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| Kunal Banerjee plays the Hawaiian steel guitar. Picture by Gopal Senapati |
He makes music while treating patients at his chamber in Shibpur and Belur. Dental surgeon Kunal Banerjee, practises his notes and tunes in his mind. Although a doctor by profession, Banerjee is a trained Hawaiian steel guitar player and is also a B High artiste of All India Radio. His passion for music is apparent from the soft western music that plays in the background at his house. A busy doctor and vice president of the Howrah wing of the Indian Dental Association, Banerjee manages to spare time to play the guitar on radio programmes or in an event.
Banerjee has been playing the Hawaiian steel guitar since he was seven, taking a lot of inspiration from his mother, Sandhya Banerjee, who learnt to play the guitar at home. While learning from her, Banerjee also heard the music of guitarist Kanai Roychowdhury. “My aunt trained from Kanaibabu and for some reason, I liked his style of music more than what my mother was teaching me. I decided to train under him and since then I have learnt everything about the guitar from him,” said Banerjee.
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As a child Kunal was naughty and would not concentrate on playing the guitar. “Kanaibabu often wondered if I would ever learn. However, when I finally started taking interest, I went into the depths of the subject. Later, he was proud of how I had picked up and progressed,” said Banerjee. When he was in Class X, Kunal auditioned for Yuvavani and was selected at once. In 1985, Kanaibabu sent Kunal to Abhijit Nath. “Abhijitda was a star in western guitar and Kanaibabu told me to learn from him. Although I had learnt the basics of both eastern and western music from my first guru, I learnt western music in more detail from Nath,” said Banerjee. After training from Nath, Kunal again auditioned for western guitar at the All India Radio and passed as a B High artiste.
Banerjee also had the opportunity to accompany Abhijit Nath at Christmas carols sung at St Paul’s Cathedral and St James’ Church. In 1976, he had also accompanied Kanai Roychowdhury in a national programme on Doordarshan. The same year he stood first in the inter-college youth festival. “When I was in second year of my medical degree, I took part in the All Bengal Steel Guitar Competition where I stood second,” said Banerjee. His only solo programme was held in 1994 at the Ashutosh Centenary Hall behind the Indian Museum. While learning from his gurus, Kunal also had the opportunity to take tips from Rajat Nandi and Kazi Aniruddha on several occasions.
Juggling guitar and the medical profession was tough for Banerjee. “Studying medicine was like a family tradition because my father, DP Banerjee, was a gynaecologist. However, I could not give up playing the guitar at any point of time. My parents, wife and daughter have always supported me in this. Although there are few musicians who still play the Hawaiian steel guitar in India, the instrument has progressed in the western countries. I have a pedal steel guitar from the USA which has 20 strings and is difficult to play,” said Banerjee. Practising is important and Kunal often stays up at night practising the guitar in his room. “I generally practise through the night from 1 am to 4am,” he said. Although he does not teach, Banerjee often helps learners. “Many come to rehearse before programmes or need tips on notes,” he said.