Parminder Singh Bhamra - pakhavaj (India / Italy)
Parminder Singh Bhamra is a world-class musician specialising in the Amritsari Baaj style. This style belongs to the oldest school of Indian percussion instrument , the pakhawaj .
Parminder is an impressive solo pakhawaj performer and a talented accompanist. His performances at festivals and concerts in various countries have earned him the highest praise from music critics.
In his career, he has had the privilege of performing with renowned dhrupad musicians such as Pandit Asit Banerjee (rudra vyna), Pandit Ritwik Sanyal (vocals) and Talvandi tradition representatives Ustad Labrez Khan and Ali Hafiz Khan (vocals), and has also accompanied his teacher Bhai Baldeep Singh in various performances.
Parminder Bhamra was born in Kapurthala, in the North-West region of Punjab, where he inherited the talent and knowledge of his grandfather, the instrument maker and musician Gyani Harbhajan Singh Mistri (1920-2005). Gyani Harbhajan Singh was instrumental in reviving several extinct instruments of the Sikh tradition such as the taus, dilruba, saranda and dhrupadi rabab.
Parminder started his training in 2003 when Gyani Harbhajan Singh asked him to take Parminder as a student of Bhai Baldeep Singh, who is the head of the oldest living percussion tradition in India and the 13th generation of the Gurbani Kirtan tradition. After being accepted as an apprentice, Parminder became fully immersed in the teaching of the art of pakhawaj and yori (jori) . He also had the rare privilege of studying under eminent masters such as Pandit Panna Lal Upadhyaya, Pandit Ravi Shankar Upadhyay and Pandit Mohan Shyam Sharma.