Week after father’s death, sitar player Prateek Chaudhuri dies

WHEN JAIPUR-SENIA gharana exponent Pt Debu Chaudhury died on Friday last week due to Covid-related complications, his son, sitar player Prateek Chaudhury, who himself was admitted to GTB Hospital at the time, wrote on Facebook next day, “Great Loss to the world of sitar and Indian music, which can never be filled.”

Less than a week later, Prateek also died due to Covid and cardiac arrest. He was 49. He is survived by wife Runa, daughter Rayana and son Adhiraj.

Prateek was admitted along with his father last week. He was improving and was to cremate his father on Monday but his vitals began to deteriorate and he was admitted to the ICU where he could not pull through and died of a cardiac arrest.

In conversations that he had with family and friends from the hospital, he was acutely distressed after his father’s demise.

Prateek began learning the ropes of Senia gharana sitar from his father and his dada guru Ut Mushtaq Ali Khan. He was also a professor at Delhi University, an A-Grade artiste of radio and national television.

Prateek had begun to perform often in the last few years and had staged performances at significant venues across the world. One of his notable performances was a special concert for former US President Bill Clinton on his first trip to India in March 2000.