Lalit Kumar

A 53-year-old artist from Varanasi, Pandit Lalit Kumar is a professional of classical and semi folk forms of music. At the naive age of 10, he began to learn Tabla, taking inspiration from his family. He works hard to achieve mastery in his craft and pursues it with commendable passion. In his life, he has acquired the gift of music from three gurus, first his father, Shree Sundar Lal Ji, then Ram Ji Mishra, and then Padma Vibhushan Pandit Kishan Maharaj Ji. He belongs to the Banaras Gharana of classical music. He has also composed many music compositions for Bhajans. Apart from being a maestro in Tabla, he is also a teacher and tabla accompanist at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Drawing inspiration from him, his son Kumar Sarang plays Santoor and is profoundly interested in music. Lalit Ji belongs to a musical lineage, he drew inspiration from his father, and his daughter also sings. It can be, therefore, said that music resides in the soul of his family. He strongly believes that music purifies one’s soul and says that if one sings with a pure mind, then all the body parts attain pureness with its essence. For the future, he wishes to do Sangat with all the great musicians and to serve others with his knowledge of Music and Tabla. He believes that he will always be a learner as it will never be enough to attain the best of knowledge about the beautiful instrument he plays. He has performed all over India, but the Harbhaallav conference at Jalandhar is very close to his heart. Lalit Ji has also performed in countries like France, Tunisia, and Germany.

• Purvanchal
• Uttar Pradesh