With so much negativity in the world, those who contribute beauty and innovation are especially welcome.

My great love for Indian classical music is no secret, and I’ve been fortunate to have personal contact with a number of its great masters.

Earlier this month, I had the great fortune to have some music lessons with Anindo Chatterjee, one of three towering geniuses of tabla with us today (that I know of), along with Swapan Chaudhuri and Zakir Hussain.

Having focused my attention, in sequence beginning in 1995 to the present, first with Zakir and his father, Alla Rakha, followed by Anindo, then moving to Swapan, my focus most recently has again been on Anindo’s playing, truly a miracle of substantive inspiration, originality, elegance, and power. In my humble opinion, one of his recordings even amounts to the greatest music album ever made in any genre from any country in world history.

In addition to his technical wizardry, there is a deep spirituality present in Anindo’s playing, so it makes complete sense to hear from him how essential Nikhil Banerjee and Shivkumar Sharma have been in his life and development, in addition to his tabla guru, Jnan Prakash Ghosh, and Alla Rakha.

As a person, Anindoji is refreshingly humble and unpretentious, clearly living in the moment, always alive to new thoughts and continuing to learn; truly an enlightened approach that has allowed divine influences to manifest.

Anindo Chatterjee (photo by Michael Robinson)

No doubt, I will have more to write about this extraordinary musician and person, the pictures above speaking volumes by themselves. Truth be told, I am so overwhelmed by the majesty and profundity of his music, finding it difficult to tether my impressions and insights into words, like attempting to touch something white hot.

- Michael Robinson, October 2018, Los Angeles

© 2018 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

Michael Robinson and Anindo Chatterjee recorded four albums of piano and tabla duets in 2022.

Anindo Chatterjee website

Anindo Chatterjee wikipedia

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer, programmer, pianist and musicologist. His 199 albums include 152 albums for meruvina and 47 albums of piano improvisations. Robinson has been a lecturer at UCLA, Bard College and California State University Long Beach and Dominguez Hills.