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Chinmaya Dunster

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Chinmaya Dunster
Background information
Born1954 (age 69–70)
Kent, England
GenresCeltic and Hindustani music
InstrumentSarod
Websitehttp://www.chinmaya-dunster.com/chinmaya-dunster.php

Chinmaya Dunster (born 1954 in Kent, England) is a sarod player whose compositions incorporate elements of Celtic and Hindustani music. He is an active environmentalist and performs concerts to foster awareness for saving ecosystems and wildlife. Dunster has released over twenty CDs over the past quarter century.

Biography

Born in 1954 in Kent, England, Dunster[1] (né Stephen Dunster) attended Art college in Canterbury and pursued an independent study of classical guitar and composition throughout his adolescence and early twenties.[2]

After finishing his formal education in the late seventies, Dunster left Europe and travelled through Afghanistan into northern India, 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. In the north Indian city of New Delhi, he attended an all-night performance of the sarod master, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and subsequently spent the next thirteen years engaged in the study of the sarod both in London and India.[2]

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.[2]

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. In 1983 in London he became a disciple of Ustad Gurdev Singh[3] (leading disciple of Ustad Amjad ali Khan). After moving to Pune, India, in 1989, he studied for a further six years with Pandit Shekhar Borkar,[2] a mainly self-taught sarod master.

In 1990, Dunster founded the east-west fusion band with Prem Joshua, Terra Incognita and released two albums under that name through New Earth Records.[1] After several solo projects, Dunster then founded the Celtic Ragas Band, whose self-titled 2001 release attracted the favour of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney, who then invited Dunster to perform at his 2002 wedding to Heather Mills in Ireland.[2][4]

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.[1][5] 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, has been shown at numerous international film festivals, and aims to spread awareness of the state of India’s environment: www.chinmaya-dunster.com/concert-environment-2.php[6]

In February 2010, Chinmaya Dunster formed the Green Ragas Band, playing at British Council, New Delhi (India) during the TERI YUVA Meet for environmental awareness,[4] and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Video of these concerts blended with information about climate change, threats to biodiversity and the difficulties faced by the rural poor in India found here: www.chinmaya-dunster.com/concert-environment-2.php[6]

Chinmaya Dunster currently resides in Auckland (New Zealand)[1] with his partner Naveena Goffer and their daughter Koyal Goffer-Dunster.[2] His current musical direction is to develop songs based on expanded consciousness, such as his new single release 'At the Edge', and to expand opportunities for talented local musicians of Auckland to perform at the ‘Auckland Mehfil’ (currently 2016 in its tenth edition).

Discography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Chinmaya Dunster". Visionary music to enhance wellbeing. Santa Fe, NM: New Earth Records. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Dunster, Chinmaya. "Bio of Chinmaya Dunster ~ musician, composer, sarod player". Chinmaya Dunster ~ music and films. punyaweb.net. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  3. ^ Singh, Ustad Gurdev. "Biography of Ustad Gurdev Singh ~ musician, vocalist, Dilruba and Sarod player". Ustad Gurdev Singh. gurdevsingh.com. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  4. ^ a b Mosca, Michel (15 January 2010). "Music and Film for India's Environment – Chinmaya Dunster". Switzerland: cleanteam's net work. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Chinmaya Dunster: Making the film Concert For India's Environment". Osho RebelliousSpirit.com. Retrieved 5 February 2011. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
  6. ^ a b Dunster, Chinmaya. "Concert for India's Environment DVD ~ Free music video download". Chinmaya Dunster ~ music and films. punyaweb.net. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
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