An upbeat tabla player

Sanjib Majumder

Today, Majumder dons multiple roles. For one, he is marketing manager and assistant coordinator in Tona Tuni, the children's organisation. In addition, he teaches at the Ayet Ali Khan Sangeet Niketon and is assistant tabla teacher at Chhayanaut.

In the course of his career, he has accompanied well-known Indian names such as Hoimanti Shukla and Anup Ghoshal. In the ranks of the Bangladeshi artistes with whom he has played are the late Nilufar Yasmin, Subir Nandi, Ferdous Ara, Niaz Muhammad Chowdhury, Khurshid Alam, Rezwana Chowdhury Banya, Sadi Muhammad and Farida Parveen. Likewise he has teamed up with classical instrumental artistes such as Ustad Khurshid Khan, Ustad Shahadat Hossain Khan and Reenat Fauzia.

Majumder's gurus have had a definite impact on his life and work. At the tender age of nine, he began to learn the tabla from Ustad Tapan Modak. He describes Modak as a major inspiration on account of his "commitment to a simple life and melodious tabla playing."

Subsequently he completed a five-year diploma course on instrumental music (tabla) from The Alauddin Sangeetangan, a reputed music academy in Brahmanbaria. Later he took tabla lessons from Amitava Gayen, an eminent Indian tabla player. Gayen, says Mazumder, exercised a positive role on his career. Says Mazumder, " He taught me a basic dictum, 'There is no limit to learning. You must learn and continue to learn so that you can attain success.'"

Among Mazumder's accomplishments: Securing first position twice in national level music competitions. His talent won him a place in a cultural delegation, which headed to India in 1998, and to Sri Lanka in 2003. Today Mazumder is a regular artiste of Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television.