Sugato Nag Website

Music was a passion amongst all the members of the NAG family, a well known business joint family of Bengal. Sugato's father Prabir Nag's interest in music, art and culture is keen, and as a high school student, ventured to take Sarod lessons with his classmate , the young Buddhadev Das Gupta , who later on went on to become one of the finest sarod players of the country. Mother Chameli Nag is a well known singer of Bengali songs of Dijendralal, Rajanikanto and Atul Prasad.

Being born into such a musical family, it was not surprising that music was in Sugato's blood right from the beginning. While his engineering career took up the primary focus of his life, the senior Nag resolved to provide musical training, along with the best possible education for Sugato. The constant social interactions with the Das Gupta family and continued musical guidance from Shri Das Gupta inspired Sugato to plough away on the Sitar and embark on an extremely serious and dedicated musical pursuit. In fact lessons with Shri Buddhadev Das Gupta continued as a more informal aspect of Sugato's musical training right through the early years until he became a regular disciple of him later in life.

Sugato formally started taking sitar lessons with Late Shri Anil Roy Chowdhury, in 1971, at Shri Das Gupta's recommendation. Shri Roy Chowdhury, a much respected elder of Calcutta's music scene, was a disciple of the legendary sarod player, Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra of the famed Seniya Shahjahanpore gharana and had the uncanny knack of grooming up little musicians with unparalleled dedication.

After the passing away of Anil Roy Chowdhury in 1976, Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra adopted Sugato as his own disciple. Radhika Mohan Maitra was a strict disciplinarian, a purist and perfectionist and it was under his long and arduous training in all aspects of Sitar playing that Sugato emerged as a mature and sensitive artist, while still in his teens.

Although Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra belonged to the Shahjahanpore sarode gharana of the late Ustad Mohammed Ameer Khan Saheb (1873-1934), he had also had the good fortune of receiving sitar taleem from Ustad Enayet Khan of the Etawah gharana.

Through his close association with Enayet Khan's son, Sitar Nawaz Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pt. Maitra was an astute follower of the baaj of their gharana, so far as sitar playing is concerned. Hence, Sugato's sitar repertoire is a happy synthesis of the sitar baaj of Ustad Vilayat Khan and the rabab-based sarode baaj of the Ameer Khan gharana. His immense talent is evident in the way he handles the sitar, playing and synthesizing two very different types of baaj coming from the aforementioned gharanas to create an unique and 'completely satisfying listening experience'. The alluring sweetness of his playing coming from the gayaki style , the effortless meends extending upto six pardas combined with strong and intricate bolwork and gamaks reflects a mastery of execution of the highest order.

Sugato has performed in numerous music festivals in and outside of Kolkata. His performances at the Salt Lake City Music Festival, Sangeet Research Academy, The Dover Lane Music Conference, Ramakrishna Mission Music Festival, ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan, Rajya Sangeet Sammelan, Indo Occidental Symbiosis, Kolkata, "Arambh" Festival, Bhopal, Sangeet Natak Academy, Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, Sangeet Mahabharti, Mumbai and various other institutions of music have been acclaimed greatly by critics and connoisseurs.

Apart from performing all over India, Sugato has toured extensively in the US, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Holland and Japan, playing in University circuits as well as in Music Conferences and holding the audience in sway with his scintillating and exquisite performances.

Sugato is a regular performing artiste of All India Radio and Doordarshan (State Television).

Initial Training

A very eloquent speaker, Sugato has given a number of Lecture cum demonstrations in Universities around the globe. Being technosavvy, coming from his Engineering background, his Power Point slide show presentations during his Lec- dems together with live demonstrations are extremely engrossing and knowledge imparting.

A well known teacher having disciples around the globe - in the US, Germany, Japan, Australia, apart from hometown, Kolkata, Sugato believes in imparting lessons through one-to-one interaction between him and his students. He regularly imparts taleem or musical training to his international students through the NET through interactive audio and video sessions.

A Sangeet Prabhakar (B. A., Music) from the Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad, Sugato has a number of prestigious awards to his credit. In 1985, he was placed first in the annual music competition of the Dover Lane Music Conference. Sugato has also been a recipient of the National Talent Search Scholarship for instrumental music in 1977. Recently, Sugato has been given the honour of "Artist of the Month" by Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) .

Having obtained Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Production (Industrial) Engineering, from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Sugato belongs to that rare group of musicians who have excelled in music as well as in their academic sphere.