Sounak Chattopadhyay in Concert: Melodic Refractions

A celebration of Tagore’s timeless aesthetic, illuminated through Sounak’s distinctive artistry and the rich musical heritage of Bengal, coming together to create an evening of rare resonance.

Rabindranath Tagore and Rāgas; Tagore’s absorbed classical Indian rāgas, folk idioms, Baul mysticism, and Western harmonic ideas, then refracted them into something unmistakably his own—Rabindra Sangeet. He used rāgas as emotional lenses. He would take the bhāva (mood) of a rāga and bend it gently, respectfully toward the emotional veracity he wanted to express. He once wrote that music should “touch the soul before it touches the ear”, a perfect description of refraction: the inner transformation before the outer expression.

Sounak is among the foremost vocalists of his generation. Over the last two decades, he has consistently enjoyed a popularity by dint of his sincerity and immense versatility in music. With an exceptional training base of more than 30 years of experience in learning Hindustani Classical music from Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khansahab and Mubarak Ali Khansahab of the Kirana Gharana, semi classical forms from Smt Sanjukta Ghosh, advanced training in Rabindrasangeet from Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta and Pramita Mallick and other traditional Bengali songs Atulprasad, Rajanikanta, Dwijendralal Ray, Nazrulgeeti, Puratoni etc. Sounak has a range of performances that not many of his contemporaries have. His unique trend setting blending of classical music and various forms of Bengali art music is a treat for the audience and shows his versatility as an artist. He has performed extensively in cities and venues all over India and the United States, Canada, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Oman, Kuwait and Bangladesh.

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