North Indian classical musicians Anubrata Chatterjee and Vinay Desai spent Monday, April 13, doing what they love. During the day, they led a workshop for Loomis Chaffee musicians and students from other organizations in the Hubbard Music Center. Then, at night, they performed a concert. 

Mr. Chatterjee is a tabla maestro, and Mr. Desai is accomplished in the santoor. The tabla consists of two small drums of slightly different sizes and shapes, one higher pitched than the other. The santoor is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, a stringed instrument played with light wooden mallets. Together the instruments deliver an interplay of raga (melody) and tala (rhythm), with Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Desai’s work referred to as a dialogue. 

Mr. Chatterjee enjoys performing — “It’s what I live for,” he said. But sharing what is behind Indian classical music also is a passion. “When you connect to youth, you create more of an audience, and I want to keep our tradition alive,” he said. “I have my heart in both, teaching and performing. I have to make people interested, rather than imposing my tradition. Music, performing, connecting to the youth means the world.” 

Mr. Chatterjee trained under his father, Anindo Chatterjee. The elder Mr. Chatterjee started playing the tabla at age 5 and has captivated many an audience, including Barack Obama when the former president visited India in 2010.  

Mr. Desai said he was inspired by his visit to Loomis, “sharing our culture, our genre of music, connecting with students in a different level from the music they are used to playing.” 

Their music involves improvisation, feeding off each other. 

“We have been playing together a long time, practicing together, hanging out together,” Mr. Chatterjee said. “[Mr. Desai’s] energy is terrific, but he also has this calmness. I find him the perfect balance for my temperament musically.” 

That harmony between musicians does not just happen, Mr. Desai said. 

“You have to be friendly outside of the music,” he said. “If that component is not there, you won’t gel as much on stage.” 

Mr. Desai attended college in the United States then studied santoor in India and has learned from many masters of the craft. 

The music of Mr. Chatterjee and Mr. Desai pays homage to sounds that date back thousands of years.  

Mr. Desai said he is awestruck at the depth of the music “because it is so ancient, our tradition. I am amazed at what our ancient seers were able to discover and how the music has evolved to what we have today. Every time I play, I am amazed at what has been created and humbled by what they have done. And it is a very meditative feeling when you’re in the zone practicing and when you're playing in front of an audience. Very meditative, and it’s our prayer, it’s our moment to connect to ourselves.”   

The workshop and concert were sponsored in part by the Joseph Stookins Lecture Fund.