Ashwin Kumar Batish Hindi: अश्विन कुमार बातिश (born 1 January 1951 in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) is an Indian

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

and

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

player.

Childhood and Training

Ashwin's mother, Shanta Devi Batish, was an

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

artist and started Ashwin on the dholak drum around the age of seven and on the sitar around the age of 12. His father had bought him an inexpensive guitar and Ashwin learned to play chords, especially ones to popular Western songs that he liked to sing. He was a great fan of the

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, Cliff Richards,

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and other pop singers of the 1950s era. He started learning music from his father, S D Batish, in England at around age 14, including compositions in various

raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

s. His father would often sing and have Ashwin copy the musical phrases. The cold English weather meant that there was only one warm room in the house where all his family would gather. To Ashwin's advantage and delight, his father would always give his playing the preference, much to the dismay of his brothers and sisters.

Career

Ashwin moved to the United States in 1973. For the next 15 years he spent a majority of his time performing nightly with his father at their family restaurant and music club 'Batish India House.' Although his training has been in North Indian classical music, Ashwin Batish has been equally at home with Western music often performing with jazz and rock musicians. His 1980s fling with fusion music he self-titled ''Sitar Power'' was instrumental in garnering him serious airplay including a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Shanachie Records Shanachie Records is an American, New Jersey–based record label, founded in 1975 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. The label is named for the Gaelic word '' seanchaí'' (anglicised as shanachie), an Irish storyteller. It was previously distr ...

of New Jersey. After a few years under the Shanachie umbrella, Ashwin formed his own record label, Batish Records, to publish all his family's works.

Musical Collaborations

Ashwin has worked with numerous artists including Zakir Hussain,

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California, in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk, folk, alternative, country, and world music, among other ge ...

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Tony Trischka Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2020: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...

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, Myron Dove,

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Arthur Hull,

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, Diana Rowan, Johnny Griparic, Ant Glynne (Asia Band), Vanessa Vo,

Brian Viglione Brian Viglione (born May 16, 1979, in Greenville, New Hampshire) is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. For a short time, he was also a member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra The World/ ...

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. Richie "Gajate" Garcia,

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Teaching

Currently, Ashwin is teaching tabla at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "The tabla is a big focus, but the class features several other Indian percussive instruments, including the dholak, the mridangam and Manjira.
Watch a featured video of Ashwin performing with his class at the UCSC Recital Hall
He also teaches Indian music courses at his own music school in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

called the Batish Institute of Indian Music and Fine Arts. Ashwin publishes an online educational magazine called RagaNet, which gives lessons on instruments, history of Indian music and other articles on Indian musical instruments. Since his father's death in 2006, "Ashwin has devoted himself to publishing his father’s compositions–approximately 3000 on the Hindustani music system and 2500 on the Carnatic system–with the goal of making them fully available online.

Shiv Dayal Batish Shiv Dayal Batish (better known as S.D. Batish; 14 December 1914 – 29 July 2006.) was an Indian singer and music director born in Patiala, India. He had a very successful career in the Indian music industry starting from the early days in La ...

composed many "Raga Lakshan Geet" introductory songs on North Indian ragas with both English and Sanskrit lyrics. Ashwin intends to publish these in an easily accessible text and audio format."

Discography

* Sitar Power 1 - Fusion of Rock and Indian Music. Ashwin Batish on sitar, tabla, synths, drum programming, vocals. David Harnish on guitar and bass. Ravi Batish on vocals in Indian Beat. Original Batish Records (1986) *# Bombay Boogie (9:15) *# Casbah Shuffle (4:14) *# Raga Rock (4:50) *# Sitharmony (4:30) *# New Delhi Vice (8:08) *# India Beat (5:28) *# Sitar Magic ( 9:03) * Sitar Power 2 - Fusion of Rock and Indian Music. Ashwin Batish on sitar, tabla, guitar, bass, synths, sequencing, vocals. David Harnish on guitar and bass. Original Batish Records (1994) *# Sitar Mania (4:19) *# Hi 5 (3:25) *# Cowboys and Indians (3:52) *# Cerebral (9:23) *# Surfing With The Sitarman (4:54) *# Misty (6:23) *# Tropicool (5:10) *# A Tabla For Two (4:10) * Lies by

: Plays Sitar, Track 17. " Add It Up (1981–1993)" is a compilation album released by the

in 1993 * Lost in Space - Ashwin Batish on Sitar and Steve Masters on vocals, Single released by Tripindicalar Records (1990) * Morning Mediation on Sitar by Ashwin Batish. S. D. Batish on tabla, released by Batish Records (1980) *# Raga Pahadi - Alaap (13:05) *# Raga Pahadi - Gat composition in Deepchandi Tal (11:25) *# Raga Vibhas - Alaap and Gat composition in Ektal (16:02) *# Raga Todi - Alaap and Gat composition in Tintal (16:32) * Jazz Is Where Is Ashwin Batish Digital Single. New Release under Batish Records Label. Year 2016. Ashwin Batish on sitar, Keshav Batish on drum set and Myron Dove on Bass * God of the Sun by

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. Played sitar and Indian percussion on title track of album Psychotic Symphony. Composed by

* Die Kobra by Derek Sherinian. Album Vortex. 2022 Release. Label: Inside Out Music – IOM639, Inside Out Music – 19658707362

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batish, Ashwin 1951 births Living people Indian sitar players Musicians from Santa Cruz, California Tabla players