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{{Use Indian English|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Brij Bhushan Kabra
| image = Brij Bhushan Kabra 20.JPG
| alt =
| caption = In concert at Delhi
| birth_date = 1937
| birth_place = [[Jodhpur]], [[Jodhpur State]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = 12 April 2018 (aged 81)
| death_place = [[Ahmedabad]], Gujarat, India
| instrument = [[lap slide guitar]]
| genre = [[Hindustani classical music]]
| years_active =
| label =
| past_member_of = [[Debashish Bhattacharya]]<ref name=Globe>{{cite news|last=Gilbert|first=Andrew|title=Sliding between cultures, instruments|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=2008-04-06 |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/04/06/sliding_between_cultures_instruments/ |access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|http://www.brijbhushankabra.com}}
}}
'''Brij Bhushan Kabra''' (1937 – 12 April 2018) was an Indian musician who popularized the guitar as an instrument in [[Indian classical music]].<ref name=Globe />

Kabra was born in 1937 to Goverdhanlal Kabra in [[Jodhpur]] where he spent his youth.<ref name=AMG>{{cite web|last=Hunt |first=Ken |title=Brij Bhushan Kabra – Biography|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|url={{AllMusic |class=artist|id=p31896 |pure_url=yes}}|access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref><ref name=midday>{{cite news|title=Indian classical music on the guitar|newspaper=[[MiD DAY]]|date=2002-10-26|url=http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2002/oct/34757.htm|access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref> He was interested in sports and listened to Indian classical music but did not intend to become a musician and trained as a geologist.<ref name=midday /> During a visit to [[Kolkata]] he discovered the Hawaiian [[lap slide guitar]] and convinced his father to let him learn it by promising to only play classical music.<ref name=midday /> Kabra then lived in [[Ahmedabad]], Gujarat, learnt the instrument by imitating records, and later studied under [[Ali Akbar Khan]].<ref name=midday /> He modified the guitar by adding [[Sympathetic string|sympathetic]] and drone strings.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Slawek |first=Stephen |editor=Arnold, Alison |encyclopedia=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent |title=Hindustani Instrumental Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=RA2-PA207 |year=2000 |publisher=[[Taylor and Francis]] |volume=5 |isbn=0-8240-4946-2 |page=207}}</ref>

Kabra became the first Indian musician to play ''[[raga]]'' on the guitar, performed publicly, and recorded the successful album ''[[Call of the Valley]]'' (1967) with ''[[bansuri]]'' player [[Hariprasad Chaurasia]] and ''[[santoor]]'' player [[Shivkumar Sharma]].<ref name=midday /><ref>{{cite news|last=Das|first=Arka|title=The rite of strings|newspaper=The Telegraph|location=India|date=2008-12-15 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081215/jsp/entertainment/story_10250943.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023132219/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081215/jsp/entertainment/story_10250943.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2012|access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref> The guitar was seldom used in Indian classical music, and his guitar playing gained popularity in the 1970s [[hippie]] culture.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shukla|first=Vandana|title=Fine guitar recital|newspaper=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|date=1999-01-31 |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99feb01/chd.htm|access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref> Kabra recorded solo albums and concentrated on teaching since the 1990s but continued to perform.<ref name=AMG /><ref name=midday />

He was awarded the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1983–84, was made a fellow of the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi for 1995–96, and received the national [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] for 2005.<ref>{{cite web |title=Awardees |publisher=Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi |url=http://sangeetnatakakademi.org/awardees.html |access-date=3 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522010310/http://sangeetnatakakademi.org/awardees.html |archive-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=SNA: List of Akademi Awardees – Instrumental – Guitar|publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]]|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm#InstrumentalGuitar|access-date=3 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417012651/http://www.sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/awardeeslist.htm|archive-date=17 April 2010}}</ref>

Kabra died on 12 April 2018 in Ahmedabad at age 81.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/sliding-guitar-gently-weeps/articleshow/63738293.cms |title=Sliding guitar gently weeps |last=Somasundaram |first=Kannan |agency=TNN |date=13 April 2018 |website=The Times of India |publisher=The Times Group |access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p31896|label=Brij Bhushan Kabra}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabra, Brij Bhushan}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Hindustani instrumentalists]]
[[Category:Rajasthani people]]
[[Category:Musicians from Jodhpur]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Indian slide guitar players]]
[[Category:Indian world music musicians]]

Brij Bhushan Kabra - Revision history

Budhu at 15:56, 1 November 2025