Subroto Roy Chowdhury was born in Calcutta on January 29th, and reborn on May 12th 1956, when he plucked the strings of the sitar for the first time under the able tutelage of his first Guru Shri Nirmal Chakravarty. Schooled in an English missionary institution and musically formed in the classical vedic tradition, Subroto combines the traditional approach of ancient India with the occidental spirit of enquiry, logical deduction and rational assimilation. An ever widening spectrum of divergent views and the inherent dichotomy of his psyche has led to the enlightenment of Subroto and his music. He won awards in the All-Bengal, All-India, Inter-University, and All-India Radio music competitions. In the 1970's he started visiting Europe playing for Radio France, BBC, Radio-Television Belgium, the Swiss Radio, WDR and SDR, Germany, and the T.V. Asia U.K. The North Sea Jazz festival in Le Hague etc. In the USA, he was invited by the Ali Akbar College of Music and Indian Archives. In East Germany, he was the first sitar player to perform, pioneering the way for other Indian musicians to follow. He is an active advocate of human rights and has donated the royalties of his first album "CalcuttaMeditation" to Amnesty International.