Sayan Ghosh is a professional Hindustani classical musician, and an expert in sitar and Surbahar (bass sitar). He represents the Etawah-Imdadkhani gharana (School of Music). The gharana is the most famous for its long time contribution in Sitar and Surbahar. He has taken his art and music across the nation and globally. He holds an Outstanding Artist Visa for the USA currently, and has performed across many states in the USA.
Sayan started his vocal training as a young child, primarily in Rabindra Sangeet from his mother. His interest soon drifted to instrumental music and he started experimenting with string instruments and would study Tanpura; its construction and the sound variations it would produce via experimentations. He also began to experiment in designing his own instruments during these early stages of learning.
Sayan started his vocal training as a young child, primarily in Rabindra Sangeet from his mother. His interest soon drifted to instrumental music and he started experimenting with string instruments and would study Tanpura; its construction and the sound variations it would produce via experimentations. He also began to experiment in designing his own instruments during these early stages of learning.
He was introduced to sitar during this phase and developed a deep interest in it. He started his formal sitar training at the age of 13 under Shri Ganesh Das, who was a direct disciple of Amiyakanti Bhattacharya and grand-disciple of Ustad Enayat Khan. Ganesh Babu would initiate Sayan’s skills as a musician and train him on several Ragas and focus on developing and encouraging his own unique style. He was groomed into Imdadkhani Gharana of Baaj which enhances Gayaki anga( Vocative rendering of Sitar playing). After Ganesh Babu’s demise in 2012, Sayan continued to develop his playing by taking inspiration from legendary maestros of his gharana such as Ut. Vilayet Khan, Ut. Irshad Khan, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee and Ut. Shahid Parvez Khan.
Since then Sayan has perfected his craft and learnt advanced techniques of the Gharana. For example, Gayaki ang refinement, Layakari, Thok Jhala, Sur-Badhat etc. Several traditional ornamentations are preserved and encouraged in this Gharana. While preserving and maintaining the traditional approach to sitar playing and music, Sayan has a modern approach and his own distinct style. He adds new taans and todas to traditional bandishes, creates several bandishes (compositions) in uncommon ragas and creates bandishes from popular thumris and songs. Furthermore, he enhances the 'Gayaki Ang' in sitar by incorporating styles of legendary singers like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, and Ajay Chakraborty.
In addition to his performances, he regularly contributes to music projects as a composer as well as a sitar player. In 2017, Sayan started his own music academy in Kolkata (with two branches operating simultaneously). His vision in creating his music academy is to make the sitar accessible to everyone, regardless of age and location. Since its inception, Sayan has students all around the world.
In 2017, Sayan created the ‘Tagore on Sitar’ project. This project is quite a challenging one to execute on a fret instrument like the sitar, due to its raaga-based nature, and elegant sliding techniques that are commonly used in Rabindra Sangeet. During the course of this project, Sayan is skillfully able to bring out the Tagore melodies while staying true to the original sung versions. Since 2022, he has also started teaching ‘Tagore on Sitar’ to his students. Sayan performs regularly in Baithaks and select events. He is also a guest faculty at the Ghulam Abbas Khan Academy for their music appreciation courses. Sayan’s interest in instrument construction further motivates him to experiment with various features of sitar making to bring out the best sound out of his favorite instrument. Currently, he also sells sitars globally that he has personally designed under the brand name, SG.
Gharana
One of the founders of Imdadkhani Gharana was Ustad Imdad Khan. His son Enayat Khan(1894–1938), father of Ustad Vilayat Khan, lived in Kolkata and tutored many eminent disciples in his lifetime. Amongst those were Amiya Kanti Bhattacharyya, John Gomez ,Jitendra Mohan Sengupta,Dhrubatara Joshi.
Amiyakanti Bhattacharya
Amiya Kanti Bhattacharyya ( Bhombal Babu), a sitar virtuoso, was known for his clarity of sound and swift finger movements on the sitar. Hailing from an illustrious musical family, he played both the sitar and surbahar and performed all over, including for All India Radio. A young Pandit Ravi Shankar was so impressed with Amiya Kanti Babu’s music that he even wrote about Amiya Kanti Babu's music in his biography 'Raag o Anuraag'. One of Amiya Kanti Babu’s disciples was Ganesh Das.
Ganesh Das
Shri Ganesh Das was Amiya Kanti Bhattacharya's disciple and learnt from him till he passed away. Ganesh Babu created a good name in his hometown Konnagar and received several honors and awards. Pandit Manilal Nag of Vishnupur Gharana would have jamming sessions with him at his home! Sayan Ghosh received his training from Babu Ganesh Das in initial stage
