About
Both traditionalist and innovator, Debashish Bhattacharya is a virtuoso of the Indian slide guitar. He performs deeply meditative ragas as well as lighting-fast, intricate slide work on the family of guitars he invented.
Born into a family of accomplished devotional singers in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, at three years old Debashish discovered a lap-steel guitar in his parents’ house, a relic from the 1930s-era Hawaiian music craze that swept through Kolkata. “It was,” he says “love at first touch.”
Debashish began studying classical singing as well as traditional instruments including thesitar, immersing himself in the tradition of raga, the melodic frameworks for improvisation upon which classical Indian music is based. But that slide guitar drew him back; at 20, he became the first slide guitarist to win the President of India Award. Then he began a decade of study with Brij Bhushan Khabra, a pioneer in the use of guitar in Indian classical music, and the eminent vocalist Ajoy Chakraborty. At 40, Debashish was granted the honorific title ofpandit (master).
Bhattacharya has created a family of slide guitars that incorporate characteristics of Indian instruments. He calls his three favorites his Trinity: the 14-string Gandharvi, the tiny Anandi(slide ukulele), and Debashish’s primary instrument, the Chaturangui. This 22-string guitar, whose name means “four attributes,” incorporates timbres of violin, sitar, sarod, and veenathrough the addition of both sympathetic and drone strings. The raga tradition is the departure point for his far-flung musical excursions. “My tradition is my foundation as it represents my roots,” he explains. “It enables me to be wild in terms of innovation, without losing control … to be able to play with fire in the musical sense, to live dangerously and come out unscathed.”
He will be performing with his younger brother, Subhasis, a master tabla player, as well as his daughter, Anandi, an accomplished singer and tamboura player.