Chinmaya Dunster

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Chinmaya Dunster is an English-born Sarod player whose compositions utilize elements of Celtic and Hindustani music.

Born in 1954 in Kent, England in Chinmaya Dunster (né Stephen Dunster) attended the Kent Institute of Art and Design and pursued the independent study of classical guitar and composition throughout his adolescence and early twenties.

After finishing his formal education in the late seventies, Dunster left europe, traveling through Afghanistan into northern India, where he became acquainted with classical Indian music and instrumentation. In 1979, in the north Indian city of New Delhi, he attended an all-night performance of the young sarod master, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and consequently spent the next thirteen years engaged in the study of the sarod both in London and India.

As Hindustani musical tradition dictates[1] that knowledge of technique and tradition is generally handed down through from father to son, Dunster was initially challenged to find a teacher. Eventually he was to find a teacher in Pune, India, with Shekhar Borkar, a self-taught sarod player who had achieved the status of guru. [2]

In 1990, Dunster founded the east-west fusion band with Prem Joshua, Terra Incognita and released two albums under that name through New Earth Records. After several solo projects, Dunster then founded the Celtic Ragas Band, whose self-titled 2001 release (New Earth Records), attracted the favor of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney, who then invited Dunster to perform at his 2002 wedding to Heather Mills in Ireland.

Dunster currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand.

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