Wonder boy who plays Tabla….

Youth Icon Yi National Media awards Ceremony 2015.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in Dehradun. Shops and offices were closed and there was virtually no traffic on otherwise busy roads of the city. The city was enjoying a bright sunny day. One corner of the city however was reverberating with music and songs. ONGC Ghosh Auditorium hosted Youth Icon Yi National Media awards Ceremony 2015.

A huge crowd gathered at the auditorium to meet the awardees from all corners of the country and also from abroad. Among awardees was sitting a small little boy, busy playing games on a tab.

Performances started. Crowd started cheering and clapping on each of the performances. There were dance-drama, folk, music and songs. Each one of the performances was competing with other. And then came an announcement from the show anchor: “Now on stage is Devashish Sinha from NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh with his solo performance on tabla”.

Devashish appeared on stage carrying tabla. Started setting up the instrument. Mikes were placed and he was ready. He began with a little introduction of the performance he was going to give and nodded to the sound managers for playing the background tune.

Dha dhin dhin..the sound of tabla started filling the auditorium and soon the crowd was spell bound. Devashish was playing teen taal on tabla and those who knew the beats started moving their fingers on the strokes. Others were nodding as the tempo started changing..now the tabla was playing in drut gati. Devashish like a consummate performer was enchanting the listeners with his art. He was now playing tihai and soon the performance was over. For one second the crowd was dumbstruck. And then a thunderous applause reverberated the stadium. A 12 year old had won their hearts with his ace performance.

“I spotted Devashish by looking at one of his videos at a social media site and I was quiet impressed. A small kid was performing with ease and concentration of a mature performer in the video. I contacted the parents and the nomination was sent. The jury took no time in deciding and Devashish became a Youth Icon Yi National Media Awardee,” said Mr Shashi Bhushan Maithani Paras, Founder-Director, Youth Icon.

Devashish started playing tabla at the age of four under the tutelage of Anujeet Singh, an accomplished musician. Soon his talent was spotted. He gave his first stage performance at the age of six. Devashish started learning Tabla at Radhamadhav Sangeet Kal Kendra. He completed his first two years of Tabla curriculum by 2008 but then had to wait for his third year examination as he was “underage”. In 2014 he completed his third year. His talent is now being nurtured by Sudeep Chaudhury at Shiv Nadar School, NOIDA.  In the last six years he has performed in many parts of the country and has won many laurels.

“This Yi award is a special one as I got recognized at the national level and got a chance to be counted among those who spent a number of years in their respective fields before getting the recognition”, said Devashish Sinha upon receiving the Yi Award from the Uttarkahnad Chief Minister Harish Rawat.     

 Besides playing tabla, Devashish is a computer geek and has won many merit awards at school for his academic performance as well.