Melodic Conversations at Chhayanaut today

Sitarist Ebadul Huq Shaikat and tabla artiste Monir Hossain first got in touch on Facebook. The artiste duo closely interacted and exchanged their respective solo recorded recitals through e-mails and SMS.  They didn't meet face to face. All that is set to change now when they perform this evening at 7pm at Rameshchandra Dutta Smriti Milankendra of Chhayanaut, Dhanmondi. 

Monir Hossain, is the grandson of renowned Indian classical vocal and tabla researcher late Ustad Kader Buksh of Murshidabad,West Bengal. He is a senior disciple of well known tabla maestro Pandit Samar Saha of Kolkata, India. Born in Bangladesh, Hossain, a talented and highly sought after tabla accompanist has performed throughout North America and Canada, India and Bangladesh with legendary and contemporary Indian classical musicians, including late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Imrat Khan and other legendary artistes.

Younger son of well known classical vocalist Ustad Hafiz Hossain, Monir has been on stage since the age of 16.  He has released a CD and received accolades for his work with sarod maestros Pandit Budhadev Das Gupta, Pandit Debojyoti Bose as well as sitar maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez. Monir has scored music for the movie “American Chai.” A graduate of John Hopkins University, who has a MSEE and MBA under his belt, in addition to his Aerospace Engineering career, Washington DC- based Monir continues to teach, perform and collaborate regularly with nationally and internationally recognised artistes throughout the country. Monir has very recently released Saath Sangeet, an innovative music software to aid in learning and practicing Indian Classical Music (ICM) to all levels of music students.

On the other hand, Ebadul Huq Shaikat has a post graduate degree in sitar from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India and learned his art under the wings of sitar maestros, Pt. Debaprashad Chakrabarti, Pt. Kartik Seshadri and Pt. Deepak Choudhury and his guru Pt. Ajay Sinha Roy,  Sree Madan Gopal Das and Ustad Khurshid Khan. Shaikat's style has gradually evolved to a personal approach of the tradition, with very precise feeling of Shruti, and a deep spiritual touch. 

Shaikat has played at concerts both in Bangladesh and India. Shaikat is  a sitar teacher at Chhayanaut Sangeet Bidyayatan, Dhaka.