Soumya Chakraverty and Devapriya Nayak talk about their history as musicians and the influence of music in their culture with Yasmeen Rauf Khan. Speaker Biography: Soumya Chakraverty took up playing the sarod when he was 11 under the tutelage of Pt. Samarendranath Sikdar, a senior disciple of the late Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra of the Shahjahanpur Gharana. Chakraverty played frequently on All India Radio Calcutta between 1990 and 1995. While pursuing his education in Australia, he began to collaborate with other forms of world music, and performed live with a flamenco dancer in a production that combined the Gypsy roots of the dance with Latin American percussion, Middle Eastern vocals, and Indian classical instrumental music. He has been performing throughout the US and neighboring countries. His focus remains on traditional Hindustani instrumental music, and he continues to work with other music genres such classical carnatic (south Indian), compositions of Rabindranath and Nazrul, flamenco, jazz, and Latin American percussion. Speaker Biography: Devapriya Nayak (Debu) was born in West Bengal, India, and began learning tabla at the age of three from his grandfather, Chaudhury Kausalya Nandan, an accomplished tabla player of the Punjab Gharana. Later, Debu became a disciple of Pt. Radhakanta Nandi of the Benares Gharana. In 1981, Debu continued his tabla training in the US from Maestros Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Anindo Chatergee and Pt. Samir Chaterjee. His performance at the Kennedy Center with Gaurav Majumdar earned him wide accolades in Washington music circles. Debu is the director of the DC Chapter of Chhandayan, a tabla school dedicated to the promotion of tabla and Indian classical music. For transcript and more information, visit www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=7562

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