Johnny Kalsi

Johnny Kalsi
Kalsi performing with The Imagined Village at the Big Chill Festival in 2008
Background information
Origin	India
Genres	World music
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, Producer
Instruments	Vocals, Tabla, Dhol, percussion
Years active	1986 - present
Labels	Shakti Records, Real World
Associated acts	Afro Celt Sound System, Dhol Foundation, The Imagined Village, Transglobal Underground
Website	www.dholfoundation.com

Johnny Kalsi is a British Indian dhol drum performer residing in London. He rose to prominence as a former member of Transglobal Underground and the founder of the Dhol Foundation. He also is a member of the Afro Celt Sound System and The Imagined Village.

Kalsi was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1967. His parents had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Kenya; his grandfather had earlier moved to Mombasa from the Punjab. As a youth, he was interested in music though his parents had other aspirations for him, hoping he would become a doctor or lawyer. Kalsi was self-taught as a drummer when he joined a school jazz trio and they performed at school concerts and assembly hall meetings. He was also the Drummer in the Orchestra as well as the Rock band in school. It wasn't until many of his fathers' cousins were getting married where he would get the biggest musical injection of his childhood. The Indian Wedding Ceremony is full of color and food, occasionally alcohol but surrounded & laced with Music. His Uncles used to have a small Bhangra Dance Group in the early 70's and although never performed in public, they would perform and get together during weddings. The Dhol Captivated Kalsi and the sound of this indigenous instrument thrilled and dominated the scene. Based around his Tabla lessons he had with Pof. Gurmeet Singh Virdee, he had already gained the knowledge of reading the phonetic language of Tabla. Kalsi set up Dhol classes and even went back to his secondary school in Hounslow and wanted to teach Dhol there. He devised a syllabus using his knowledge of Tabla Language and transferred the beats on the Dhol. This became his Dhol Bible and his methods of practace and teaching have since been copied all over the World. As Kalsi played Drums the "Double Stroke Roll" became a lesson known as "Mummy Daddy". in the "TDF"(The Dhol Foundation) Syllabus this is the very first lesson taught to beginners. Soon and sure enough, students peeled off to form their own classes under different names and took the teaching method with them. The TDF methos to teach Dhol was bootlegged by many and is a sure method proven to be successful. His exposure to a variety of genres embraced both traditional Indian music and Western influences, and he began making Eastern drum rhythms using Western instruments; along the way he redesigned the traditional dhol drum to his own specifications.