Born in 1937 in Jodhpur, India, Brij Bhushan Kabra was one of the first Indian artists to play Indian classical music in a steel guitar. Brij had modified an archtop guitar by adding some drone and sympathetic strings to it. He had also raised the guitar bridge and modified the stem to hold more strings.
Brij Bhushan Kabra is considered as one of the best exemplar for the Indian classical steel guitar. Brij became popular in the 1960’s through his two albums, “Call of the Wall” and “Two Raga Moods”. The two albums brought him an international audience. Call of the Valley, an album performed with Shivkumar Sharma a Santoor player and Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia is about a day in the life of a Kashmiri shepherd.
One of the most notable students of Brij Bhushan Kabra was Debashish Bhattacharya who met the Indian classical steel guitar legend in 1984. Debashish first heard Brij playing in All India Radio in 1983 and was attracted to his tranquil and devotional style of playing.
Brij Bhushan Kabra has traveled the world popularizing Indian classical music. Regarded as a visionary, innovator and traditionalist, Brij was the key to transformation of the Hawaiian guitar into a Indian classical guitar.