Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Debashish Bhattacharya (Bengali: ভট্টাচার্য, Hindi: देबाशीष भट्टाचार्य, Devāśiṣ Bhaṭṭācārya, born 12 January 1963) is an Indian classical musician who plays the lap slide guitar.
Bhattacharya was born into a musical family in Kolkata, it became apparent that Bhattacharya was skilled at a young age. His parents, both traditional Indian vocalists, gave him a basic understanding of music and he first began strumming a guitar at age three, when his father gave him a full-size Hawaiian lap steel guitar. He made his debut at the age of four on All India Radio, in Calcutta.
At the age of nine, he left his parents for ten years to study under the pioneer of Indian slide-guitar Brij Bhushan Kabra. At age twenty, he was awarded the President of India Award for winning the National Music competition of All India Radio.
His originality as a musician has earned him global admiration, and he has performed on networks all over the world. He has been a key factor to create attraction to the slide guitar ad Indian classical music for global and national new age talents. Today he has more than 2000 students in India and other countries, and thousands of musicians, music directors, teachers, and followers who has been led to the new language of old traditional Indian music of Debashish. He invented his own slide-guitars, unique to his compositions, which he calls the "Trinity of Guitars". These hollow neck instruments are the 24-string chaturangui, the 14 string gandharvi and the anandi, a 4-string lap steel ukulele. To serve the constant demand of knowledge he has opened a new Universal School of Music in Kolkata, India. Where he teaches all students of the world the principle universal form of Indian music and special course of Guitar. The school is a non profit organisation, works for restoring music, musician and traditional art. His most popular albums are: Mahima with Bob Brozman, and Calcutta Slide-Guitar, Vol. 3. Both of these albums are on Riverboat records and ranked in the top 10 of the Billboard World Music Charts.
He was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional World Music Album for his album Calcutta Chronicles.
