Sangeet Samman Award – 2017

Recipient: Vidushi Sisirkana Dhar Chaudhury

Prof. Sisirkana Dhar Choudhury is a distinguished violinist. She had her first lesson on the violin and vocal music from Ustad Moti Mian when she was seven years old. Later she received ‘Talim’ from renowned violinist Padmabhushan V G Jog. Impressed with her talent, Swar Samrat Ali Akbar Khan Sahib accepted her as his pupil in 1956. Few years later, she received musical lessons for a short period from the rarely gifted musician Smt. Annapurna Devi, the worthy daughter of Baba Allauddin Khan Sahib. Sisirkana also received training from Pt. Ravi Shankar. She started her performing career in Kolkata in 1953. She also received ‘Talim’ in Dhrupad and Dhamar from Ustd. Ali Akbar Khan and from renowned musician-scholar Sri Birendra Kishore Roychowdhury, who had also imparted lessons on musicology to her.

She plays both violin and viola, and has added a fifth melody string, and several resonating strings, to each. In concert she often plays the alaap (Dhrupad style) on the viola, then switches over to the violin.

She received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy award from Govt. of India in 1997.