indian classical

Hariprasad Chaurasia (b. 1st July 1938) is known internationally as the greatest living master of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is among the small but growing number of classicists who have made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music. He is probably the most accessible Hindustani musician, and has done much to popularise the bansuri and classical music.

Anoushka Shankar (अनुष्का शंकर), b. June 9, 1981, is a sitar player and composer from India. She is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player, and Sukanya Shankar. She began playing sitar under her fathers guidance at the age of nine and blossomed into a wonderful musician. She is becoming increasingly known for not only her recital work but for her own classical Indian compositions. When Anoushka was eight years old, her father began training her in the sitar. She gave a public performance at the age of thirteen; since then she has become a world famous sitar artist.

Kala Ramnath is an Indian violinist, spcialising in Northi Indian classical music. Kala lives in Mumbai, but was born and raised in Madras, in a musical family that excels in North Indian as well as in South Indian clasical music, and that has produced another three world-famous violinists: her guru and aunt N. Rajam, her uncle T.N. Krishnan, and her cousin Sangeeta Shankar. From the beginning Kala played a full-sized violin; her first was given to her by her grandfather when she was two years old.

Ustad Rashid Khan (b. Badayun 1966-07-01) is an Indian classical musician in the North Indian Hindustani music tradition. He belongs to the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana, and is the great grandson of Gharana founder Ustad Inayat Hussain. In a story told in several versions, it appears that Pandit Bhimsen Joshi said at one point, that Rashid Khan was the "assurance for the future of Indian vocal music". He was awarded the Padma Shri, as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2006.
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