla Tarang.

Career –

• In 1950, Maitra joined Uday Shankar’s ballet and dance company as master drummer. Having established himself as a tabla player, he was asked to master the tabla tarang, an instrument composed of ten and sixteen tablas, specifically the triple-variety dayan.
• By tuning each hand drum to a different pitch, producing a range of about one and a half octaves, Maitra was able to provide a combined melodic-rhythmic role in the performance of ragas or ballet and dance compositions.
• Developing the ability to play the tabla tarang, he continued his advanced musical education, learning the lute-like sarod under the tutelage of Ali Akbar Khan.
• From 1955, Maitra was the music director of Shankar’s troupe, for whom he composed and directed the music for a wide range of stage productions.
• Over a period of more than twenty years, he toured the United States, China, Africa and Europe with the company.

International Career –

• In 1974, Uday’s brother Ravi Shankar invited Maitra to join his music festival From India Revue, sponsored by former Beatle George Harrison, who championed Indian classical music in the West.
• Maitra’s fellow artists included Alla Rakha, Lakshmi Shankar, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sultan Khan and L. Subramaniam.
• Maitra recorded a studio album in England with the Music Festival Orchestra – released on Dark Horse Records in 1976. Contributed on tabla tarang, sarod and ektara, before they all went on a short European tour.
• India’s first live concert, filmed at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 23 September 1974, was released on DVD in 2010, as part of the four-disc box set Ravi Shankar-George Harrison, a collaboration.

Award-

• “Musical Vitale” Award

Other Information –

• Date of death-22 April 2005
• Place – German

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