Some write up about Atul

first meeting with Sukarma was at the Musicastrada Festival 2004, a special night where all the audience had the opportunity to listen and to know 3 fantastic musician and 3 gentle spirits...many people remembers that night....

... few days later (august 9) me and the guitar player Oscar Bauer we had the chance to spend with Sukarma a long day together, talking, walking, eating and recording a jam session in a special harmonic mood.

It was fantastic, i think for all of us, me, Oscar, Drubesh, Shyam, Atul.
My unforgettable remember about Atul: during the recording studio-jam i felt the clear sensation of playing with an incredible virtuoso and a complex master of rhythm; for a bassplayer it was so exciting try to translate his tabla-figures in bass-lines and also give him my suggestions and listen to his wonderful and precise interpretations.

But the thing i love deeper is to remember his expressions, quiet or intense by the moments, always full of friendship, love and knowledge; he was looking as a good father also if he was young, four years younger than me!

wait for us Atul, we will play once again!"

Andrea Lupo Lupi, bassplayer, Italy President- Musicastrada

I met Atul Gautam Prasad in Kathmandu, back in April 2003 and all I can say is this: "Atul, thank you so much for sharing your music with me. I will always remember that morning we sat down at your house and just played and philosophized. " One of the questions I did ask him was: "Why do you think there's so much hate and war in this world?" Atul's response (as shown in my film 'Thomas Simon WalkAbout') was: "For the peace, for the love, you know, everybody has to compromise a bit, from their own side."

Please receive our most sincere condolences. Thank you very much for your message, although it
was sad for us to learn about Atul. We remember him clearly, a tall man with bright eyes. Because of his height I asked him why he is so tall and he answered with llla smile that it is as it is. In the concert he attracted my view. You were sitting in the middle, Atul sat on your right side and Shyam on your left side. You were concentrated on playing the sitar, so your view was directed to Shyam, but Atul kept the communication looking to you and Shyam, like this closing the triangle of Sukarma. And we enjoyed the anouncement of one special title, it was the announcement of a meeting of a couple in lowe, it was "dam di di dam di di dam". We will alway remember this, it came out of the heart of Atul.

I did not know Atul very well when he came to me for massage at the Sechen clinic, in the last year of his life.  He was concerned about having pains in his hands, arms and shoulders when he did his long practise sessions on the Tabla.  He told me that music was his life and whatever happened he needed to be able to practise.  We worked together to try and relieve the strain in his upper body and to relax his mind.  It was truly an honor to work with him and to get to know him just a little.

I do not have to tell you what joy Atul brought to the world with his incredible music talent, but to me there was something even more impressive than that.  Atul was one of the worlds great souls! His gentle and spiritual nature, his kindness and generosity were immediately apparent. These qualities he took with him when he had to leave us and, because of them, we know that wherever he is he is walking with the "best of the best".

"Atul - we miss your presence among us, in so many ways, but your legacy lives on in our happy memories of you and in the hearts of your friends and family. Be in peace."

Denise Tomeco, Massage Therapist, Bangkok