Debu Chaudhuri Biography 
Debu Chaudhuri is a Sitarist and a teacher who resides in New Delhi at present. His full name is Pandit Devabrata Chaudhuri. Apart from composing eight new ragas and numerous musical compositions, he has also authored three books. He is a disciple of Mushtaq Ali Khan and he has performed at All India Radio at several stations different times. He is the former Dean and Head, Faculty of Music, University of Delhi. Indian government has honoured him with Padma shri and Padmabhushan and widely regarded as a leading Sitarist of Post War era. He has recorded 24 CD’s for 24 hours of the day in USA.
Pandit Chaudhuri was born in 1935 in Mymensing, now a part of Bangladesh. He started playing the Sitar at the age of 4. He performed in All India Radio for the first time in 1953 when he was 18. Panchu Gopal Ratna and Ushtad Mustaq Ali Khan were his masters in music. His education was completed at University of Calcutta and later he joined as a reader from 1971 to 1982. He became Dean and Head of Music Department in 1985 and served the position till 1988.
Bisweswari, Palas-Sarang, Anuranjani, Ashiqui Lalit, Swanandeswari, Kalyani Bilawal, Shivamanjari and Prabhati Manjari are the 8 ragas composed by Chaudhuri and he named Shivamanjari and Prabhati Manjari in memory of his wife – Manju. ‘Sitar and Its Techniques’, ‘Music of India’ and ‘On Indian Music’ are his published books based on Indian music. He is a master of playing pedal tone called Jod with the tonic pitch of the second string called Jodi. He uses the 17 fret sitar while most musicians use the 19 fret sitar.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 18, 2014
