Kumar Bose

A master percussionist, Bose plays several other drums besides the tabla which include the sri-khole, the pakhwaj, the dholak, the nal, and the banga-kanga. However, it is the unusual way that he plays the bnaya that has brought him attention. He plays the bass drum-like instrument with his right hand, although he plays the tabla with his left. Though he is right-handed, he picked up this practice by sitting across from and mirroring his father from early childhood.

Bose gave his first public performance at the age of 4. By 14, he performed abroad and has played at almost every major music halls in the world since. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, the Kremlin in Moscow, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall in New York, and at various venues throughout India. He also has the distinction of having performed for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles as an accompanist to Pandit Ravi Shankar. In addition to that, Pandit Kumar Bose performed at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada in 2019 for the Raag-Mala Music Society of Toronto.[4]

He has the rare distinction of highly acclaimed performances with Zubin Mehta's Philharmonic Orchestra and participation in several symphony orchestras conducted by Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, and Arnovich in England, Italy, China, Russia and the United States.

In addition to a 10-year exclusive tour as the tabla accompanist to Ravi Shankar from 1984 to 1994, he has performed and composed with musicians globally. Over the past 40 years, he has also performed and recorded in duets with his guru. From the Benaras Gharana, he has played with Girija Devi, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Kanthe Maharaj, and Kishan Maharaj.

While he has collaborated with leaders in jazz, pop and rock, it was his duet with Iranian thumba player Professor Semurani that drew praise. Bose's collaborations have given an international reputation as a great musician.

Of the six established tabla gharanas or schools of tabla playing, the Benares Gharana, of which Bose belongs, has been the most staunch in its refusal to compromise the traditions when moving into more lucrative contemporary fusions. While criticised decades ago for his rigidity and refusal to adapt modern fusion and film music, Bose is now credited with preserving classical musical style and philosophy. He has kept the tradition of the Benares Gharana by subtly balancing the warm bass tones of the bayan with the higher-pitched crisp tones and syncopations of the dayan. Many of Bose's compositions have been written to accompany the rhythmical movements of kathak dancers and are a speciality of the Benares tradition.

Bose currently conducts private lessons in the style of his mentors. He conducts classes daily with students from age 3 to 35 at his home in North Calcutta. He is known for maintaining high standards for his students, emphasising the importance of devoted practice and other aspects of the tradition. His high-profile students also include the Mumbai-based tabla player Shyama Prasad Das, and Ujjwal Bharati in Kolkata.

Bose has produced or performed on over 200 recordings in several genres, while staying true to his classical Indian lineage. The first live international recording of his solo Virtuosity was released through the Darbar festival 2006 in London. The album includes some rare gems from the archives of the Benares repertoire, including the compositions of Ram Sahai, who founded the gharana at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Toward the end of the album, Bose demonstrates one of his specialities: playing a variety of cross rhythms on the dayan with his right hand while simultaneously holding down a fast repetitive beat on the bnaya with his left hand. The Times reviewed the performance, declaring him "the best tabla player in the world today."

• Received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 2007 in recognition of his achievements in, and contributions to music.[5]
• His duet with Semurani received acclaim at the 1974 International Seminar of Music in the Netherlands.
• At the India Festival inMoscow in 1988, he received distinguished honours while playing with a philharmonic orchestra.
• He was the assistant music director of Mrinal Sen's film Genesis. (He assisted music director Shankar, on whose albums his music is often featured.)
• The prestigious Dinanath Mangeshkar Award in 2012.