Brij Bhushan Kabra
Brij Bhushan Kabra (1937 – 12 April 2018) was an Indian musician who popularized the guitar as an instrument in Indian classical music. Kabra was born in 1937 to Goverdhanlal Kabra in Jodhpur where he spent his youth. He was interested in sports and listened to Indian classical music but did not intend to become a musician and trained as a geologist.
Brij Bhushan Kabra
Debasis1961 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Brij Bhushan Kabra
- Born
- 1937
- Birthplace
- Jodhpur, Jodhpur State, British India
- Died
- 12 April 2018 (aged 81)
- Place of death
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
- Nationality
- India · British Raj · Dominion of India
- Occupation
- musician
- Fields
- Hindustani classical music
- Honours
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Brij Bhushan Kabra (1937 – 12 April 2018) was an Indian musician who popularized the guitar as an instrument in Indian classical music. Kabra was born in 1937 to Goverdhanlal Kabra in Jodhpur where he spent his youth. He was interested in sports and listened to Indian classical music but did not intend to become a musician and trained as a geologist.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Brij Bhushan Kabra. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4967972 · wikipedia · Brij Bhushan Kabra
In this article
Biography
Biography
During a visit to Kolkata he discovered the Hawaiian lap slide guitar and convinced his father to let him learn it by promising to only play classical music. Kabra then lived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, learnt the instrument by imitating records, and later studied under Ali Akbar Khan. He modified the guitar by adding sympathetic and drone strings. Kabra became the first Indian musician to play raga on the guitar, performed publicly, and recorded the successful album Call of the Valley (1967) with bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia and santoor player Shivkumar Sharma. The guitar was seldom used in Indian classical music, and his guitar playing gained popularity in the 1970s hippie culture. Kabra recorded solo albums and concentrated on teaching since the 1990s but continued to perform. He was awarded the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1983–84, was made a fellow of the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi for 1995–96, and received the national Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2005. Kabra died on 12 April 2018 in Ahmedabad at age 81.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Brij Bhushan Kabra • Born — 1937 • Birthplace — Jodhpur, Jodhpur State, British India • Died — 12 April 2018 (aged 81) • Place of death — Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India • Instrument — lap slide guitar • Genre — Hindustani classical music • Past Member Of — Debashish Bhattacharya • Website — http: www.brijbhushankabra.com
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Jodhpur.
Birth place
Ahmedabad.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Brij Bhushan Kabra”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4967972: Brij Bhushan Kabra
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gilbert, Andrew. Sliding between cultures, instruments. The Boston Globe. 2008-04-06.
- 2.Hunt, Ken. Brij Bhushan Kabra – Biography. AllMusic.
- 3.Indian classical music on the guitar. MiD DAY. 2002-10-26.
- 4.Slawek, Stephen. Hindustani Instrumental Music. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Taylor and Francis. 5. 207. 2000. 0-8240-4946-2.
- 5.Das, Arka. The rite of strings. The Telegraph. 2008-12-15.
- 6.Shukla, Vandana. Fine guitar recital. The Tribune. 1999-01-31.
- 7.Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi. Awardees.
- 8.Sangeet Natak Akademi. SNA: List of Akademi Awardees – Instrumental – Guitar.
- 9.Somasundaram, Kannan. Sliding guitar gently weeps. The Times of India. The Times Group. 13 April 2018.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Citizenship
1- IndiaPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,934 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Bright ShengPerson
- Brigit ForsythPerson
- Brigitte FassbaenderPerson
- Brigitte OelkePerson
- Brilliant ClassicsOrganisation
- Brinker InternationalOrganisation
- Brisa RochéPerson
- British Library SoundsOrganisation
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Brij Bhushan Kabra?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.