Vedanta Society of Southern California

Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago

Vedanta Society of Northern California

Vedanta Society of Sacramento

Centro Ramakrishna Vedanta Rio de Janeiro

Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely

Musician (Tabla)

Monir Hossain hails from a musical family, grandson of researcher and performer of well-known Ustad Kader Buksh of Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. Born in Bangladesh, and migrated to the US with his family at a very early age, Monir was musically influenced at an early age by his father, vocalist Ustad

Hafiz Hossain, a regular classical vocalist at All India Radio in Calcutta. His long term guru is Pandit Samar Saha of Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta. Though trained in Benaras style, Monir expanded to other styles and also received brief but extensive talim from tabla stalwarts such as Pandit Nayan Ghosh, Pandit Anup Ghosh, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee as well as (late) Ustad Shawkat Ali Khan. Monir played tabla and appeared in person in Hollywood film American Chai and has been performing since his teen years. Some of the notable musicians include well-known musicians such as Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Smt. Anupama Bhagwat, Guitarist Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya the late Smt. Laxmi Shankar and many others. He has released CDs with sarod maestro late Pt. Budhadev Das Gupta, Pt. Debojyoti Bose and sitar maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez. Monir is the creator of a unique Indian Classical Music (ICM) app called SaathSangeet that is now used by classical music students and practitioners world wide. Monir continues to explore creative ways to infuse his traditional training with his evolving style of accompaniment as he continues to mature musically. He is an engineer, a pilot, a painter and travels widely. Monir lives in Maryland and currently teaches and performs frequently.

E-mail: monir99hossain@gmail.com

Musician (Sitar)

Sibasish Laha's musical journey began with his grandmother (Pronoti Nag) who is an exponent in the Khandarbani/Bishnupur gharana of Dhrupad (vocal), and she was trained by Sangeetacharya Uday Bhushan Bhattacharjee of Pathuriaghata, Kolkata in the 1940-50s. His grandmother is an All India Radio artist and also a gold medalist in All Bengal Music competition in Dhrupad section. His initial training in Dhrupad helped him consolidate his interest and understanding of the age-old tradition of Indian classical music. In later years Sibasish learned Sitar from Pandit Bimolendu Banerjee of Howrah, who is an illustrious brother of Pandit Birendranath Banerjee, student of the great maestro Ustad Alauddin khan, the founder of the Maihar Gharana. Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Nikhil Banerjee and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan are amongst the giants of the Maihar gharana. Sibasish also took talim from Sri Shakir Khan, the son of the sitar maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan of the Etawah gharana. Hence there is a distinct blend of music between the Maihar and the Etawah gharana in Sibasish's music. Apart from this, Sibasish is an astrophysicist by profession, and loves to paint and write at his leisure.