Karsh Kale – Pioneer of electronic fusion among present generation musicians

Karsh Kale is an independent musician, music producer and composer now based in US. He is of Indian origin, born to Marathi speaking immigrants who migrated to US in the early 1970s. A pioneer of Asian Underground genre of music with east-west fusion, he marked his Bollywood debut as a composer in 2019 composing “Kab Se Kab Tak” for Gully Boy. He is an expert of tabla and drum, who made a musical project Tabla Beat Science in 2000, inviting great tabla artists like Zakir Hussain, Talvin Singh and Trilok Gurtu, Sarangi player Sultan Khan etc. They produced “Tala Matrix”, an Asian fusion album which received rave reviews from music critics. He released his first solo album Realize the following year.

Karsh was born in 1974 in West Bromwich, UK and at the age of three his family shifted to Stony Brook, US where he was brought up. He was introduced to different forms of music by his father at a young age. It included both Indian traditional music as well as different derivatives of western music. Music of the Beatles and Indian Classical music influenced him a lot. A self-taught musician, Karsh developed his own unique style. He also developed a unique “electric tabla”. Broken English, UP, Redesign: Realize Remixed, Realize, Liberation, Cinema etc are his released music albums. He studied music production and performance from New York University, and started his music career as a student, beginning with local bands.

Karsh Kale – Some interesting facts

1. In 2007 he released the album, Breathing Under Waterin collaboration with Anoushka Shankar.

2. Initially he played the musical instrument drum, followed by tabla, and now performs both.

3. Kale is considered a pioneer of electronic fusion of present times.

4. He tours across the globe with a 9-member band, Cinema Live.

5. As a solo recording artist, live performer and DJ, Kale is currently one of the well-established musicians globally.

6. He explores Indian classical music, rock, jazz fusion and hip hop through his music pieces.