Guwahati, July 2: When 10-year-old Jyotishman Nath took to the rabab, a lute-like musical instrument originating in Afghanistan, his parents in Arizona never imagined he would be dubbed a "child prodigy."
Santoor maestro and Grammy nominee Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, who shared the stage with the gifted boy at Acrosanti, found his rendition "magical."
Jyotishman played three pieces, followed by the santoor, each rendition enthralling the audience from around the world.
Born to Diganta Nath, who left Barpeta district in Assam in 1998 to pursue a career in software engineering in the US, and Rachna Nath, who now runs her own Odissi dance school in Arizona, Jyotishman showed a keen interest in Indian musical instruments from an early age. All of them are American citizens.
A student of Class V, the boy learnt the difficult instrument and mastered it in a little over a year.
"Being in America, Jyotishman has shown incredible skill and perseverance. I know he will be a great musician one day," said Bhattacharya, who also contributed to Chants of India, an album comprising Vedic prayers by late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and legendary George Harrison of the Beatles.
Ayan Banerjee, the accompanying tabla player and Arizona State University professor, also credited the young musician as a very rare and young talent. "Rabab is a very difficult instrument to play in tune and at such a young age, he was amazingly in tune. I enjoyed accompanying him."
As the beginning of his classical career at the tender age of six, Jyotishman started learning the tabla but transitioned into learning the rabab under his guru Qais Essar.
"I enrolled Jyotishman forthe rabab classes as it is a very uncommon instrument and also, the sound of it appealed me very much and I knew that Jyotishman had a penchant for classical music," his mother Rachna explained over phone. His interest in the instrument grew when he received training from Bhattachraya himself for a period of 10 days during his stay in Phoenix, also in Arizona, last October.
Jyotishman was happy to receive such praise after his performance. "I really want to be a famous rabab player with many concerts to look forward to. I am fortunate to have two amazing gurus, Qais ji and Guruji. I am looking forward to learning more and more new combinations from them in the future," he added.
