Folk Bands and Artists
Baluji Shrivastav OBE
London
Baluji Shrivastav OBE is one of the greatest modern instrumentalists India has produced. Described as ‘sitarist to the stars’ (Evening Standard), he has performed and recorded with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Massive Attack, Madness, Shakira, Malu, Annie Lennox, Boy George & Doves and has over fifteen releases of classical and world music fusion. His compositions include works for orchestra, theatre, dance, film, television and radio. With his Inner Vision Orchestra and the British Paraorchestra and Coldplay he played at the Paralympic Closing Ceremony 2012.
Not only does Baluji excel in sitar, tabla and other instruments less familiar to Western audiences, he also composes and combines the technical finesse and purity of a classical master with a fresh, open and experimental approach. Blind from before he turned a year old, Baluji took up the sitar aged 4, learning in a school for the blind, recognised as a prodigy who quickly was winning prizes and conducting. Aged just 14, he had already graduated from Lucknow University with a BA in sitar-playing. Baluji Shrivastav´s “ability to concentrate on sound as a primary interaction with the world creates truly sublime music“ writes author Juliet Highet.
