Draft:Mita Nag

Mrs. Mita Nag (born on 2nd January 1969), is an indian Sitarist from Kolkata, West Bengal, India and one of the most well-known female Sitar player of our times.

She born in a musicians family and started her musical journey at the early age of 4. Being the daughter of the legendary sitarist and Padma Shri (the highest indian civilian honor) Manilal Nag, and grand daughter of Sangeet Acharya (literally "master musician") Gokul Nag. , and being the sixth generation of Sitar players in her family, her music is firmly rooted in the Vishnupur Gharana tradition, a 300 years old school of music with a very complex and ancient story, direclty related to the sacred city of Vishnupur in West Bengal.

Mita had received her early training through her mother and grandfather. Gokul Nag have taught her through singing, which have deeply influenced her in the way she approaches the music and her Sitar playing style. She finally continued to learn with Manilal, starting from the age of 6. Her first performance was given when she was only 10, in 1979 (International Year of the Child) at Mahajati Sadan, Kolkata, and received the same year the Junior National Talent Search Award of the Government of India.

As her music find its roots in Vishnupur Gharana, which is itself rooted in the Dhrupad tradition, she expresses a Dhrupad influenced style of playing Sitar, with more attention given to the treatment of notes and more care given to the Alap part (the slow introduction) of the Raga (as done in Dhrupad style) than the usually played Sitar style.

It was first because of her grandfather Gokul Nag that their family started to be known in the outside world, but it is because of her father Manilal Nag that the sitar tradition of Vishnupur Gharana became known to the world, as he traveled to many foreign countries to give live performances, recorded albums and have collaborated with many of the other master musicians of his times for concerts.

Mita have been a performing artist since she was 10; she have played in many concerts with her father at first, which have bring her to play in USA, Canada, Japan and Europe, then also with many other instrumentalists and singers in India and abroad, and finally a lot of solo concerts as well as well within India and for international tours.

Mita dedicated her life towards the promotion and preservation of Indian Classical Music; she was awarded the Junior Fellowship Award by the Human Resource Development (Government of India) for her research project on Vishnupur Gharana. She founded as well the Gokul Nag Memorial Foundation, a Trust for the promotion of Hindustani Classical Music, in the memory of her grandfather who have preserved and transmitted the precious knowledge from Vishnupur Gharana Mita have a Master in English Literature and a Master of Philosophy (in English) from The University of Kolkata.