Kaushiki Chakraborty

Kaushiki Chakraborty’s astonishing khayal vocal technique is the result of years of intense training. She spent much of her childhood living at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, one of India’s premiere music institutions, while her father Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty worked there as a khayal scholar.

Staff at the academy are said to recall how she would respond to melodic phrases at six months old, and how she was singing tarana and bhajan before the age of two. In her words, “by the time I was five my singing made sense...Such was my addiction that it was beyond my grandparents to tame and make me sit with books.” Quickly hailed as a prodigy, she entered the concert arena early to great acclaim, performing widely while also earning a Masters in Philosophy from Jadavpur University.

She hails from the Patiala gharana, known for a strong Islamic influence and elaborate melodic ornamentation, and has become one of the first female singers from this tradition to receive international recognition. Today she focuses on Hindustani classical music, but has also sung in films and recorded popular songs. She also leads Sakhi, a diverse group of female musicians and dancers, explaining that the project “is about understanding, from a female perspective, the diverse culture of India through all its traditional musical forms.”

Past Shows


Apr
26
th
2024
The Fitzgerald Theater
Apr
26
th
2024
The Fitzgerald Theater

virtuosos Kaushiki and Ambi

featuring Kaushiki Chakraborty (Hindustani Vocal) • Ambi Subramaniam (Carnatic Violin) • Yashwant Vaishnav (Tabla) • Jyotirmoy Banerjee (Harmonium) • Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan (Mridangam) • Sowmiya Narayanan (Ghatam)

More Shows

Oct
17
th
icehouse MPLS

Will Paquin

Nov
20
th
The Fitzgerald Theater

Rodney Crowell

with The Secret Sisters
Oct
30
th
First Avenue

an evening with
Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country

Sep
27
th
Amsterdam Bar & Hall

Marc E. Bassy

with Dende