Kanika Banerjee

Kanika Banerjee (12 October 1924 – 5 April 2000) was an Bengali Rabindra Sangeet singer. Born on 12 October 1924 at Sonamukhi in Bankura district, Kanika joined Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan in West Bengal, India. She was trained in both classical and Rabindrasangeet in Sangeet Bhavana (School of Music) at Santiniketan. Shantiniketan (which literally means Abode of Peace) was built on the model of an Ashram (educational hermitage). For this reason, Kanika is also occasionally referred to as Ashram Kanya or 'girl of the Ashram'. She was fortunate to take music lessons from none other than Rabindranath Tagore. It was Tagore who named her Kanika (her original name being Anima), also the name of one of his books on Poetry. Her other gurus were Dinendra Nath Tagore, Sailajaranjan Majumdar, Indira Devi Chaudhurani and Santidev Ghosh. She participated in dance-dramas directed by Rabindranath and toured all over India as a member of his cultural troupe.