Shri Mani Akella

Bio for Mani

Introduced to the sitar before his 5th birthday, Mani has had the fortune of being tutored by traditional gurus for 17 years in the intricacies of Hindustani Instrumental music.

He received initial instruction from Pt. Sethi of Bhubaneshshwar, a disciple of the Bishnupur style. Later, the instruction was continued by Smt Patnaik, an advanced disciple of Pt. Manilal Nag.

As he grew into his teens, Pt. Kamlesh Karmakar of Calcutta and Jamshedpur, began instruction in the Maihar style, and then introduced him to the illustrious Pt. Nikhil Banerjee as a potential student. Fortune smiled briefly - for a very short period, the great guru himself took on the job of instruction - but then his time on this earth came to an unexpected end, leaving Mani to continue the job through self instruction.

All along, Mani’s mother had been adding instruction in the intricacies of Carnatic vocal music as taught to her, and this influence unobtrusively blended into the music Mani began to make. This blend took greater vigor after his marriage to Smt Usha, herself a student of the famous Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu Kalakshetram in Vasakhapatnam.

Having been tutored in the Bishnupur and Manihar Gharana styles, Mani ji has blended the styles into his own unique form.

Shri Amod Dandawate

Bio for Amod

Amod Dandawate has been primarily trained in the Farrukhabad style under the discipleship of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. As a child he was exposed to the music of Tabla by his father Late Dr. Vasantrao Dandawate, but started his serious pursuit of the art form only after completing his bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He received initial guidance and encouragement from Shafaat Khan while performing as his accompanist and then spent some time taking lessons from Ust. Zakir Hussain. Having settled in New Jersey since 1997 he finally found his Guru in Pt. Samir Chatterjee, a well known Maestro of the Farrukhabad gharana (http://www.tabla.org). He has been receiving careful guidance in the guru-shishya parampara from Samirji for over a decade.

Besides performing solo Tabla, Amod has supported classical Indian music performances and activities in the tri-state area as an able accompanist and a teacher as well. He maintains an active concert schedule and has accompanied many major artistes from India and the US.

Apart from being a musician, Amod also holds a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering.

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