Brij Bhushan Kabra Biography 
Brij Bhushan Kabra is an accomplished guitarist from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Brij is the first Indian musician to play raga on the guitar, and perform it publically. He recorded the album, Call of the Valley (1967) with santoor player Shivkumar Sharma in 1960 which became extremely popular. His guitar playing gained popularity in the 1970s hippie culture and Brij is credited to popularizing guitar among Indian music listeners to some extent.
He is a recipient of numerous awards and honours. He received Kendra Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2005. Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1983–84 and fellowship of Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi for 1995–96 are other major honours received by Kabra. Noted slide guitar player from Jodhpur Amano Manish is one among his most successful disciples who made a documentary The Guitar Odyssey on his guru, Pt. Brijbhushan Kabra about his musical journey, and how he choose guitar for his profession.
Brij Bhushan Kabra was born in Jodhpur in the year 1937. During his younger days he was interested in sports. Though he listened to music, he never thought of taking music as his profession. His attraction to music was just a co-incidence. A visit to Kolkata proved to be the turning point of his career when he discovered the Hawaiian lap slide guitar and got drawn towards it. But it was not easy for him to convince his father, as this music instrument belonged to westerners. His father agreed to his decision to learn music only after young Kabra promised that he would play only classical music using this instrument.
He imitated records to learn this music instrument and also took lessons from Ali Akbar Khan. He also modified the music instrument a little bit. Later he became the first Indian to perform guitar in Indian classical style. He gained popularity in the 1970s and there was no turning back after that.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 26, 2016
