Ashwin Batish
| Ashwin Batish | |
|---|---|
Ashwin Batish in Concert - year 2009
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| Background information | |
| Born |
January 1, 1951 Bombay, India |
| Genres | Indian classical music, Folk music, indie music, indie rock, indie folk, Worldbeat |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | sitar, tabla, santoor, dilruba, singing |
| Years active | 1970 – present |
| Labels | Batish Records |
| Associated acts | Keshav Batish, S D Batish, Meena Batish |
| Website | Personal web pages for Ashwin Batish |
Ashwin Kumar Batish Hindi: अश्विन कुमार बातिश (born 1 January 1951 in Bombay, India) is a sitar and tabla player best known for rekindling interest in the sitar. "Many of his fans are young, college-aged students who enjoy world beat music [ethnic music from global cultures]"
A child prodigy, Ashwin would often sing with his sister Meena Batish at performances organized by his father, the composer, author, Bollywood playback singer and music director, Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish (Hindi: पन्डित शिव दयाल बातिश). His mother, Shrimati Shanta Devi Batish (Hindi: श्रीमति शान्ता देवी बातिश), was an All India Radio artist and is credited for starting young Ashwin on the dholak drum around the age of seven and on the sitar around the age of 12.
When Ashwin's father took him to see his friend Ashok, the son of the great music director and harmonium wizard Pandit Bhagatram (Hindi: पन्डित भगतराम)of Bollywood music team Husnlal Bhagatram, Ashwin fell in love with the sitar. Ashok was only two years older than Ashwin and seeing his friend perform made Ashwin aspire towards playing the sitar.
In 1964, Ashwin's father left India to visit one of his daughters in England. Ashwin turned to his mother and shared with her his secret wish to play the sitar. She bought him a student model sitar and started teaching him herself. She had too studied the sitar when young. His mother also presented him with some sitar albums by Pandit Ravi Shankar (Hindi: पन्डित रवि शन्कर). Ashwin would listen and tried to take out all the songs from the records to the best of his abilities.
It was when Ashwin joined his father in England at around age 14 that he started receiving training from him on the intricacies of North Indian classical music. Ashwin also started learning compositions in various ragas. His father would often sing and have Ashwin copy the musical phrases. He also taught Ashwin many songs based in various ragas that he had studied with his Guruji Shri Chandan Ram Charan (Hindi: श्रि चन्दन राम चरन).
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