Keshav (musician)


Keshava Kaarthikeyan is an Indian tabla player. He is a prodigy and performed at the age of seven at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Early life

Keshava Kaarthikeyan was born in Chennai, India, the son of an artist, Gopika Dahanukar, and a film maker, Kaarthikeyan Kirubhakaran. He is the grandson of painter, Prafulla Dahanukar. He started learning tabla when he was two years old.

Career

Keshava was spotted by Bharat Bala at an event, while he was conceiving Rhythms of India, the first Part of the Delhi Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in 2010. Since then he has performed extensively with his mother Gopika and raga guitarist and learnt from Amit Kavtekar a student of Ustad Allarakha. Keshava was also enrolled in the Pandit Shankar Ghosh Academy online and has also taken classes with Pt. Arup Chattopadhay and masterclasses with Ustad Zakir Hussain. Currently he is studying with Ray Speigel from the Punjab Gharana and a long time student of Ustad Allarakha.