Dada Guru Late Pt. Kishan Maharaj. Pandit Kishan Maharaj is one of the greatest tabla players that India has ever produced. Profound erudition, extra ordinary performing ability, added aesthetic sense, all combined Kishan Maharaji's style has been on the top for well over 50 years in India and abroad. Born in 1923 on the on “ Krishna janmasthami” day in the holy city of Benares , Pt Kishan Maharaj had initial education about music from his father Pandit Hari Maharaj and later from his uncle the great maestro of his time Pt. Kanthe Maharaj, the pioneer tabla maestro in the Indian Classical music domain, as such, under the parent age and tutelage of whom Pt. Kishan Maharaj rose, to its height of fame as an incarnation of the BENERAS GHARANA. During his long carrier of over half a century , Pt. Kishan Maharaj has played solo as well as accompaniment all over India and abroad. Pt. Kishan Maharaj has accompanied with great legends of the past and present notabley with Pt. Ravi Shankar, late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Aliakbar khan, Late Ustad Bismillah Khan, Late Pt. Nikhil Banarjee. Pt. Kishan Maharaj although excelled much as a brilliant accompanist with instrumental, vocal, kathak but he also finds greatest delight to perform independently a Solo.
Pt. Kishan Maharaj has received hundreds of prestigious awards but most notably and recently the one of India 's haggiest civilian award the Padma Vibhushan by the President of India .
Guru Pt. Puran Maharaj. Born in the year 1952 in one of India’s most respected and well known family of great musicians of the Beneras heritage. The son of the living legend and one of the greatest tabla mastero in Indian music history Pt Kishan Maharaj, Puran Maharaj has taken his most of his tabla training from his grandfather the legendry tabla vizard of his time Pt Kanthe Maharaj and later with father Pt Kishan Maharaj. Receiving well his nearly 400 year old tabla heritage of the Beneras Gharan from his Grandfather and father, Pt Puran Maharaj has performed in India as well as abroad with India’s past and present time great musicians like the great dancer Pt Gopi Kishan, Pt Ravishankar, Ustad Amjad ali Khan, Pt Birju Maharaj, Smt Girja Devi to name a few apart from Ustad Nishat Khan, Ustad Ashish Khan, Pt Ronu Majumdaar, Pt Tarun Bhattacharya, Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pt Rajan Sajan Mishra and many others.
Puran Maharaj is well known in India for his teaching skills. Puran Maharaj is not just only a tabla player from a great family but he is an excellent teacher, a thinker and a composer of new tabla compostions. He has an exceptional knowledge of Tabla and Pakhawaj which a very few Tabla / Pakhawaj masters in India has today. Pt Puran Maharaj is respected for his knowledge of the history’s most old and complex composations of Tabla and Pakhawaj from different gharanas including of Beneras gharana also.
Respecting and acknowledging his knowledge and teaching skills he was been given the responsibility by the Government of India to represent, promote and teach tabla abroad through I.C.C.R at Indian embassies in South American countries, Canada, USA and the UK. He has been the representative for the Govt.of India abroad for nearly 8 years.
Pt. Puran Maharaj is also one of the principal teachers of Tabla and Pakhawaj in India’s most reputated music school, SAPTAK SCHOOL OF MUSIC since atleast 20 years and even at present he is teaching at the school apart from his traditional home in Beneras.The grace of Puran Maharaj’s exceptional skills & talant of teaching and hardwork, the credit goes to him for producing number of young beneras style of tabla players in India who are making their bright future as Tabla players today in India and abroad.
Guru Shree Nandan Mehta. The founder of Saptak, belongs to a family known for patronising music, painting and literature. He was initiated into the art of tabla playing by Shree Sadashivrao Lutde at the tender age of eight years. He then took intensive training from tabla samrat Pt. Kishan Maharaj since 1955. Since then he has carved a niche for himself in the field of music and elevated the art from to enormous heights. He excels in solo playing and has also accompanied a number of eminent artists both vocalists as well as instrumentalists.
He has to his credit, a number of young students who are already performing in major music concerts. He has been an enthusiastic and a devoted teacher who has trained a galaxy of disciples. He is also the founder trustee of the Saptak School of Music. His versatility and magnaimity as an artist as well as a teacher par excellence have earned him tremendous respect from people all over the country.
His performances, from time to time, have won enormous acclaim. He follows the traditional Banaras style of tabla playing and his art combines all the features and nuances of the Banaras Gharana. He has performed extensively in the country and has participated in the AIR National programme as well as the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan. He has been awarded the prestigious Gaurav Puraskar by the Gujarat Sangeet Natak Academy for his outstanding contribution in the field of music. He has been honoured on 'Vishwa Rang Bhoomi day' for his contribution in the field of music in Vadodara, and by the Medical Association in Ahmedabad.
He was honoured by Pt. Jasraj on behalf of Mewati Gharana, "Sankalp" central body at Kurukahetra, and Kumar Club for rendering outstanding services in the field of classical music.
He graduated in arts in 1962 with special History and Politics.
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