About Me

NISHAANT  SINGH 

         

Nishaant Singh S/O Mardalaacharya  Kaajee Singh is an upcoming Pakhawaj artiste born and brought up in the Musicians family. Nishaant belongs to a famous Traditional Folk Musical Family, carrying out the lineage since last four generations; his Grandfather was an extremely knowledgeable legendary Shree-Maadal Player from Darjeeling named Mardalaacharya Late Indrajeet Singh Sardaar. Nishaant did his schooling from Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok, Sikkim. Nishaant started his Musical career with Tabla since childhood at the tender age of four under his father's guidance and also follows the same Folk singing tradition of his Family. Nishaant has been guided by his father to accompany in light Aadhunik songs and started with his professional studio recording career at the age of 14 at Mumbai. Later in future at the age of 17 Nishaant took his Tabla Taleem from Guru Late Shri Pratap Singh (A.I.R. Kerseong). Nishaant joined Visva-Bharati University and did his Degree in Tabla/Pakhawaj from the year 2003-2005 (B.Mus.) 2005-2007 (M.Mus.), where he had a wonderful opportunity to learn the Traditional Pakhawaj Parampara of Lala Keval Kishan Gharana under the guidance of  Pt. Chanchal Kr. Bhattacharya since last 15 years; the oldest in India and the only Pakhawaj Tradition of Bengal. This Gharana is also very popular in Bengal for making legends such like Mridangacharya Durlabh Bhattacharya, Swami Vivekananda both learned under Pt. Murari Mohan Gupta and also Ustad Allaudin Khan Sahab who had taken Taleem from Pt. Nandi Bhatt also diciple of Pt. Murari Mohan Gupta.

Apart from learning the traditional style of  Lala Keval Kishan Gharana from the 7^th generation, Shri Chanchal Kr. Bhattacharya ; Nishaant has also been heavily influenced by stalwarts of Pakhawaj and has been listening, following, learning from other Pakhawaj Gharana’s:-

1.>Kudau Singh Maharaj Gharana:- influenced and follow the style of  Raja Chattrapati Singh ‘Judev’  and  Swami Pagal Das                  

2.>Nathdwara Parampara of Rajasthan:- influenced and follow the style of  

Pt. Purushottam Das Pakhawaji  and frequently get guidance from Pt. Dalchand Sharma                                                                                                                    
3.>Punjab Gharana under the guidance of  Pt. Gobinda Bose

4.>Accompaniment in Kathak under the guidance of  Shri Sandeep Mallick

Nishaant has also got an opportunity to accompany Pakhawaj with living Legends like 
Padmashree Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha (Gundecha Brothers),

 Dagar Brothers, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Aashish Khan;

 Taal Vadya Kutcheri with Pandit Tanmoy bose, Vidwan VV Ramanamurthy, Vidwan Guru Prasanna

Nishaant is a Graded artiste of A.I.R. in Folk Song and Shree Maadal, as well as an ‘A’graded Pakhawaj artiste of Cine Musicians Association, Mumbai. He has been frequently performing in DD Bharati and also playing Pakhawaj in background score music for Films in different languages.

      
Nishaant has played Pakhawaj in Films such as :-

 Sikander a Punjabi Film 

  Sajarur Kanta a Bengali Movie

Recorded a private Album produced by The Institute of Culture, Ramakrishna Mission, Golpark, Kolkata

Nishaant is performing solo & accompaniment both, all over the country in different states and abroad as well representing the only bengal tradition. He has also recorded a solo audio album and played Pakhawaj/ Tabla, which has 34 compositions in 5 different taals extracted from the book written by Swami Vivekananda named Bols and Rhythms from Vivekananda was produced by Institute of Culture, Ramakrishna Mission, Golpark.  


Presently Nishaant stays at kolkata and teaches Pakhawaj at Blind Boys Academy, Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur and Vidya Mandira College, Ramakrishna Mission, Bellur. He is also teaching Tabla/ Pakhawaj and Shree-Maadal at his father’s Institute  Samskriti Samrakshan Samsthaan at Kalimpong.

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Students of Nishaant giving a shree maadal performance in Darjeeling

                                            

First solo Goupuccha Composition composed by Nishaant 

                                             

First solo in Folk Instrument Shree Maadal composed by Nishaant

                                              

The First Guru Vandana composed in a Folk Instrument Shree Maadal by Nishaant

Awards and recognitions received by Nishaant                                                                                            

ANIL KUMAR JHUNNAA FOUNDATION felicitated by Gold medal for Encouragement and best Solo performance (Pakhaawaj), ALL INDIA DHRUPAD MELA, Varanasi, 2009 and 2011; North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) for young Talented Artiste (Tabla art form) March 13^th 2007; Recognition received from The Atlas Football Club part of International Cervantino Music Festival in Mexico subject Pakhawaj; Recognition from the International Drum and Cultural Festival, Lamphun, Thailand for subject Pakhawaj. Recognition and Awarded by the Sikkim University through the honorable Chief Minister of Sikkim Dr. Pawan Kumar Chamling at the Bharatiya Nepali Shikhar Sammelan 6th-7th October 2017, Sikkim 

Participation in Competitions by Nishaant                                                      

Stood 1^st both in Dist. & State Level (W.Bengal), National Youth Festival, sub. (Pakhaawaj). Participated in the National Youth Festival at Pune, Maharastra, 2006; stood 1st in All Bengal Music competition organised by ISCKON 2015, kolkata; stood 1st in State Level Youth Festival Competion 2016

Performances by Nishaant                                                      

Performing every year in India’s prestigious program “ALL INDIA DHRUPAD MELA” since 2005 Arranged by ‘Maharaj Banaras Vidya Mandir Trust.Dhrupad  Tirtha’ Tulsi  Ghat , Varanasi ; Recognised as National Artiste Solo Performer and accompanist (Pakhaawaj), Performed in various Metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum , Bhopal , Pune, Varanasi ; Taala Vaadya & Fusion Music with Shri A Hariharan at Durgapur (Srijani Hall) composition of Guru Pt.Gobinda Bose ; Accompanied with Pakhaawaj in Bhajans, with renowned Artistes of South- India telecasted in the channel‘AMRADA’ ; Accompanied in Pakhaawaj with Sarod , Sitar, Esraj with Indian & artistes from abroad ; Performed two times at PAKHAWAJ PARVA organized and Telecasted live by DD Bharati 2013-2014 ; Accompanied Dhrupad in Pakhawaj with the eminent vocalist Dr. Prakriti Dutta at Rabindra Okakura Bhawan, Salt Lake/ ShiShir Mancha, Rabindra Sadan/  Birla Academy/ Vishwa Bangla Sammelan , Nagpur/  Ezcc Festival in Orrisa; Accompanied Pakhawaj with Pt. Birju Maharaj in Kathak at the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda ; Accompanied Padmashree Gundecha Brothers in Dhrupad at Institute of Culture, Golpark Kolkata ; Accompanied Pakhawaj in Kathak with Sri Sandip Mallick at the annual concert of Nadam Pratishuti ; performrd Taalvadya with Pt.Tanmoy Bose, Vidwan Ramanamurthy and Vidwan G Prassanna at Maha Kumbha Sangeet Sammelan, Udaipur

Participated in Festivals:

Biswa Bangla International Annual Conference-Nagpur, Prayag Sangeet Samiti Annual Conference- Allahabad, All India Dhrupad Mela-Varanasi, 30^th Salt Lake Music Festival- Kolkata, Rajya Sangeet Academy Annual Conference, Legends of India-New Delhi, Maharana Kumbha Sangeet Mahotsav- Udaipur, Pakhawaj Parva- Bhopal & Pune, Ustad Allaudin Khan Sangeet Samaroh-Maihar, Uday Shankar Nrittotsav Rajya Sangeet Academy-Kolkata, Spic-macay chapter Bhubaneshwar, Navodit Festival Ezcc-Shantiniketan, Major concerts of ICCR in different parts of country, Union Group Annual Conference-Bangladesh; 45th Death Anniversary of Ustad Allaudin Khan- Kolkata

Programs organzed by Ministry of Culture and External Affairs- Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in India and abroad/ Eastern Zonal Cultural Center(EZCC)/ Sangeet Natak Academi (SNA)

Invited to perform at the Annual Conference of Prayag Sangeet Samity two times in collaboration with ICCR 2016; 

Performed solo at Shilpa Gram organised by EZCC 2015; 
Invited to perform at Hi-Tec city, Hyderabad in collaboration with ICCR; 
Invted to perform in an engeneering college at Kashipur, Uttarakhand in collaboration with ICCR
Performed solo Pakhawaj at the Surangan Festival organized by SNA, Guwahati
Performed Duet Pakhawaj and Tabla at Sangeet Pratibha organized by SNA, Shillong

MEXICO at six locations - Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Lyon, Monclova, Durango, Torreon : Invited to perform as an Indian Govt. Cultural Delegate by the most famous Latin American Festival - Cervantino 2015 in collaboration with ICCR, Govt. of India.

CANADA at three locations - Toronto, Winnipeg, Sudbury : Invited to perform as an Indian Govt. Cultural Delegate by the Indian High Commission, Canada in assc. with ICCR, Govt. of India.

Lamphun, Thailand: invited to perform Taal vaadya in the most prestigious International Drums and Cultural Festival, represented India as the group named Chatusram.