Young Achiever: Anirban Roy

Anirban Roy (15), a class X student of Don Bosco School, Liluah (Howrah) is an Uttarpara (West Bengal)-based music prodigy. In June, this young flautist was conferred the prestigious Unstoppable 21 Award of the Times of India.

This is only the latest encomium awarded to this promising musician. Two years ago, he was conferred The Telegraph Edugraph ‘18 Under 18 Award’ of the Kolkata-based Ananda Bazar (media) Group. In 2022, he was conferred the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, Asian African Iconic Brand and the Kal Ki Gaurav awards. At age eight (2019), he was awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi Fellowship in Music’ by the Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts & Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai.

Born into a musical family, Anirban’s music education began when he was merely four. Listening to his elder sister Maitreyee practising classical vocal music, Anirban was inspired to reproduce the paltas (vocal exercises). News travelled quickly relayed by his mother Chaitali, also a vocalist, to his father Lokenath Roy, an Indian Railways employee and flautist himself, who introduced the child to basic notes of the flute. Thus began his formal training under his father’s guidance. “I started learning to play the high pitch G bamboo flute. Soon, I graduated to the Recorder (Western) flute and later to big bamboo and base flutes,” recalls Anirban, who has been giving solo performances since age five.

Anirban’s soulful rendition on the reality show Hunarbaaz: Desh Ki Shaan broadcast on Colours television in 2022 wowed the audience and judges. On this show, he was accompanied by renowned percussionist Ustad Taufiq Qureshi, brother of the late tabla maestro Zakir Hussein. This dual performance won him a standing ovation and instant fame on social media.

Recognising his son’s potential in the latter’s early years, father Lokenath arranged a holistic music education for him. He roped in Ustad Taufiq Qureshi and Pandit Bickram Ghosh, another famous percussionist, and musician-cum-composer Choton Banerjee to teach him the nuances of rhythm, percussion and guitar.

“All my achievements are thanks to my supportive parents, sister Maitreyee and the wider musicians’ community,” says Anirban, who intends to study law after completing his higher secondary education.