Buddhadev Das Gupta (1 February 1933 – 15 January 2018) was an Indian classical musician who played the

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the swe ...

. He used to reside in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, India. He was one of the artists featured in

Nimbus Records Nimbus Records is a British record company based at Wyastone Leys, Ganarew, Herefordshire. They specialise in classical music recordings and were the first company in the UK to produce compact discs. Description Nimbus was founded in 1972 by ...

' '' The Raga Guide''.

Early life and training

Buddhadev Das Gupta was born on 1 February 1933 in his maternal home at

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Si ...

, India to parents Prafulla Mohan Dasgupta and Bhabani Dasgupta. His father was

District Magistrate A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal revenu ...

by profession and an avid lover of music although he never learnt music. Das Gupta stood second in the

Matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...

Examination, held in 1948. He then studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

at the

Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (IIEST Shibpur), erstwhile Bengal Engineering College (also known as B.E. College), formerly Bengal Engineering and Science University (also known as BESU), is a public research ...

and stood second there, too. Much later in life, on 16 February 2010, the university awarded him an honorary D.Litt. degree. At a very early age, Buddhadev started taking sarod lessons from the sarod

maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

Radhika Mohan Maitra Radhika Mohan Maitra (1917–1981) was an Indian sarod player and the guru of Narendra Nath Dhar, Kalyan Mukherjea, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, Abanindra Maitra, Pranab Kumar Naha, Samarendra Nath Sikdar, Michael Robbins, and man ...

. His first program on the

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

was as a guest artist. He eventually performed more than 17 national programs on All India Radio.

Felicitation

In 2011, Das Gupta, was offered the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

by the government of India, but he turned it down saying "it was far too late in the day". In January 2012, he had been conferred with the Padma Bhushan. He was awarded

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

in 1993 and Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna in 2011.

Autobiography

His autobiography '' Bamaner Chandrasparshavilash'' (meaning: "The desire of a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

to touch the moon"), was periodically published in a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

" Disha" and has been published in the form of book in 2004 (part-I) and in 2010 (part-II). He is the guru of Bhabanisankar dasgupta, Anirban Dasgupta, Abanindra Maitra, Joydeep Ghosh, Atanu Raksit and others.

Death

Das Gupta died on 15 January 2018 of cardiac arrest at his residence in South Kolkata. He was 84. He had been suffering from respiratory problems for the last few days. At the time of his death, he was survived by wife and two sons.

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a ...

said his death has created a void in the field of classical music. "A great loss for the world of classical music. Rest in Peace. Condolences to his family," she said in a tweet.

References

External links

*
Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:DasGupta, Buddhadev 1933 births 2018 deaths Hindustani instrumentalists Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Sarod players University of Calcutta alumni Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Musicians from Bihar Indian male classical musicians People from Bhagalpur Musicians from Kolkata 20th-century Indian male musicians Indian classical musicians of Bengal