BIO-DATA

NAME: Debu Bhattacharya

GURU-JI & FATHER: Late Pandit Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya

BORN: 26th Feb, 1954

ACHIEVEMENTS IN MUSIC
Debu Bhattacharya is the second son of the great tabla maestro of Benares Gharana Late Pandit Kaviraj Ashutosh Bhattacharya, and was born and raised in the cultural city of Varanasi on the banks of the holy Ganges River. He left India for London in 1982 and came to Australia later that year.

Since settling in Melbourne he has taken an active role in developing tabla and Indian classical music in Australia. Among other roles he has been visiting professor at Victorian College of Arts teaching Indian rhythm, president of Indian Music Circle of Victoria, and Musical Director for Mangala Studio, Carlton (creative dance). In 1986 he played tabla for 10 hours non-stop for World Peace as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Debu Bhattacharya has performed with many international and local Indian classical artists including Amjad Ali Khan, Ashish Khan, Ravind Ghosh, Ashok Roy, Jagdish Singh Chitra, Arvind Singh Srivastav, Sunila Srivastav, Pulma Mukherjee, Akub Ali Khan, Adrian McNeil and Alan Posselt. Outside the classical sphere, he has participated in fusion projects with modern jazz musicians - Brian Brown (sax), Judy Jack (singer), Tony Gould (piano) - and percussionists - Alex Paletu (percussion), Peter Jabo (African percussion). He has performed at numerous festivals including National Folk Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Moomba Festival, St Kilda Festival, Carlton Festival, Elwood Festival, Confest and Buddha's Day Festival.