Subhankar Banerjee

Pandit Subhankar Banerjee (20 August 1966 – 25 August 2021) was an Indian musician and tabla player of the Farrukhabad gharana. His mother Kajalrekha was a singer-composer who started him on tabla at age four. He studied initially with Manik Das of the Benares tradition before learning with Swapan Siva of the Farrukhabad tradition. He emerged as one of the most sought-after accompanists in Indian classical music, performing with luminaries such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Ustad Zakir Hussain. He also excelled as a soloist and innovator in cross-cultural collaborations, including performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and jazz masters such as John McLaughlin. He performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and was a recipient of Sangeet Samman and Sangeet Maha Samman by the West Bengal government. He passed away in August 2021 after battling COVID-19.