Amyt Datta is a guitarist, and producer from Kolkata. He is also a popular music composer, teacher and mentor. Datta, who commands a sort of demigod status with guitar fans across the country, is widely acknowledged to be one of the most innovative guitarists around today. He toured extensively with the rock band Shiva from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. He now plays and composes for experimental band Pinknoise, pop/rock band Skinny Alley, and his own solo work, often in collaboration with Jivraj Singh.
Early life
His father was an educationist and his mother belonged to the family with a strong musical tradition. Amyt's maternal grandfather Raichand Boral is regarded as the father of Bollywood music. He and his cousin started playing the guitar when they found a lap steel guitar lying around in their home. They started taking guitar lessons which was mostly in Indian classical and semi-classical music. He started taking western music theory lessons from the legendary Carlton Kitto. His first guitar was what he calls "the Trunk". It was made by his friend who took just Rs. 300 from him. It looked like a log and had a very high action.
Musical career
In the late 1970s Amyt met Jayashree and Gyan Singh at the Beatstock, La Martiniere band competition. They soon became friends and longtime collaborators. By the age of 20 he was playing all over India, primarily with one of the most notable rock acts of that era called Shiva.
D For Brother
Amyt along with his brother Monojit performed under the moniker D for Brother. The music was experimental, cross-cultural, unlike much of the music heard by Indian audiences at the time. An audio cassette was released in 1992 but remained unnoticed. The duo composed over a hundred songs and performed concerts filled with intricate stage and lighting design, real time sound design and subtle theatrics.
In the early 1990s Amyt joined Pop Secret, along with Jayashree and Gyan. Pop Secret dissolved when Jayashree and Gyan took a sabbatical leave to bring up their child Jiver. In 1996 Amyt, Jayashree and Gyan formed Skinny Alley, a pioneering indie band which released Escape The Roar, the first English language album by an Indian band on a major label.
SAARC South Asian Bands Festival, Festival of Thinkers, Rock Garden, Digidesign Eleven Guitar Processor Workshop, At Home Festival, Eastwind Festival, Congo Square JazzFest and numerous appearances as a performer and clinician at venues such as The Blue Frog, Max Mueller Bhavan, and college festivals across the country.
Movie career
In 2011, Amyt Datta appeared as a guitarist in a Bengali rock musical movie Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona directed by Anjan Dutt. In 2019, he appeared in If Not for You, a documentary about Kolkata's long lasting love affair with legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
