Abhik Mukherjee + Ranendra Das

Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the Museum’s spiral staircase. Artists who specialize in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries.

About the Musicians

Abhik Mukherjee was born in Calcutta in a family that has a rich musical heritage. He was initiated to sitar at the age of six by his father, Sri Tarit Kumar Mukherjee. Abhik is a gold medalist from the Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, with a master’s degree in musicology. Currently a resident of New York, Abhik has performed all over the globe, sharing the stage with legends like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.

Born in Sylhet, Bangladesh, Ranendra Das began learning tabla from his father at the age of three. In 1995, Ranendra immigrated to the United States, and in 2001 he was initiated by world-renowned tabla maestro Pandit Samir Chatterjee. Since then, he has followed the rigorous discipline of the ancient Guru-Shishya Parampara (Master-Disciple Tradition), also studying tabla repertory with Shouri Lahiri. Ranendra earned his bachelor of music degree with a concentration in music performance from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He earned his master of fine arts in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Ranendra performed for President Barack Obama at the Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Dedication in Washington, DC, in 2010. He has performed at Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Symphony Space in New York City.