Niladri Kumar
is an Indian classical and fusion musician. Kumar 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".
|
NILADRI KUMAR TICKETS
|
Biography
Niladri Kumar is son of sitar player Kartick Kumar, a disciple of
Ravi Shankar. Considered a child prodigy, Kumar started learning sitar under his father at the age of four. Kumar gave his first public performance at the age of six at Aurobindo Ashram in
Puducherry.
[1]
Career
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.
[2] Kumar has also worked with
Jonas Hellborg and
V. Selvaganesh on their album
Kali's Son
[3] and with
John McLaughlin on album
Floating Point
.
[4] Kumar has also worked with various music directors in
Hindi cinema, including
A.R. Rehman,
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and
Pritam.
Niladri was conferred the
Sangeet Natak Akademi's Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, awarded to young musicians, in March 2007.
[5] Niladri has also won
MTV Immies award for the Best Classical/Fusion Instrumental for his album
If
.
Kumar has created a unique instrument "zitar" which is a combination of
sitar and
guitar.
[6] 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 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.
[7] 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,
electronic and
lounge.
Discography
- 2002: Revelation
- 2006: Forever
- 2006: If
- 2007: Faith
- 2008: Zitar
References
- Zitar Power
- Indian drummers find fascinating rhythms
- More Indian food than music in the West
- Niladri Kumar takes the sitar to space age
- 32 artistes get 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar'
- Mesmerising
- Saregama offers history – and Priority too!