Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya died in a road accident near Gurap village in Hooghly district on 7 March 2017, aged 45.

Bhattacharya received the "Sangeet Samman award” from the government of West Bengal for his unique creation and musical excellence in 2013. He Received Cultural Ambassador of North East Award From Bytikram Group, Guwahati in 2013.

Bhattacharya sang few playback songs in Hindi and Bengali movies. His songs in Hindi film include Gumshuda, directed by Ashoke Viswanathan. In the year 2007, he sang for the Bengali film Chaturanga directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay. In the year 2008, he sang for the Bengali film Moner Manush (golden peacock award winner) which is an India-Bangladesh joint project directed by Goutam Ghose. It is a feature film based on the novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay on Fakir Lalan Shah's life & philosophy. Bengali film Jaatishwar was a national award (Rajat Kamal) winner movie directed by Srijit Mukherjee, where Bhattacharya sang in the year 2014. In 2012, Bhattacharya wrote various research oriented articles which were published in various national and international journal and news papers. He also did music for eminent theater groups like Nandikar, Kalyani Natya Charcha and Tritiyo Sutro.

Bhattacharya formed Dohar, a group of folk musicians, in 1999 to make the unnoticed folk songs flowing for time immemorial reach innumerable people under his creative direction. Dohar's presentation is uniquely original. Their performance amazingly merge the urban feelings with their commitment to the roots; research and entertainment, being inseparably entwined. Dohar has already released nine albums of folk songs directed by Kalika from Concord records, Sony music & Sa re ga ma (HMV). Dohar's fourth album – "Bangla" is a collection of Rabindra Sangeet and folk songs. The concept of the album is a dialogue between Rabindra Sangeet & folk music based on its thematic reading. Dohar was impaneled by Indian Council for cultural relations (ICCR).

Music was an intrinsic part of Bhattacharya's home at Silchar, Assam. Growing up amidst rhythm & tune, learning to play the tabla happened as naturally as he learned to take his first faltering step. His fascination with the tabla gradually propelled him towards various ethnic percussion. While learning to play this, he also trained in vocal music. His keen interest in music eventually inclined him towards the folk music of Bengal and northeastern India. Thus, began his search for traditional folk songs which are vibrant, melodious and unanimous folk tunes that were always there unnoticed and unidentified. In 1995, he enrolled at Jadavpur University in the Comparative Literature department. In 1998, he got a research grant from India foundation for the arts for Industrial folk music and went to Bangalore.

Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya (11 September 1970 – 7 March 2017) was an Indian folk singer and researcher. He was born and raised in Silchar, Assam. He went on to study comparative literature at Jadavpur University. His musical inspiration was his uncle Ananta Bhattacharya. In 1999, he co-founded the band Dohar with the intent to revive the folk music tradition of Northern and Eastern Bengal. He also contributed music to a number of movies. His last movie was Bhuban Majhi (2017). He was associated with the popular Zee Bangla Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, a renowned Bengali music reality show. His last concert was in the Baguihati Krishi Mela.