Chinmaya Dunster is an English-born Sarod

Sarod

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...

 player whose compositions incorporate elements of Celtic

Celtic music

Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...

 and Hindustani music. He is an active environmentalist and performs concerts to foster awareness for saving ecosystems and wildlife.

Biography

Born in 1954 in Kent, England, Chinmaya Dunster (né Stephen Dunster) attended Art college in Canterbury and pursued an independent study of classical guitar and composition throughout his adolescence and early twenties.

After finishing his formal education in the late seventies, Dunster left Europe and traveled through Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 into northern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, where he became acquainted with classical Indian music and instrumentation. During spring break of his last year of art school in 1979, he flew off to Dehli to meet with his future wife, Diana. They travelled to the Himalayas, hiked and even went to Dharmasala. In the north Indian city of New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

, he attended an all-night performance of the sarod

Sarod

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...

 master, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan

Amjad Ali Khan

Amjad Ali Khan is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s...

 and subsequently spent the next thirteen years engaged in the study of the sarod both in London and India.

Once he finished his Art college training, he spent a year in Canada with his wife Diana. Before returning to England they travelled through the East, first to Japan, then to Thailand and Sri Lanka.

As Hindustani musical tradition dictates that knowledge of technique and tradition is generally handed down from father to son, Dunster was initially challenged to find a teacher. Eventually he was to find a teacher in Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

, India, with Pandit Shekhar Borkar, a mainly self-taught sarod master.

In 1990, Dunster founded the east-west fusion band with Prem Joshua

Prem Joshua

Prem Joshua is a German musician, active since 1991.Born in Germany, Joshua learned the flute at the age of five and played the flute and the saxophone for various local bands. At the age of 18, he traveled overland to India studying the indigenous folk music of countries along the way...

, Terra Incognita and released two albums under that name through New Earth Records

New Earth Records

New Earth Records is an independent record label focusing primarily on New Age Music and World Music. It was founded in 1990 in Munich, Germany, by European entrepreneurs Bhikkhu Schober and Waduda Paradiso under the auspices of the spiritual teacher known as Osho...

. After several solo projects, Dunster then founded the Celtic Ragas Band, whose self-titled 2001 release attracted the favor of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

, who then invited Dunster to perform at his 2002 wedding to Heather Mills in Ireland.

The following year he and the Celtic Ragas Band performed a CONCERT FOR INDIA'S ENVIRONMENT at BVIEER, Pune, released as the live CD 'Fragrance of the East' on New Earth Records

New Earth Records

New Earth Records is an independent record label focusing primarily on New Age Music and World Music. It was founded in 1990 in Munich, Germany, by European entrepreneurs Bhikkhu Schober and Waduda Paradiso under the auspices of the spiritual teacher known as Osho...

. The video of this concert, blended with interviews with environmentalists, Indian school children reading their own poems on nature and stunning footage of the Indian wilderness, is available for free viewing at www.chinmaya-dunster.com/concert-environment-2.php

In February 2010, Chinmaya Dunster and the Celtic Ragas Band performed the Green Ragas Concert at British Council, New Delhi (India) during the TERI YUVA Meet for environmental awareness.

Chinmaya Dunster currently resides in Goa (India) with his parnter Naveena Goffer and their daughter Koyal Goffer-Dunster.

External links