| Biography | Ritwik Sanyal (born 12 April 1953) is an Indian classical singer, performing the Dhrupad style, and a professor of vocal music and Dean at the faculty of performing arts at Banaras Hindu University.
Sanyal was born in Katihar. He was trained in the dhrupad style of vocal music of the Dagar brothers, descendants of Swami Haridas, who lived in the fifteenth century and trained the legendary Tansen.
Between 1963 and 1975, he received his training in Dhrupad under the senior Dagar brothers, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariddudin Dagar in Mumbai, India. He received an M. A. in philosophy from Mumbai University and a Masters in Music from Banaras Hindu University, securing the gold medal. He completed his Ph.D. in musicology from the same university, 1980 under the supervision of Prem Lata Sharma.
Sanyal is a Professor and Head of the department of vocal music and Dean at the Faculty of Performing Arts at Banaras Hindu University. He has around 50 published papers in various journals, and also composes dhrupad lyrics. He is a casual grade "A" (Dhrupad) artist at All India Radio, Varanasi.
He has assimilated the Dagarvani tradition of Dhrupad and evolved a distinctive style of his own in the rendering of Dhrupad. He has specialized in advanced technique of Alap - Jod - Jhala, laykari, voice culture and pedagogy both traditional and institutional.
He has performed both in India and abroad, including the UK, US, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Holland, South Korea, Israel and Croatia. His performances in India include the National Programme of Music for AIR and Doordarshan, the Tansen Samaroh, the Varanasi Dhrupad Mela and the Harballabh Sangeet Samaroh |