Ranga

RANGA is TED DE JONG and COEN HELFENRATH TED DE JONG, born in Amsterdam in 1954, began studying the tabla at the age of fourteen. Among his teachers were the late Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan and Ustad Faiyaz Khan, who were largely responsible for training de Jong into one of the foremost Western tabla players of today. He has vast experience in the world of Classical Hindustani Music, accompanying many well known artists, including Sachdev, Prabhatre, Sruti Sadolikar, Ustad Rais Khan. Pt. Ram Naryan, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, and many others. As well as being a performer, de Jong has lectured and taught at the Rotterdam Academy of Music and Dance in the Netherlands since 1987. In 1999 he became coordinator of the school's prestigious Indian Music Department, which welcomes guest teachers like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta, Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia on a yearly basis.