Concerts to China, Singapore and US of Purbayan and Subhankar shifted in wake of Covid-19 scare

Kolkata: Classical musicians are a worried lot after India issued an advisory to avoid non-essential travel to countries reporting a high number of

Covid-19

cases. March onwards, most of these globe-trotting Indian classical musicians have concerts scheduled in these countries. The dilemma of whether or not to travel has therefore become a reason for serious concern.

Pt

Subhankar Banerjee

has already shifted his spring

tour

dates of his concerts to the US. “I have concerts on both the east and west coast. I shifted the dates to the fall,” said the tabla player, who had some six concerts including solo performances and accompaniments.

Pt Subhankar Banerjee

Pt

Tanmoy Bose

This month,

sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee

was supposed to tour China for a week. “It was supposed to be a week’s visit from March 14 to March 21. The organisers waited till middle of February and then cancelled the tour,” Chatterjee said. While one was a classical concert with Ojas Adhiya on the tabla, the other was a collaboration with the Grammy nominated Wu Man featuring Gayatri Asokan. “Even my Singapore concert in April has been postponed to August,” he added.

Pt Subhen Chatterjee

On Wednesday, Pt

Satish Vyas

decided to postpone his North America concert tour. “The organisers also understand the situation. I haven’t panicked but this is a precautionary measure,” Vyas said.

Pt Satish Vyas
Meanwhile,

Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar

is waiting to take a call on his forthcoming US tour. “This is one of the busiest seasons for classical musicians abroad. Though the final decision hasn’t been taken yet, there are high chances of my US tour being cancelled,” Majumdar said.

Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar Pt Tanmoy Bose has a series of concerts lined up in the coming months. However, none of them have been cancelled. On March 4, he left for a tour of Australia and New Zealand. “On my way to Australia and even during my return, I have to spend a day in Singapore. This is a tour with violinist L. Subramaniam. Once I return, I will be off to Turkey where I have concerts in Istanbul and Ankara. Then, on April 1, I leave for tours in England and Germany,” Bose said.

The tabla player, who has many Japanese students, refuses to get panic-stricken. On being asked what happened to his Japanese students, Bose said, “They are in Japan and I haven’t heard anything from them.”

Needless to say, his family members have been worried. “But, I convinced them before leaving. I recently lost my father. He was fine and suddenly passed away. His death came as a big blow. It changed my perception about life. Nothing truly is in our hands,” added Bose, who carried a mask as a precaution.

From April till the middle of May, Pt Subhen Chatterjee will be off to the US, Canada and Europe for concerts and a family vacation. Initially, he will go on the Songs of Dharwad tour with Pt Kaivalya Kumar Gurav. As many as 18 concerts have been booked so far including those in New York, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Houston, Boston, Calgary and San Francisco. “Then, I have planned a family trip to Turkey, Austria, Bratislava and Prague. Despite cases reported in India, we are still performing within the country. So, why cancel anything abroad? We all have to take maximum possible precautions. The rest is our luck,” Chatterjee said.