Niladri Kumar is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n classical

Indian classical music

The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...

 and fusion

Fusion (music)

A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...

 musician. He performed on the sitar from a young age and toured and released albums as an adult. He created a unique instrument, a modified sitar, which he named zitar.

Early life

Born to sitar player Kartick Kumar, a disciple of Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

. He is considered a child prodigy. He started learning sitar under his father at the age of four. Kumar gave his first public performance at the age of six at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry.

Career

Niladri Kumar began his career with music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal in late 1980s. He was part of the Masters of the Percussion tour alongside Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain (musician)

Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...

. Kumar has also worked with Jonas Hellborg

Jonas Hellborg

Jonas Hellborg is a Swedish bass guitarist. He has collaborated with John McLaughlin, Ustad Sultan Khan, Fazal Qureshi, Bill Laswell, Shawn Lane, Jens Johansson, Michael Shrieve, V. Selvaganesh, Mattias IA Eklundh and Buckethead....

 and V. Selvaganesh

V. Selvaganesh

V. Selvaganesh is an Indian percussionist working in the Carnatic tradition, and is one of the leading kanjira player of his generation. He is also known as "Chella S. Ganesh."-Early life:...

 on their album Kali's Son and with John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

 on album Floating Point. Kumar has also worked with various music directors in Hindi cinema, including A.R. Rehman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy are an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. Record producers, musicians and multi-instrumentalists, they have composed music for over fifty soundtrack across four languages...

 and Pritam

Pritam

Pritam Chakraborty , better known as Pritam is a music director and composer from Kolkata who currently works in Bollywood, Mumbai.- Early life :...

. Niladri was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi

Sangeet Natak Akademi

Sangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...

's Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, awarded to young musicians, in March 2007. Niladri has also won MTV Immies

MTV Immies

The MTV Immies are held every year with an aim to award the best talents in the Indian music industry. In 2005 The Immies supported relief for the quake victims of India and Pakistan. Also, proceeds from donor passes were given to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund...

 award for the Best Classical/Fusion Instrumental for his album If.

Kumar has created a unique instrument "zitar" which is a combination of sitar

Sitar

The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...

 and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. The concept initiated from a traveling sitar, which was modified by Kumar to create rock guitar sound out of it. Kumar reduced the number of strings

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 on the instrument from 20 to five. He also added an electric pickup inside the instrument so that it would sound more like a guitar. His first full album composed using the instrument, titled Zitar, was released in 2008. Kumar wrote the first track for the album Priority in 2003. Over the next five years he improved the track and subsequent track by gauging audience reaction during live performances. He improvised the tracks adding components from various genres such as rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 and lounge

Lounge music

Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...

.

Albums

• 2001: Together (With Kartik Kulkarni)
• 2002: Revelation (With Vijay Ghate)
• 2003: Dharohar
• 2003: Saanjh Sur
• 2004: If
• 2005: Sitar Gaze
• 2005: Yoga Zone (With Chinmaya Dunster)
• 2006: Forever
• 2006: De-Stress Revive (With Rupak Kulkarni)
• 2007: Chillout Forever
• 2007: Faith
• 2008: Zitar
• 2009: Priority

Films

• Bunty Aur Babli - Chup Chup Ke
• Gangster - Na Jaane Koi
• Life In Metro - Alvida
• Dhoom 2 - Crazy Kiya Re

External links