--- url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-fr/legendary-masters/brij-bhushan-kabra' title: 'Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra | Hindustani slide guitar' author: name: rajeevk url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-fr/user/4add8741a490747f' date: '2026-10-28T01:06:19+00:00' updated: '2026-11-05T15:39:22+00:00' type: website summary: 'Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra adapted the slide guitar to Hindustani raga. Read about his guru and guitar, find which recordings to hear first, and learn his style.' tags: - 'Indian Slide Guitar' - 'Senia-Maihar Gharana' image: 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/mcp-imported/Pandit-Brij-Bhaushan-Kabra-Indian-Slide-Guitar-KalaSudha.jpg?VersionId=4_zf58621fa0f456059ae110919_f100eca2258cfd982_d20261101_m025107_c003_v0312048_t0041_u01793501467712&h=b25de637&itok=BmYWdIaX' published: true og: site_name: KalaSudha 'image:url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/mcp-imported/Pandit-Brij-Bhaushan-Kabra-Indian-Slide-Guitar-KalaSudha.jpg?VersionId=4_zf58621fa0f456059ae110919_f100eca2258cfd982_d20261101_m025107_c003_v0312048_t0041_u01793501467712&h=b25de637&itok=BmYWdIaX' 'image:secure_url': 'https://files.kalasudha.com/styles/d12_standard/public/mcp-imported/Pandit-Brij-Bhaushan-Kabra-Indian-Slide-Guitar-KalaSudha.jpg?VersionId=4_zf58621fa0f456059ae110919_f100eca2258cfd982_d20261101_m025107_c003_v0312048_t0041_u01793501467712&h=b25de637&itok=BmYWdIaX' 'image:type': image/jpeg 'image:width': '1200' 'image:height': '675' 'image:alt': 'Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra playing the Indian slide guitar' --- Pandit # Brij Bhushan Kabra 1937–2018 Born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan Hindustani Indian Slide Guitar Senia-Maihar Gharana Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2005) > "why confuse the situation? After all, it is just a modified slide-guitar." > > — Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra Learn this style Where can I learn Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's style today? [View the course](/en-fr/course/indian-slide-guitar) [Where to learn ](#where-to-learn) ## Life & Legacy **Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra** (1937–2018) was a guitarist from Jodhpur who adapted the slide guitar to Hindustani classical music, the start of Hindustani slide guitar. A disciple of the sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, he laid a modified archtop guitar flat and played raga on it with a bar. Premier Guitar writes that this approach set the standard for virtually all Indian slide guitarists. In 1967 he recorded **Call of the Valley** with Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma. ### Who was Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra? Kabra was a Hindustani classical guitarist from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, born in 1937, who died in 2018. The ethnomusicologist Andre Elias, in his 2016 University of Washington dissertation on the slide guitar in India, notes that the Kabra family had ties to the Jodhpur royal court. Kabra trained as a geologist and studied music with Ali Akbar Khan. He is known for playing raga on a guitar laid flat and for the album Call of the Valley. He received the **Sangeet Natak Akademi Award** for 2005. The Akademi, India's national academy for the performing arts, lists him under Hindustani music, instrumental, guitar. > "first, I'll teach you how to be a good human being" > > — Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra > > His first words of teaching to Pandit Debasis Chakroborty, as Chakroborty recalls them to Andre J. Elias > > Source: [digital.lib.washington.edu](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/37195) ### Quick Facts Lifespan 1937–2018 Lived 81 years Birth Place Jodhpur, Rajasthan Tradition Hindustani Discipline Indian Slide Guitar Gharana Senia-Maihar Gharana Primary Guru Ali Akbar Khan Instrument Modified Gibson Super 400 archtop Training B.Sc. in geology, Udaipur #### Key Milestones 1. **1937**Born in Jodhpur 2. **1967**Call of the Valley recorded 3. **1988**Jugalbandi with V. G. Jog 4. **1990**Lure of the Desert ## Sources 1. [Andre J. Elias, Saraswati sings: the slide-guitar in India (2016) (opens in a new tab)](https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/37195), University of Washington 2. [Premier Guitar, The secret world of Hindustani slide (2012) (opens in a new tab)](https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/The_Secret_World_of_Hindustani_Slide), Premier Guitar 3. [Sangeet Natak Akademi, list of Akademi awardees (opens in a new tab)](https://web.archive.org/web/20100417012651/http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm), Sangeet Natak Akademi 4. [MusicBrainz, Call of the Valley (opens in a new tab)](https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/6329db5a-77c2-30b4-9fa0-aca1151f7e26), MusicBrainz ## Musical Contributions ### What did Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra contribute to Hindustani classical music? Kabra turned the slide guitar into an instrument for raga. He added two high strings tuned to the tonic as a **chikari**, drone strings struck between melody notes. Elias writes that the chikari let the guitar play jhala, the fast closing section of a raga. Elias names Kabra as the first person credited with adapting slide guitar to Hindustani classical music. Other accounts credit Barun Kumar Pal with classical radio performances on slide guitar from 1952. Kabra called his instrument an Indian classical slide guitar and declined to give it a new name. Its music is now a discipline of its own, [Indian slide guitar](/en-fr/instrumental/hindustani-classical/indian-slide-guitar). ### What is the Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra style of slide guitar? The Kabra style takes the sarod as its model. Andy Ellis of Premier Guitar describes Ali Akbar Khan's fretless sarod as the sound Kabra set out to emulate. In the lineage Pandit Debasis Chakroborty teaches, the right hand comes from Ali Akbar Khan's sarod. Kabra sat on the floor, plucked with his fingers and stopped the strings with a bar. Elias writes that his slide could mimic vocal articulations and flourishes. Musicians call this singing style of playing **gayaki**. His repertoire came from the Maihar school. Manish Pingle, who set out to copy Kabra's style from his recordings, led with the right-hand middle finger after watching Kabra. ### What guitar did Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra play, and how was it strung? Kabra played a modified archtop guitar. Andy Ellis names it a **Gibson Super 400**. Elias describes a hollow-body archtop with steel strings. He writes that the original had no tarab, the sympathetic strings that ring with the raga. A high nut lifted the strings off the fretboard, as on a lap steel, so the bar set each pitch. Kabra added two chikari strings tuned to the tonic. On tarab the sources differ: Pandit Debasis Chakroborty, Kabra's senior-most disciple, credits Kabra with adding them. Concert [Indian slide guitars](/en-fr/instrument/indian-slide-guitar) today carry both tarab and chikari strings. ### Innovations #### Chikari tuned to the tonic Two high strings, set to the tonic, gave Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's guitar a chikari, the drone a player strikes between melody notes. Without it, Elias notes, the guitar could not play jhala, the fast close of a raga. #### Flat on the lap, high nut Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra played seated on the floor, with the guitar lying flat. A raised nut held the strings clear of the frets, so a bar set the pitch while his right hand plucked. #### Kept the name guitar Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra gave his instrument no name of his own. He kept the plain description Indian classical slide guitar, a choice his senior-most disciple recounted to Elias. ## Lineage & Disciples ### [Senia-Maihar Gharana](/en-fr/gharana/senia-maihar-gharana) ### Guru-Shishya Parampara Guru #### Ali Akbar Khan Sarod player and guru Ali Akbar Khan learned from his father Allauddin Khan, founder of the Maihar school. He taught Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra exercises and paltas, and his fretless sarod gave Kabra the sound to aim for. Master #### Brij Bhushan Kabra 1937–2018 ### Notable Disciples #### [Pandit Debasis Chakroborty](/en-fr/artist/debasis-chakroborty) Senior-most disciple Pandit Debasis Chakroborty is the senior-most disciple of Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra, and his playing reflects Kabra's style. He moved to Jodhpur to study with him and built the Indian Slide Guitar course with KalaSudha. From the mid-1990s ### Who was Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's guru? Kabra's guru was **Ali Akbar Khan**, the sarod player trained from the age of three by his own father, Allauddin Khan. Allauddin Khan founded the Maihar school of North Indian classical music. Elias tells the story as Kabra's senior-most disciple told it to him. Kabra's father, a veena player, at first rejected the guitar and allowed it for Hindustani classical music alone. Family connections took Kabra to Ali Akbar Khan, who taught him exercises and short compositions called paltas. After a year Kabra played for his father and won his blessing. Kabra later taught compositions of the [Senia-Maihar gharana](/en-fr/gharana/senia-maihar-gharana) to his own disciples. ### Who were Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's disciples? [Pandit Debasis Chakroborty](/en-fr/artist/debasis-chakroborty) is Kabra's senior-most disciple, and his playing reflects Kabra's style. He came to Kabra as a student in the mid-1990s and moved to Jodhpur to study with him. Elias records that Kabra told him, "first, I'll teach you how to be a good human being". Kabra urged him to add a chikari to his guitar, then taught him the gharana's compositions. Elias writes that many Kolkata slide guitarists, inspired by Kabra, began performing in the Hindustani classical style in the early 1980s. ## Life Timeline ### What was the guitar's place in India before and after Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra? Before **Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra**, Indian players used the Hawaiian guitar for song. Accounts of its arrival centre on Tau Moe. Premier Guitar places him in Calcutta between 1941 and 1947; Elias dates the story to the early 1930s. In the 1950s and 1960s it led instrumental Rabindra sangeet and Nazrul geeti. Elias writes that Kolkata slide guitarists, inspired by Kabra, turned to Hindustani classical playing in the early 1980s. Elias also records a rival claim from Barun Kumar Pal. Pal dates his classical radio work on slide guitar to 1952. Kabra recorded with the bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia and the santoor player Shivkumar Sharma. Hindustani classical playing on the slide guitar became the discipline of [Indian slide guitar](/en-fr/instrumental/hindustani-classical/indian-slide-guitar). 1. **1937** Birth Jodhpur, Rajasthan ### Born in Jodhpur Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra was born in 1937 into a Jodhpur family with ties to the royal court. His father, a businessman, played the veena and at first opposed the guitar. 2. Training Udaipur, Rajasthan ### Geology degree at Udaipur Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra took a B.Sc. in geology at Udaipur and trained as a geologist. He had promised his father to play only Indian classical music on the guitar. 3. Training ### Studies with Ali Akbar Khan Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra spent a year learning from the sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, son of Allauddin Khan. The lessons began with exercises and paltas, set practice patterns. His father then heard him play and gave his blessing. 4. **1967** Performance ### Call of the Valley recorded Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra recorded Call of the Valley in 1967 with Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma. MusicBrainz lists its first release in 1968. Its 1997 CD reissue includes Raga Piloo and Raga Des. 5. **1988** Performance ### Jugalbandi with V. G. Jog Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra paired his guitar with the violin of V. G. Jog for a jugalbandi, a duet between two soloists. The album, from 1988, takes one raga, Bageshri. 6. **1990** Performance ### Lure of the Desert Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's album Lure of the Desert appears in MusicBrainz with a 1990 date. It came more than twenty years after Call of the Valley first reached record buyers. 7. **Mid-1990s** Teaching Jodhpur, Rajasthan ### Pandit Debasis Chakroborty becomes his student Pandit Debasis Chakroborty is the senior-most disciple of Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra, and his playing reflects Kabra's style. In Jodhpur his guru had him add a chikari to his guitar, then taught him Senia-Maihar compositions. 8. **2005** Recognition ### Sangeet Natak Akademi Award The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national arts academy, gave Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra its award for 2005. Its list of awardees files him under guitar, in Hindustani instrumental music. 9. **2018** Death ### Died in 2018 Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra died in 2018. That was fifty years after Call of the Valley first came out, and thirteen years after his Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. ## Recordings Archive Preserved recordings, manuscripts, and archival materials ### Which Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra recordings should I hear first? Start with Call of the Valley, the album Kabra made with Hariprasad Chaurasia on bansuri and Shivkumar Sharma on santoor. Elias and Premier Guitar date the recording to 1967; MusicBrainz dates its first release to 1968. Its ragas include Ahir Bhairava and Pahadi. Premier Guitar's essential listening list for Hindustani slide includes it. Then hear **Two Raga Moods on Guitar**, which Premier Guitar lists as his next release. Later albums include Lure of the Desert and a jugalbandi, or duet, on Bageshri with the violinist V. G. Jog. ### Audio Recordings 4 #### Call of the Valley(1967 (released 1968)) Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra recorded this album with Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shivkumar Sharma. Elias dates the session to 1967, and MusicBrainz lists a 1968 first release. Its CD reissue includes Raga Bhoop. Source: Elias; MusicBrainz Archived Contact archive for access #### Two Raga Moods on Guitar Premier Guitar names Two Raga Moods on Guitar as Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's next release after Call of the Valley. Source: Premier Guitar Archived Contact archive for access #### Lure of the Desert(1990) MusicBrainz dates Lure of the Desert, an album by Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra, to 1990. It came two years after his duet with the violinist V. G. Jog. Source: MusicBrainz Archived Contact archive for access #### Jugalbandi, duet for violin and guitar: Raga Bageshri(1988) Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra and the violinist V. G. Jog share one raga, Bageshri, in this jugalbandi. MusicBrainz spells the raga Bageswari and dates the album to 1988. Source: MusicBrainz Archived Contact archive for access **Archive Note:** This collection represents known recordings and materials. Additional items may exist in private collections or institutional archives. If you have information about unlisted materials, please contact music preservation organizations. ## Where can I learn Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra's style today? You can learn the Kabra style online and in workshops on [Indian Slide Guitar, built by Pandit Debasis Chakroborty with KalaSudha](/en-fr/course/indian-slide-guitar). Beginners start at Foundation, which sets up the instrument and the right hand the way Kabra played, and trains the bar and the ear. Intermediate teaches the two angs, gayaki and tantrakari, and the first gat, a composition set to a tala, the rhythmic cycle. Advanced closes with a composed gat and a judged concert. The course follows the Senia-Maihar line that Kabra passed to his senior-most disciple. [ Indian Slide Guitar](/en-fr/course/indian-slide-guitar) [About Indian Slide Guitar ](/en-fr/instrumental/hindustani-classical/indian-slide-guitar)