Sayan Ghosh

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 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.

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.