Ashanka Sen

Ashanka Sen was born in Calcutta (India) in a musical family in 1965. His first exposure to music was through his mother who is an accomplished vocalist. Having initiated the study of sitar at an age of 14, he went on to receive higher education in sitar under the world famous sitarist Pandit Kartick Kumar. He has been playing the sitar for over 20 years. He is basically an engineer with a graduate and post graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He has continued his music along with studies. Working in Milan, he has given several performances which have been well received by the public in Italy. He commenced giving performances for several cultural and yoga centers.

Apart from Milan he has also given performances in Saronno, Toscana, Cantu, Bozzano, Genova, Monza, Rome, Lecco on the occasion of 1st May and Sicily on the occasion of inaugurating a town square after Mahatma Gandhi.

In '97 he has had the opportunity to play the sitar for His Holiness Dalai Lama at Gorizia (Italy).

In '99 he has played at the Cimitero di Prima Porta at Rome on the occasion of "All Saints' Day" on the 1st Nov. This was telecast in the national network of Italy and France. On March 21, 2000 he had performed at the Biblioteca comunale of Ciampino on the occasion of Human Rights day.

In 2000, apart from performances of sitar, he has also been involved in projects playing with Arabic and Flamenco musicians. These were also very well received by the listening audience. He has also been invited for play for a manifestation of Amnesty International in December 2000.

In February 2001 he also had distinction to perform at the Milan Music School - The Conservatorio - to a packed appreciative audience.

Few words about the sitar

Sitar is an instrument popularly used for Indian Classical Music. It is a wooden instrument with two pumpkins for acoustics. There are 20 strings, 7 above and 13 sympathetic strings below to give a very strong and sweet sound creating a contemplative atmosphere.

Discography