Faculty

Profile

Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player of India. He travels widely across the world throughout the year performing in numerous festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and western musical traditions. Samir performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway in 2007 and also performs at the United Nations General Assembly on special occasions. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings. Since June, 2008 Samir has been working towards the musical revival of Afghanistan. His formation as a musician occurred mainly under the guidance of Pt. Amalesh Chatterjee (since 1966) and Pt. Shyamal Bose (since 1984), both of whom were from the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of Tabla-playing, which he now represents. Samir Chatterjee lives in New Jersey, and has been a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Non-Indian music, in his own creations and others as well. He can be heard on numerous recordings featuring as soloist, accompanying many of India's greatest musicians and in collaboration with western musicians of outstanding caliber. In concert Samir has performed with Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Jasraj, Nikhil Banerjee, V.G. Jog, Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Amjad Ali Khan, Salamat Ali Khan, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Ned Rothenberg, Jerome Harris, Mark Feldman, Eric Friedlander, Dave Douglas, Steve Gorn, Boby Sanabria, Ben Verdery, Dance Theater of Harlem, Boston Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Orchestra, Junoon and other Indian, jazz, classical and avant guard musicians and ensembles. He performs with Sanjay Mishra on his CD "Blue Incantation" featuring Jerry Garcia as guest artist. Samir Chatterjee has been teaching for the last 35 years and many of his students are established performers. He is the Founder-Director of CHHANDAYAN, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Indian music and culture. He has authored a comprehensive (654-page) book entitled ‘A Study of Tabla’ and a guide book to Indian music titled ‘Music of India’. He is also on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music, University of Pittsburgh and Yale University.