Nilimesh Chakraborty & Arnab Bhattacharya – a sarod and tabla duo from India.

Do you have a pet musical hate?

NC:  Nowadays technology and AI have made many differences in music. The artists who has been working hard with the practice and trying to improve all the skills including improvisation are facing challenges.  Though it’s for sure that no technology or AI can make it in live music which is 100% improvised, but I feel little unworthy of it.
AB: As an artist I don’t have personal likes or dislikes, but some people might have strong feelings about certain musical elements, like dissonance or a particular genre. It’s all subjective!

A private musical indulgence:

AB: As a musician I like to listen to all kinds of music as they are all best in their own way.

The year you first came to Cambodia:

NC:  April 2023 was my first visit to Cambodia, and this trip is my third.
AB: The first time I came to Cambodia was in September 2023.

An early music memory:

NC:  My first stage performance when I was eight years old in my hometown, Kolkata, India.
AB: There are two memories i will remember forever – the first concert of my life at the age of six, and my first solo travel out of India in 1997, to Spain and Portugal.

The last thing you had to eat:

NC:  Black coffee.
AB:  Black coffee.

A country you want to visit:

NC:  There are many places are on my, list including ones I already have been to: Australia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Thailand and many, many more.
AB:  A country I have heard about but have not had the opportunity to visit yet is Italy.

A book or movie you keep going back to:

NC:  The Art of Tabla Playing is a book I remember that I loved very much; there are many more.
AB:  I love the movie The Pursuit Of Happyness – I would guess I have seen it more than 20 times.  And some Bollywood movies like Chak De and Dil Chahta Hai.

What languages do you have?

NC:  Hindi, Bengali & English.
AB:  I know couple of languages like English, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya and Marathi a bit.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:

NC:  Tabla.
AB:  My primary instrument is sarod, and I started when I was four years old.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:

NC:  I always take a shower before the concert whether it’s morning, afternoon, evening or night or midnight concert.
AB:  Good question.  Many people don’t know that i am a techy guy. I completed my degrees in Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering, and worked for MNCs – then left it all to pursue my music.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?

NC:  Murari Smriti Sangeet Samellan, 20th December 2012 – it was the last concert I performed tabla solo that my mother heard before she passed away.
AB:  Woodstock festival, where Pandit Ravi Shankar played with Ustad Allah Rakha Khan on tabla.

A question from the last participant: who are your main musical influences?

NC:  My mother, the late Suparna Chakraborty, my uncle Ajoy Chakraborty, and my guru Pt Swapan Siva.
AB:  My father Shri Swapan Kumar Bhattacharya, Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta and Ustad Vilayat Khan.

Originally published 18 April 2024

Note: their second tour of Cambodia, in April 2024, included shows in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kampot.  They have returned in September 2025 for the following shows:

 

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