Brij Bhushan Kabra

Pandit. Brij Bhushan Kabra was a renowned and world-famous guitarist, music composer, and musician. He was born in 1937 and was one of the first ever Indian musicians who popularised the guitar strings innovatively and adapted it to Indian classical music. He was born in a liberal family of Goverdhanlal, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where he grew up. His father, Shah Govardhanlal Kabra was an eminent businessman and the chief advisor for Jodhpur royalty under the British Colonial Government.

He had an interest in sports and Indian classical music, but initially, he did have the intention to pursue music as a career. He studied at the Imperial Scindia School in Gwalior and pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Udaipur. He was also trained in Business Administration from Calcutta. Since he was actively involved in sports, he also represented his university in games like hockey, football & cricket. At the age of 18, he got married to Mrs. Kamla Kabra.

On a visit to Kolkata, Pt. Kabra came across a Hawaiian lap slide guitar and developed an urge to purchase it. He bought it immediately but had no idea how to play the instrument. So, he tried to casually play with its strings. However, within 15 days, Kabra was able to play new tunes and learned to play some of his favorite songs on the guitar. When he returned home, he requested his father to let him learn music professionally and promised him that he would only use the guitar for Indian classical music. Thereafter, he started living in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where he learned to play the instrument by imitating records.

Kabra then began to seriously pursue music, and he used to practice guitar for 18 hours every day. At one of the imperial concerts in Jodhpur, Kabra met the legendary Indian musician Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He was very impressed by Pt. Brij Bhushan Kabra and would often invite him to his musical concerts. He trained Kabra professionally and became his biggest source of moral strength. He taught him the musical technicalities such as scales, theories, basic Sargam ragas, etc. Kabra also tried to modify his guitar by adding some sympathetic and drone strings. Gradually, he became the first musician who played rag on a guitar. His musical works have received appreciation not only from eminent Indian musicians but across the globe. He also started playing duets with other musicians such as the popular Santoor Player, Shiv Kumar Sharma Bio coming soon... >> Read More... , with whom he created, Call of the Valley in 1967.

Pt. Kabra has made global musical tours to popularize Indian classical music internationally. Apart from the solo performances, he has recorded almost 50 playing records, including duet performances with Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pt. D.L. Kabra ji (Sarod), Jasraj (vocal), Hariprasad Chaurasia Hariprasad Chaurasia was born in Allahabad, Uttar >> Read More... , Pt. Rais Khan Rais Khan is a Hindi editor who predominantly work >> Read More... ji (sitar) and Pt. Jog (Violin). To spread awareness about classical music he also published papers emphasizing the involvement of music in child education. He also inaugurated an eminent institution, ‘Mahesh Shikshan Sansthan.’

Pt. Kabra’s works and efforts have inspired several Indian youths to learn classical music. He has been felicitated with various prestigious National awards, such as the National Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. He was also featured in a documentary film about guitar by the Govt. of India. The legendary guitarist passed away at the age of 81 on 12 April 2018.