#21 – Aditya Kalyanpur (World-renowned Indian Tabla Maestro) – Taking Indian Tabla across International boundaries

Aditya Kalyanpur
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Himanshu Sachdeva

Lifestyle Architecture Lab is a show hosted by Himanshu Sachdeva. Himanshu Sachdeva is a writer, lifestyle architect and a self-experimenter. In this show, he talks about lifestyle design, financial freedom and converses with personalities who have transformed their passion into profession. These guests range from artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, coaches, investors, professional athletes etc. These conversations dig deep into their story to find out their thought process, tools, strategies and tricks that make them tick. For show notes and to learn more, go to - https://himanshusachdeva.com

In this episode, I’m talking to Aditya Kalyanpur who is a world-renowned Indian Tabla Maestro. He has trained under the Tabla Legends Ustad Allarakha Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain. Since his first appearance in the Wah Taj! ad in the 90s where he played the Tabla along with Ustad Zakir Hussain, to now when he has become the Tabla Maestro and taken the Indian Tabla Classical Indian music art form across International boundaries. He’s played along with the Indian Legends like Shivkumar Sharma, Amjad Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, Rahul Sharma and western legendary artists like Katy Perry, Herbie Hancock, Larry Coryell and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones to name a few. He also popularised the colourful Tablas. He’s wearing multiple hats at the moment, founder of 2 music institutes in the US and a non-profit in Mumbai India which helps out kids with Cancer.

In this conversation, we talked about his initial journey, his time with his Gurus, his creative process, how to perfect your craft and much more.

It was amazing to talk to Aditya jee and I hope you’ll love it too.

So without further adieu, please enjoy this conversation with Aditya Kalyanpur.

Links and references from the episode –

People mentioned –

Books mentioned –

App/Tools mentioned –

Interesting references –

Quotes mentioned –

  • LA (Los Angles) is the melting pot of world cultures. It’s a place where everyone comes tother and nurture each other’s talents.
  • I think you remain a student of your instrument every day, the more sadhana, the more riyaz you put in, people slowly start recognising you and see how much training you have put into your craft. More than your brand image, your music or your craft should speak for yourself.
  • If you give love to Tabla, Tabla will love you back — Ustad Allarakha Khan
  • I firmly believe in quality over quantity, if you give your 100% to that one thing then if that thing would otherwise take 3 hours can be done probably in an hour. Focus is really important.
  • I’ve played with a variety of genres. Music is one, just the expression is different.

The ways you can connect with Aditya Kalyanpur –


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Himanshu Sachdeva

Lifestyle Architecture Lab is a show hosted by Himanshu Sachdeva. Himanshu Sachdeva is a writer, lifestyle architect and a self-experimenter. In this show, he talks about lifestyle design, financial freedom and converses with personalities who have transformed their passion into profession. These guests range from artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, coaches, investors, professional athletes etc. These conversations dig deep into their story to find out their thought process, tools, strategies and tricks that make them tick. For show notes and to learn more, go to - https://himanshusachdeva.com


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