Premjit started his musical journey at the early age of 5, when he started learning Tabla. He learnt Tabla for 14 years and is a Sangeet ‘Visharad’ from Bangiyo Sangeet Parishad. He is also a disciple of veteran Conguero Monojit’Kochu’Datta and has learnt the Congas, Bongos, Timbales, Guiro and other Latin percussions for more than 10 years and was an integral part of his bands and projects.
He is also trained formally in theory of music Grade 5 (ABRSM) and is a certified Grade 8 (TCL) Drummer. He has been teaching Drums at Calcutta School of Music (CSM) since 2008, Calcutta Centre for Communication and Creativity (C4) since 2007 and also works as a music educator/mentor at Modern High School. He has also been conducting workshops at various institutes and organizations throughout the country and is also a regular artist at All India Radio.
During his college days he started performing with his mod-alt. band CAMOUFLAGE in pubs, clubs and college fests and with them he also won competitions like Campus Rock Idols, IIT-Kgp Springfest, IIM-C Armageddon etc. Later in 2008 he was asked by his Guru Monojit Datta to join his Latin-Jazz band LOS AMIGOS which helped him to gain experience and explore further as a musician and eventually with them he performed across the country and abroad at distinguished festivals and venues including the prestigious Java Jazz Fest 2011, alongside Carlos Santana, George Benson, George Duke, Four Play.
He is also an endorsee of SONOR drums, VIC FIRTH sticks and REMO heads, and due to his love and knowledge over a diverse genre of music he ends up performing for multiple bands. He is currently working, recording and touring with Fender artist Bodhisattwa Ghosh’s, experimental jazz-rock act THE BODHISATTWA TRIO with whom he recorded critically acclaimed albums INTERSECTIONS and HEART OF DARKNESS and toured France, Slovenia, Croatia, UK and Bangladesh. He is also a part of Latin-jazz outfit THE LATINATION and traditional jazz band 4-ON-A-SWING and with them he has toured most of the cities and venues across India and Nepal. He also plays with Fender artist Rohan Ganguli’s, popular blues outfit BIG FAMILY with whom he plays regularly in the circuit. They are currently recording their debut album, expected to release by the end of the year. He is also a founder member of jazz-funk project NO IDEA and is a regular feature for other popular projects like FENDER & FRIENDS, Gaan Abohomaan etc., featuring Fender artists including Amyt Datta, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendosa and Warren Mendosa, Rudy Wallang, Bruce Lee Mani etc.
He is also currently working with vernacular modern alternative band BONGSQUAD and has collaborated/performed with musicians and acts from India and abroad like Monojit Datta, Carlton Kitto, Jayanta Dasgupta, Saturday Night Blues Band, ORIENT EXPRESS, SPAN, CACTUS, Mainak ’Bumpy’ Nag Choudhury, Arunima Dasgupta, Tanya Sen, Megan Powers (USA), Pradyumna ‘Paddy’ Manot, Sumit Ramachandran, Emmanuel Simon (France), Andrew Kay & Jonathan Kay (Canada), Michael Kuttner (Canada), Barbara Busch & Barbara Metzer (Germany), Sergio Dinarte (El Salvador), Ryan Shah (USA), Tadao Ishihama (Japan), Seth Panduranga Blumberg (USA), Saad Chowdhury (UK/Bangladesh), Mohammed Dordoh (Ghana), Carlos Liniero (Colombia) etc. ... , to name a few.
He has played at distinguished festivals and venues in India and abroad like The Java Jazz Festival 2011(Jakarta), 59 Rivoli (Paris), Hostel Celica (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Boatel Marina (Reijka, Croatia), Congo Square Jazz Fest, Pondy Partages (Pondicherry), Shisha Jazz Café (Pune), Blue Frog (Delhi/Mumbai/Pune/Bangalore), Mazda Hall (Pune) Osho Ashram Festival (Pune), Goethe Institute (Kolkata/Bangalore), High Spirits (Pune), B-Flat (Bangalore), Alliance Francaise (10 cities in India, Kathmandu, Bangladesh), Russian Cultural Centre (Dhaka), Red Shift(Dhaka), EMK center(Dhaka), Jatra Biroti (Dhaka), USIS(Kolkata), The Piano Man(Delhi).
On more recent news, he was one of the ten international talents all over the world and the only Indian musician invited by the MUSIC BOARD BERLIN and POP-KULTUR FESTIVAL’2016, to participate in their seminar and festival in August-September ‘16 at Berlin, where he attended workshops and talks and also collaborated, recorded and performed with musicians from around the world.
Other than Steve Gadd, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Changuito, Giovanni Hidalgo, Antonio Sanchez, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Herbie Mason, Jeff Campitelli, Wes Montgomery, Jack Dejohnette, Vinnie Colaiuta .... etc., he draws influence from the nature and tries to imbibe and express that through his music.
