https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Sisir_Kana_Dhar_ChowdhurySisir Kana Dhar Chowdhury - Revision history2026-10-25T08:01:45ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sisir_Kana_Dhar_Chowdhury&diff=536206&oldid=prevShamimulislam: creating new page.2025-08-14T03:38:14Z<p>creating new page.</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian musical artist (1937–2021)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2023}}<br />
{{Infobox musical artist <br />
| name = Sisir Kana Dhar Chowdhury<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|12|27}}<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2021|3|9|1937|12|27}}<br />
| death_place = [[Gurgaon]], [[Haryana]], India<br />
| instrument = [[Violin]], [[Viola]]<br />
| genre = [[Hindustani classical music]]<br />
| occupation = Composer, Teacher<br />
}}<br />
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'''Sisir Kana Dhar Chowdhury''' (also written Sisirkana Dhar Choudhury; 27 December 1937 &ndash; 9 March 2021)<ref name="TOI"/> introduced the viola to the Hindustani music sphere, and played a rare style of violin with an extra fifth melody string and [[sympathetic string]]s.<ref name="TOI">{{cite web |last1=Dasgupta |first1=Priyanka |title=Vidushi Sisirkana Dhar Choudhury passes away |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/vidushi-sisirkana-dhar-choudhury-passes-away/articleshow/81418704.cms |website=The Times of India |publisher=The Times Group |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> Chowdhury was awarded the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award|Sangeet Natak Academi Award]] in 1997 for her contribution to the field of Indian classical violin,<ref name="UCSC">{{cite news |last1=Rappaport |first1=Scott |title=Disciple of renowned master musician Ali Akbar Khan to kick off new Indian classical music series |url=https://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/10-13/music.html |access-date=27 October 2021 |date=13 Oct 2003}}</ref> and received the [[Dover Lane Music Conference]]'s Sangeet Samman Award in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sangeet Samman Award 2017 |url=http://www.doverlanemusicconference.org/archive/2016-2017/Sangeet_Samman_2017.html |website=Dover Lane Music Conference}}</ref><br />
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==Training==<br />
Chowdhury was seven years old when she began to play violin and vocal music. She later received training from [[V. G. Jog]] and [[Ali Akbar Khan]],<ref name="TOI" /> among others.<ref name="Origin of Violin" /><br />
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==Musical performance==<br />
Chowdhury began her musical performance career in Kolkata in 1953.<ref name="Origin of Violin" /> She was a frequent performer on All India Radio and Television<ref name="UCSC"/> Though it is difficult to find recordings and even more rare to find video of Chowdhury's performances, it is said that Chowdhury would often play the [[Alap|alaap]] of a piece on viola, and use violin for the remaining portion of the concert. Sometimes an entire concert would be done in viola.<ref name="TOI" /> In the 70's, she performed as a trio with [[Ali Akbar Khan]] and [[Nikhil Banerjee]] at many music conferences in Kolkata.<ref name="TOI" /> She also performed in international conferences, representing India as a cultural representative in Russia, Finland and Afghanistan, as well as at a conference in Nepal commemorating the country's independence.<ref name="SpaceInk" /> Both her violin and viola were of special construction, with a fifth melody string for increased range as well as the addition of sypathetic strings for resonance.<ref name="IC" /> A number of sources noted that it was rare for a woman in the 1950s to take up an instrument professionally, and those that did tended to be vocalists, in contrast with Chowdhury's specialty in bowed instruments.<ref name="TOI" /><ref name="IC" /><br />
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==Musicology==<br />
Along with her interest in playing music, Chowdhury made contributions to the field of [[musicology]]. She was consulted in the writings of other ethnomusical scholars,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=James Sadler |title=Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study |date=1 March 1990 |publisher=Univ of Calgary Press |isbn=0919813682 |page=xx |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JP5Wzqq7I80C&dq=sisir+kana+dhar+choudhary&pg=PR14 |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> and wrote her book ''The Origin and Evolution of Violin As a Musical Instrument: And Its Contribution to the Progressive Flow of Indian Classical Music'' in 2010.<ref name="Origin of Violin">{{cite book |last1=Choudhary |first1=Sisirkana Dhar |title=The Origin and Evolution of Violin As a Musical Instrument: And Its Contribution to the Progressive Flow of Indian Classical Music |date=1 April 2010 |publisher=amakrishna Vedanta Math |location=Kolkata |isbn=978-9380568065 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUQWMwEACAAJ|access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> After retiring from her post as a professor at [[Rabindra Bharati University]] in 1997 she moved to the US to join the faculty of the [[Ali Akbar College of Music]] and transcribe the music of [[Allauddin Khan]] from the collection there.<ref name=SpaceInk>{{cite web |last1=Banerjee |first1=Pallavi |title=Breaking the Glass Ceiling with Her Violin |url=https://thespace.ink/cover-story/sisirkana-dhar-choudhury/ |website=theSpaceInk Literary Magazine |publisher=BanglaLive |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> Her transcriptions were of a unique quality because she trained under Khan's son, giving her special insight.<ref name ="IC">{{cite web |last1=Rockwell |first1=Teed |title=Review of a Non-existent CD |url=https://indiacurrents.com/review-of-a-non-existent-cd/ |website=India Currents |publisher=India Currents Magazine |access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Sisir Kana Dhar}}<br />
[[Category:1937 births]]<br />
[[Category:2021 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Indian musicians]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]</div>Shamimulislam