Prateek Pattanaik is a musician and a scholar. His work primarily comprises of performing Odissi music and editing palm leaf manuscripts. He began learning Odissi music from his grandmother Smt Kanak Lata Sabath, then Guru Brundaban Khandual, finally learning vocal & Vina under Pt Ramarao Patro, in the lineage of the 20th-century maestro ‘Astabadhani Acharjya’ Tarini Charan Patra, specialising in the tradition of the 17th-century musical treatise Sangita Narayana. Well known for his archiving efforts and lecture-demonstrations, he is the author of the voluminous ‘Odissi Sangita Baridhi’ (co-authored with Pt Ramarao Patra) consisting of musical notations and the first bilingual coffee table book in the Odia language titled ‘ODIA : Journey of a Language’.
He is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Odia, Berhampur University on the Sangita Narayana, working with an unpublished 18th-century Odia commentary of the text to document the applied aspects of the living practical tradition vis à vis the Sastraic textual tradition.