Kumar Bose – Tabla artist who follows Banaras tradition

Pandit Kumar Bose is a renowned tabla artist, musician and composer who has been performing since the age of 4. He is the son of renowned tabla artist Biswanath Bose and Sitar player Bharati Bose. Both his brothers are also noted musicians. Kumar is known for promoting music globally and has performed at Royal Albert Hall London and other leading international venues promoting Indian classic music. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award 2007 and many other honours.

Born into a family of dedicated musicians in Kolkata in 1953, he also followed the same music tradition. He started learning tabla from his father and gave his first public performance at the age of 4. In the next 10 years he performed in almost all leading music festivals of India. As time passed by, he took music outside the country’s boundaries bringing fame to his nation. He also received guidance in music from his mother, a renowned Sitar player. Following his father’s death, he continued learning from Pandit Kishan Maharaj.

He has performed with Zubin Mehta’s Philharmonic Orchestra and has been a part of symphony orchestras conducted by Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin and Arnovich. He was a tabla accompanist to Ravi Shankar from 1984 to 1994.

Kumar Bose – Some interesting facts

1. For many generations his family is associated with music. His paternal grandfather played shreekhol with kirtan. His maternal grandfather and his father Pandit Biwanath Bose were tabla players.

2. He is a right-handed person. Yet he performs left-handed, a habit which he developed while training from his father at early childhood.

3. Apart from tabla, he can also perform different kinds of drums such as dholak, nal, banga-kanga, sri-khole and pakhwaj.

4. He has accompanied renowned artists like Ravi Shankar, Girija Devi, Kishan Maharaj, Rajan and Sajan Mishra.

5. Now he gives musical lessons at his home in North Kolkata.

6. Bose has produced and performed for more than 200 recordings in several genres, while strictly following musical traditions as a purist. He owns numerous recordings to his credit, both as a solo artist as well as collaborations.

7. Both his wife and daughter are vocalists. His mother is also a Hindustani Sitar player and a recipient of President’s Award for Best Sitar Performance in 1956.

8. He is a recipient of prestigious Dinanath Mangeshkar Award in 2012, and has worked in film industry as an assistant music director occasionally.