Saturday, August 24, 2013
NILADRI KUMAR (born
1973) is an Indian classical and fusion 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.
Born to sitar player Kartick Kumar, a disciple of Ravi
Shankar, he was 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.
Niladri
Kumar began his career with music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal in the
late 1980s. He was part of the Masters of the Percussion tour
alongside Zakir Hussain. Kumar has also worked with Jonas
Hellborg and V. Selvaganesh on their album Kali's Son and
with John McLaughlin on album Floating Point. Kumar
has also worked with various music directors in Hindi cinema,
including A.R. Rahman, 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. Niladri has also
won MTV Immies award for the Best Classical/Fusion Instrumental for
his album If.
Kumar has
created a unique instrument, the "zitar", which is a combination
of sitar and guitar. 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. 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. He also
won the MN Mathur Award in the 51st Maharana Kumbha Sangeet Samaroh for his
contribution to Indian classical music in March, 2013.
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