I am just sharing what the guitar has taught me: Amyt Datta

For generations of aspiring musicians, Amyt Datta has been both a guide and a gravitational force. One of India’s most respected guitarists, Datta commands admiration not only at home but across global music circles. Yet his influence extends far beyond the stage.

A mentor, teacher and relentless seeker, Datta has shaped the journeys of countless students who have passed through his classrooms, workshops and jam sessions over decades. For many, learning music from him has been less about mastering the instrument and more about discovering a way of life.

As part of our Mentors series, we sat through one of his sessions at Skinny Mo’s, plugging into his music and his exceptional mind

A huge part of your life as a musician has been your work as a teacher as well.

I don’t like the word teach so much. I prefer the word share. I’ve been lucky to collect this information over the years with effort and commitment, and I find joy in sharing it with students. Especially when I see those front five or ten rows when I play on stage. Students with dreamy eyes, like they’re thinking, I want to be that. I see the dreams in their eyes and I know exactly where they’re coming from. So I try to get into that space, answer their questions. As one student to another. Only now I’m the teacher.

I learn a lot too. Sometimes they ask questions about things I do instinctively but have never put down on paper. So explaining it becomes an exercise for me as well.

Scientifically it’s proven that music enhances the brain. People become better human beings. Music always unites. Everything else divides. I’m not talking about music for fame or popularity or signing autographs. Just music for the sake of music. We are lucky to have the gift to share it.

Kolkata has had a culture of pursuing the arts for the love of it. Do you see that changing? Does it concern you? Or are you hopeful that the next generation might return to more real, analogue engagement with art?

Hope never dies. One lives hoping something will happen, even when things don’t look very bright. That light of hope is always there somewhere.

I play the electric guitar, a so-called western instrument. There has always been this sensibility that it’s not our culture. But in today’s world how do you separate things like that? We talk about unity and one world, but still divide culture.

Mentality is a bit better today, but actual support is missing. Support that allows someone to perform this music and earn a living. It might sound pessimistic, but the idea of the city always supporting artists is a bit of a myth. But we are like soldiers. We move on. With hope we battle every day and continue doing what we love.

As someone who shares knowledge with students, have you noticed changes in young people’s ability to really listen?

Hearing is one thing. Listening is something else.

The world has become very fast. Everything is on your phone instantly. But the attention span is 30 seconds. You need to slow down. Sit quietly without phone, TV, or radio. Even for 15 minutes. Think about who you are, what you want to do, where you are coming from. Enjoy a brown paper book, not only a digital screen. Enjoy a torn book. Enjoy a small strum on the guitar.

When you see an artiste on stage it looks glamorous. But people don’t see the thousands of hours spent alone in a room practicing. Mostly mistakes. And then maybe one magical moment arrives. That patience and grit must exist outside the 30-second reels. Otherwise character never grows.

Do you ever see that moment when a student suddenly “gets it”? That click?

Yes. Sometimes I don’t show it, but inside I’m burning. It’s mysterious. Yesterday the student didn’t have it. Today suddenly they do. Something in the brain has clicked.

I start seeing the details in their playing, the things between the cracks of the piano keys. Then I tell them, slow down. Breathe. When you slow down you start seeing everything in detail. That transformation is rare but incredible. Those are the students who stay with music for life. Some of my students have been with me for 15 years or more. Once the bug bites you, the sting stays forever. The deeper you go, the more hooked you become.

What would you say to someone who is curious about music but still hesitant to take the first step?

If you have one foot in the door, put both feet in. Step inside. Taste it.

You might just enjoy playing a few songs after work with your family. That’s wonderful. The next level goes deeper. The third level demands total focus. Everything else adjusts around music. So step in first. Then life will teach you the rest.

Artistes must take risks. Genuine artistes, not the wannabes. The first 20 years are just a warm-up. If you have the character to run those 20 years, everything becomes beautiful after that.

‘Music is a reflection of life. Life is not always blue skies and butterflies’

Has Kolkata ever been a muse? For the guitarist, the influence is less conscious and more atmospheric. The dirt, noise and chaos of the city, he says, seep in quietly. “Calcutta has that same vibe,” he says, comparing it to the restless energy of New York, where cultures collide and the city develops its own sonic character. The rumble of metro rails, crowded streets and the friction of urban life all find their way into sound.

That may also explain why some of his music leans towards the dissonant rather than the conventionally melodious. “Music reflects life,” he says. “Sometimes life is rusty, broken, blue. Music reflects all of that.”

To imagine Kolkata sonically is to walk through it. From the quiet grandeur of Victoria Memorial to the cultural weight of Rabindranath Tagore’s house, from the brown-paper smell of old books on College Street to memories of Presidency College, political debates, load shedding and dark power cuts, the city hums with layered histories.

For him, Kolkata cannot be reduced to one genre or tradition. Tagore himself, he says, taught openness. The city is multicultural and international, holding Christmas and Durga Puja, jazz clubs and classical traditions together.

“It’s like a rainbow,” he says. “Spin it fast and it looks white. Slow it down and you see seven colours. Beautiful. You just need the eye to see it. Not these eyes. Your third eye.”

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