Biography

Born to a family of music connoisseurs, Souvik’s early grooming was initiated in North Indian Classical Vocal Music from his mother Smt. Sumita Dutta. He continued with basic voice-training and some bandishes [compositions] based on different raga-s [melodic mood] — which helped him acquire understanding of swar [tone] and tala [metre] and the nature of Indian Music as a whole. That is what made him a complete accompanist when he took to playing the tabla [the most dynamic and evolved of the Indian percussion instruments] professionally.

It was only his passion for the beat that later made his life. He took up tabla and continued with undaunted sincerity and utmost devotion to this day — to become a seasoned percussionist adept at playing with jazz or any other fusion ensemble apart from mainstream Indian Music and has earned the repute of a matured tabla soloist. Ever since he has taken up as a professional percussionist participating in various prestigious conferences in India and abroad collaborating with musicians, dancers, vocalists and composers of varied genres for about 2 decades now.

His initial taalim (guidance) in tabla was commenced under the privileged guidance of internationally acclaimed maestro Pandit Tanmoy Bose at the tender age of 9 and subsequently was continued for 10 long years. Thereafter, he was blessed to have received the much coveted guidance from the legend of tabla - Pandit Shankar Ghosh. During this time Souvik picked up the nuances of percussive orchestration, apart from focusing on advanced technical taalim (tuition) related to higher skills of tabla solo performance, intricacy of jaati (nuances of micro-beats), chhand (rhythm patterns, accents) and different Indian beat cycles (tala/talam). Moreover, he was privileged to accumulate extensive training on the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject from the remarkable Faculty at the Rabindra Bharati University during 2005-2009. Although, a follower of Farukhhabad Gharana (Farukhhabad School of tabla tradition), he possesses equal dexterity and mastery on other styles as well.

A first class in Masters (finished with Third Position) and Bachelor degrees in Indian Percussion Music from the internationally renowned Rabindra Bharati University, Souvik studied the basics of two other percussion instruments as well – pakhawaj, and shreekhol. He was selected successively 2 times as the recipient of Departmental Scholarship by the Faculty of Instrumental Music Department, Rabindra Bharati University in 2006 & 2007.

In 2008, Souvik was invited to perform for the first time from Europe by the State Council of The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. He had been performing extensively in India since 2003; and in Europe as a professional musician for more than a decade now having done about 200 European stage appearances in 14+ countries so far. A "Gandabandh Shagird" of Pandit Shankar Ghosh (A sacred thread-tying ceremony for significantly important disciples); Souvik Datta is a versatile, vibrant and innovative percussionist who is renowned in the field of tabla today. On several occasions, he has accompanied virtuosos like Ustad Shahid Parvez.

Recently he collaborated with German Rock Band “Back To The Roots” on their Led Zeppelin-famed cover music video “Kashmir” in Wuppertal, Germany. He also collaborated with European Jazz Band "Lummu" in Switzerland. Moreover, he contributed to an album produced by Swiss Producer-Composer Lukas Leuthold that was recorded & mastered in Wattenwil, Switzerland. His participation with Persian/Mediterranean music ensemble "Ragam" was largely appreciated in Europe.