Pandit Tejendra Majumdar
Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar (born 17 May 1961 in Kolkata) is a leading sarod virtuoso of the Maihar gharana, tracing his musical lineage to his grandfather, Bibhuti Ranjan Majumdar, and father, Ranjan Majumdar. Initially trained in vocal and tabla, he found his true calling in sarod under Ustad Bahadur Khan for eighteen years, later continuing studies with Pandit Ajay Sinha Roy before being accepted by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His style fuses the intellectual rigor of dhrupad, the melodic flow of gayaki, and the instrumental complexity of tantrakari, enriched by his multi-disciplinary musical upbringing.
A top‑graded All India Radio artist, Majumdar swept the President’s Gold Medal and Pandit D. V. Paluskar Award at the 1981 All‑India Radio competition—honors that launched his distinguished career. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2018 and was named a Padma Shri in 2025 for his contribution to classical music. His collaborative work spans jugalbandis with sitarists like Shujaat Khan and vocalists including Ustad Rashid Khan and Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, as well as Carnatic duets and world-music exchanges—highlighting his versatility and openness to musical dialogue.
As an influential guru, Pandit Majumdar teaches at the Bengal Parampara Sangeetalay in Dhaka and leads the Swara Samrat Festival—a tribute to his mentor Ali Akbar Khan. He has mentored sarod talents like Subhankar Banerjee and violinist Ambi Subramaniam (who have both also appeared at Darbar Festival), as well as tabla maestros including Tanmoy Bose, with whom he performed at the 2025 Prayag Mahakumbh and elsewhere. Through his teaching, performances shaped by an intuitive blend of tradition and innovation, and support for emerging artists at festivals like Darbar, he continues to shape the future of Hindustani classical music.
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