Ritam Samanta
Tabla. Folk Fusion. Kolkata's Studio Rooms and Concert Stages.
Ritam Samanta's entry into percussion was local, immediate, and entirely unplanned. A tabla teacher in the neighbourhood, the kind of arrangement that has quietly produced serious musicians for generations in Bengal, that gave him his first instruction in the instrument. What followed was a deliberate expansion: learning from multiple percussionists across the Kolkata music industry, absorbing different approaches and vocabularies, building a fluency that extended well beyond the boundaries of any single teacher or tradition.
That breadth of training shows in the range of work he has accumulated. Kolkata's music scene rewards the percussionist who can move between worlds, between folk and fusion, between classical accompaniment and contemporary production. Ritam's genre home is folk, but his career history is more varied than that single word suggests, and the collaborators he has worked with span a wide register of what Bengali music currently sounds like.
The studio credits speak to someone already trusted in professional production environments. Ritam played on the theme song for Times Square's Durga Puja, arranged and composed by Surojit Chatterjee, the lead singer of Bhoomi, the celebrated Kolkata folk-fusion band he co-founded in 1999, and a Radio Mirchi Award-winning musician whose name carries significant weight in the Bengali music world. He also contributed to a song by Surojit Chatterjee directly, an association that places him in the working circle of one of Bengal's most enduring musical figures. His television appearance on the Zee Bangla Saregamapa grand opening added a further professional credential. The same stage that has featured several other Gappu-associated artists and that represents one of Bengali television's most watched music formats.
Beyond the studio, his live performance record includes work with Project Maya, an established Kolkata band; an appearance at the Band Kaya rooftop concert alongside Ujjaini Mukherjee, a singer with a substantial following in the Bengali independent music scene; and collaboration with Abhishek Chakraborty, an independent singer-songwriter working in the contemporary Bangla space. He has also worked on an Emami advertisement, extending his credits into the commercial production world. Currently, Ritam plays in the lineup of Lopamudra Mitra, a prominent Kolkata-based singer across Rabindra Sangeet, modern Bengali songs, and folk, and a recipient of the Banga Bibhushan Award 2026 from the Government of West Bengal. That association, with one of Bengal's most respected and widely followed vocalists, is where his career currently sits.
Ritam's connection with Gappu was direct and organic, he came in as a customer, visiting to buy a cajon, and the relationship grew from there. He is now a Gappu Army Artist, playing the Cajon, Jambox, and Taal Octa Snare. What he notices most in the instruments is finish and sound in equal measure, the visual quality of every product alongside a bass response and crisp snare balance that he describes with the specificity of someone who has played enough instruments to know what good actually sounds like.
At a Glance
- Tabla-led percussionist based in Kolkata, trained across multiple teachers in the city's music industry
- Currently playing in the lineup of Lopamudra Mitra, recipient of Banga Bibhushan Award 2026
- Studio credits: theme song for Times Square's Durga Puja (arranged by Surojit Chatterjee / Bhoomi); original song with Surojit Chatterjee; Emami advertisement
- Live credits: Project Maya, Band Kaya rooftop concert (with Ujjaini Mukherjee), Abhishek Chakraborty
- TV appearance: Zee Bangla Saregamapa grand opening
