Renowned tabla artiste Pt Subhankar Banerjee dies at 54 due to COVID-19

By PTI

KOLKATA: Renowned percussionist Pt Subhankar Banerjee died after battling COVID-19 for two months at a private hospital in the city, his family said on Thursday. He was 54. Banerjee who died on Wednesday is survived by his wife, son and daughter, they said. His son, promising percussionist Archik posted on facebook “Lost”.

Several classical musicians from Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumder, Pt Purbayan Chatterjee, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt Bickram Ghosh are slated to attend Banerjee’s last journey with COVID-19 protocols on Thursday from Sangeet Research Academy where his body was kept.

Banerjee, who had done jugalbandi with all legendary classicists from Pt Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan to Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma had been admitted to the hospital on June 20 and was on oxygen support for months.

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— Zakir Hussain (@ZakirHtabla) August 25, 2021

Legendary tabla artiste Zakir Hussain said on Twitter on Wednesday night “I will miss him, world of tabla will miss him, Indian music will miss him. RIP Shubhankar bhai.” He was a recipient of Sangeet Samman and Sangeet Maha Samman by the West Bengal government.

He had performed in this year’s Dover Lane Music Conference when concerts at venues were allowed and also organised a classic concert in memory of his mother. At the age of three Mukherjee, born to singer-composer Kajalrekha, was trained under Pt Manik Das of Benaras Gharana.

He then learnt music from Pt Swapan Shiva of Farukhabad Gharana for 25 years.