Tejendra Narayan Majumdar has created a superb body of recordings since his emergence in the early '80s as one of the new generation of Indian classical musicians. Since that time, he has become one of the top performers on the sarod in this genre of music. Like many other classical Indian musicians, he began to study quite early in life. His first teacher was his grandfather and when he wore the old man out then his father took over. But the strongest of educational relationships was forged when he began studying with acknowledged sarod master Ustad Bahadur Khan, the nephew of Indian musical genius Alauddin Khan. Majumdar studied with Khan for 18 years, during which time he grabbed first place in the All India Radio competition in 1981. Further honors included a presidential gold medal. When his teacher died in 1989, Majumdar continued his studies with Ajay Sinha Roy, and then was accepted as a disciple by one of the great Indian instrumentalists, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, with whom he has continued to study. Majumdar performs in his repertoire a combination of pieces from the dhrupad, tantrakari, and gayaki styles of music. He has performed at most of the major concert venues, as well as touring in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His New York debut took place along with sitarist Manilal Nag in 1994 in a program at the New School. Majumdar works with many first class tabla players accompanying him, among them Pandit Kishan Maharah, Sankar Ghosh, Pandit Swqapan Chaudbury, Anindo Chatterjee, and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Critics are usually thrilled with Majumdar's performances; he has even been compared to Beethoven. ~ Eugene Chadbourne