Abhiman Kaushal, assistant adjunct professor in UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology and a tabla player, was featured on White Sun’s Grammy award-winning album “White Sun II,” honored last month.
Kaushal is a highly regarded tabla artist, sought after for his sensitive accompaniment and intense solo playing. Tabla, an important hand-percussion instrument in classical Hindustani music, has become a rhythmic staple in music influenced by Indian ragas and South Asian traditional music.
Accompanying leading musicians, singers and dancers of North Indian classical music, Kaushal has performed in prestigious music venues around the world. He has numerous recordings providing tabla for classical and contemporary performers and composers, such as Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass. He has recorded a soundtrack for National Geographic’s “Man Eaters of North India” and was recently the featured solo musician for the electronic dance drama “Ramayana 2k3,” which received rave reviews in Los Angeles and New York City.
Los Angeles-based White Sun is known for its interpretations of yogic mantras, the songs of yogis sung with penetrating vibratory musicality that enhance consciousness and awareness while delighting the senses. White Sun’s music emphasizes the healing vibrations of mantra.
Originally posted on Newsroom UCLA.