The Steel Guitar Forum

Posted: **30 Jan 2010 6:06 pm**

Brilliant playing from Debashish with everything from subtle, very complex bar control to fire breathing virtuosity and a really good close up look at his technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTb740op ... re=related

Posted: **30 Jan 2010 6:17 pm**

Oh my.........

Posted: **30 Jan 2010 7:01 pm**

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 11:50 am**

Thanks for posting about this.
I always find his playing utterly spellbinding...
I wish there was more on youtube of him playing the Anandi.

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 12:08 pm**

I was surprised to see him using what look like the same bar and picks that we use. Is this something new that they have adopted?

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 12:58 pm**

Debashish Bhattacharya (Bangla: ভট্টাচার্য, Hindi: देबाशिष भट्टाचार्य, Devāśiṣ Bhaṭṭācārya, born 12 January 1963) is an Indian classical musician who plays the lap slide guitar.

Bhattacharya was born into a musical family in Kolkata, it became apparent that Bhattacharya was skilled at a young age. His parents, both traditional Indian vocalists, gave him a basic understanding of music and he first began strumming a guitar at age three, when his father gave him a full-size Hawaiian lap steel guitar. He made his debut at the age of four on All India Radio, in Calcutta.

At the age of nine, he left his parents for ten years to study under the pioneer of Indian slide-guitar Brij Bhushan Kabra. At age twenty, he was awarded the President of India Award for winning the National Music competition of All India Radio.

His originality as a musician has earned him global admiration, and he has performed on networks all over the world.

He invented his own slide-guitars, unique to his compositions, which he calls the "Trinity of Guitars". These hollow neck instruments are the 24-string chaturangui, the 14 string gandharvi and the anandi, a 4-string lap steel ukulele.

Looks like Brad has a history on it;

http://www.well.com/~wellvis/indian.html

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 1:45 pm**

Thanks to Andy for posting this amazing performance.

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 2:44 pm**

Jim Smith: who's "we" and "they"? And what were "they" using before?

Debashish uses several different bars in performance, including a sort of glass egg looking thing.

-Travis

P.S. This is one of the best clips I've seen! Thanks for posting.

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 2:53 pm**

This is one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen anyone play on any instrument. Every time I see a video of him play it just gets better and better and you can't believe it is possible. Is there no end to his mastery of this genre of the steel guitar?

This is so amazing......

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 3:23 pm**

I think V. M.Bhatt uses those wire sitar picks.

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 3:31 pm**

Travis Bernhardt wrote:Jim Smith: who's "we" and "they"? And what were "they" using before?

We as in traditional western steel guitar players and they as in eastern instrument players. I meant nothing political or racial, if that is what you are implying.

I have seen videos of them using glass and other material slides and different looking picks too. I was just curious about how long they have been using the same equipment that we use.

Posted: **31 Jan 2010 4:24 pm**

"We"

should be very aware of the dedication of this artist and the many years of study he has put in with a master teacher before he struck out on his own. If you knew what the sitar players and tabla players and other Indian musicians are immersed in when they study....unbelievable.

If you are a sitar student, you might spend two years on the tabla learning the rhythms before you even start in on the sitar.

Posted: **1 Feb 2010 3:50 am**

Debashish and his siblings started learning music in their earliest childhood. His father loaned someone money who repaid the loan with a guitar and the rest is raga history. He described the ten years he spent studying with Brij Bushan Kabra (the pioneer of Indian classical music played on guitar) as both wonderful and a "musical concentration camp"!

Posted: **1 Feb 2010 4:08 am**

Thanks for posting this Andy! It is from the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards 2007. I saw Debashish play at a small venue in London shortly afterwards, and the second set he and Subhashis played that evening is one of the most amazing musical performances I have seen, if not the most amazing.

There was a thread about the BBC awards performance at the time, and it seems the video is still on the BBC website:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=111169

(I am not sure if the sound quality is better on the BBC website or the youtube clip as I have no sound on this computer.)

Chris Drew wrote:I wish there was more on youtube of him playing the Anandi.

Chris, at the concert I mentioned above, Debashish played some short phrases on the Anandi that still give me shivers just thinking about it - the most expressive playing I have ever heard!

Fred

Posted: **1 Feb 2010 4:58 am**

He likes his bling also.......

Posted: **1 Feb 2010 6:47 am**

As one of many who have seen Debashish Bhattacharya live and in action, he never ceases to amaze me with his skills. Debashish credits the steel guitar popularity in India to the legendary TAU MOE who left Hawai'i on a "quick" tour in 1928 to return 60 years later after having spread the "message" of the steel guitar throughout Europe, India and the Orient.
But that's another story !

Posted: **2 Feb 2010 5:19 pm**

This clip was posted a little while back on the forum and I couldn't find it again. I didn't remember his name. Thanks so much for bringing this back. That is some KILLER playing. Now I can download some of his other videos as well as this one.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Debashish Bhattacharya clip

Debashish Bhattacharya clip