Kaushiki Chakrabarty

Kaushiki Chakraborty Desikan (; born 24 October 1980) is an Indian classical vocalist of the Patiala gharana. Her repertoire covers pure classical, Khyals, Dadras, Thumris, Bhajans and several other forms of Indian music. She is the recipient of 2005 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in the Asia-Pacific category. She is the daughter of noted Hindustani classical vocalist, Ajoy Chakraborty. Kaushiki is also a trained Carnatic classical vocalist.

Early life Kaushiki was born on 24 October 1980 in Kolkata. She is the daughter of Chandana Chakraborty and the Padma Bhushan recipient Indian classical singer, Ajoy Chakraborty. She had an interest in music from the age of two. She accompanied her father on world tours of music performances since the late 1980s. She sang her first song in public, a tarana, at age 7, at the Calcutta Rowing Club.

At age ten, she started learning Indian classical music at the academy of Jnan Prakash Ghosh who was also her father's guru. Later, she joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy from where she graduated in 2004,

She completed her schooling at Patha Bhavan School, Kolkata. In 2002, she graduated from the Jogamaya Devi College, an affiliated undergraduate women's college of the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata with a first class degree in philosophy. She also obtained a master's degree in philosophy from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

Career Chakraborty has participated in many major concerts. Apart from rendering Khyals in her performances, she has occasionally adopted contemporary form of Indian pop music. She performed at the Dover Lane Music Conference from the age of 20 and continued participating for the next 5 years. In her recitals, she presents a mature and rhythmical swing succeeded by unrestrained taans in three and-a-half octaves. In the unique musical sessions organized by Mumbai's National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), ragas in different time-cycles were presented on 18 September 2011 by three vocalists which included Kaushiki Chakraborty, Ulhas Kashalkar, and Devaki Pandit. This rendering was a departure from the normal evening concerts, and the ragas were sung in time periods appropriate to each raga, starting from early morning till evening.

In the early stages of her career, in August 2003, Chakraborty gave a live performance in London which was released as the record "Pure". Her father had accompanied her on harmonium on this occasion. She has been acclaimed as "torchbearer of the Patiala tradition" for her musical performances.

Musical group Chakraborty has formed an exclusive women's musical group called the "Sakhi" (meaning, friend) which is a forerunner in classical music in the country to "celebrate womanhood" and as a dedication to the famous mythological and historical woman of India – Ganga, Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi, Draupadi, Kunti, Sita, Radha and Meera. The first programme of the group was planned to be held on 20 January 2015 at Kala Mandir, Mumbai. Chakraborty was the vocalist and the other members of this group were Shaoni Talwalkar on the tabla, Mahima Upadhyay on the pakhwaj, Debopriya Chatterjee on the flute, Nandini Shankar on the violin while the Kathak dance performance was by Bhakti Deshpande. They are daughters or grand daughters or disciples of famous Hindustani musicians. Chakraborty presented this musical ensemble with her group at the Carnegie Hall in October 2015; the programme was of 90 minutes duration.

Awards and recognitions Chakraborty has been the recipient of many awards. She received the Jadu Bhatta award in 1995, favourably mentioned and appreciated after her opening song at the 27th annual ITC Sangeet Sammelan in New Delhi in 1998, and received Outstanding Young Person in 2000. She received the BBC Award (2005) for outstanding achievement in music when she was 25 years old. On receiving this award she was praised "as one of the brightest emerging artists in Indian vocal music" and as critic Ken Hunt said "we are talking superlatives". and the 2013 Aditya Birla Kalakiran Puraskar.

Performances Chakraborty's discography includes "Footsteps," a solo debut in 1998, and "A Journey Begins" (2002). Her album "Pure" in 2004 was a record of her performance in London on 30 August 2003. Rituparno Ghosh had asked her father to permit Chakraborty to act in his films but he refused saying that it would interfere with her musical career.

However, she appeared in only one song sequence in the film Chitrangada which she sang herself. She has sung songs for movies, such as her first song for the film Chaplin, Teen Kanya, a Hindi song Rahoon tere peechhey for Paanch Adhyay, Gulaab Gang. About her performances she says: "But I never try to act like a 60-year-old because I'm not that. Superimposed seriousness would just be a thing of pretense, not me. I like to sit on stage and chat with my audience, not close my eyes and alienate myself."

Chakraborty, along with Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan, and Hariharan performed at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's wedding in 2024.

Recordings Chakraborty has released her album titled "The Best of Kaushiki Chakraborty." Some of her other classical audio recordings are: Dhrupad Alap in Poorvi raga, Dhrupad in Poorvi raga, Khayal in Bageshree raga (in teen taal), Khayal in Bageshree raga (in ektaal), and Varnam in Swarashtram raga.

Movies

Albums 2002 – A Journey Begins 2005 – Hamaaro Pranaam 2005 – Water 2007 – Rageshri 2007 – Pure 2008 – Jhanak 2010 – Jag Do Din Ka Mela 2011 – Manomay 2011 – Kaushiki 2011 – Jaani Dyakha Hawbe 2011_ Yatra 2:The Journey Continues 2012 – Paanch Adhyay (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2013 – Boon 2013 – Hanuman.com 2013 – Shunyo Awnko 2013 – Thirumanam Enum Nikkah 2014 – Parapaar (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2014 – Gulaab Gang 2014 – Ramanujan 2014 -- Sondhey Naamar Aagey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2014 – Hrid Majharey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2015 – Karvaan 2015 – Kadambari (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2015 – Family Album (Original Motion Picture Soundtracks) 2016 – Mirzya 2017 – Kaushikis Sakhi 2017 – Arani Takhon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2017 – Gaayeja

Footnotes