Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, the noted sarod player, is one of the most popular classical musicians of India today. His music sparkles with the very rare combination of virtuosity with classical purity and a deep sense of aesthetics. Tejendra is an able representative of the legendary Senia Maihar school of music, the most notable exponents of which style are Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Born on May 17, 1961, like most other classical musicians, Tejendra started learning music at an early age, first with his grand father Bibhuti Ranjan Majumdar and later with his father, Ranjan Majumdar. Tejendra also received vocal training from Amaresh Chowdhury and rhythm training from Anil Palit. After showing considerable talent in his early teens, Tejendra was taken under the guidance of Ustad Bahadur Khan, with whom Tejendra studied for 18 years. During this period, he stood first in the All India Radio Music Competition (1981), and was awarded the President's gold medal and the Pandit D. V. Paluskar award. After the untimely demise of the Ustad, Tejendra studied under Ajay Sinha Roy, and was later accepted as a disciple by the greatest Indian instrumentalist, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, from whom Tejendra gets his instructions today. Tejendra's repertoire combines elements from the Dhrupad, Tantrakari and Gayaki styles of music. Tejendra has performed in most of the major concerts in India, including the Dover Lane Music conference, Tansen Music conference, Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial conference, I.T.C. Golden Greats Festival, Park Circus Music conference. Tejendra has also given many performances in U. S. A., Canada, and Europe. Tejendra has been accompanied by all the great tabla players of India, including Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Sankar Ghosh, Pandit Swapan Chaudhury, Anindo Chatterjee, Kumar Bose, Sabir Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Here are some press clippings about Tejendra Mr. Majumdar's playing sometimes suggested the way Beethoven reconstructed a theme of his variations in his late works. - New York Times, November 10, 1994. Deep resonant tones of the sarod, amazing meends spanning more than two octaves, Dhruvpad like gamaks, sarangi like taans are some of the characteristics that mark him as an outstanding hope for the future. - The Sunday Times of India, February 13, 1994. He reflected a serene mood with patches of scintillating musical combinations. - The Statesman, August 2, 1990. The most impressive among the Maihar youngsters. - The Telegraph, March 3, 1989. The recital was sober, erudite and glowing with the stamp of high class 'talim'. - The Economic Times, June 14, 1987. (Source: http://www.tejendra.blogspot.com/ ) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.