Kuljit Bhamra MBE Hon DMus knows when to trust his gut. Following this instinct has led him to become a pioneer in the music industry. "I haven't even got a GCSE in music," he tells us. Instead, his mother, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra, a community singer, forced a reluctant four-year-old Kuljit to learn the Tabla. This was the beginning of something special for Kuljit, who quickly began to enjoy playing the instrument.
Once he was a bit older, he became curious as to how he could fuse the Indian instrument with Western sounds, and this is where his mission to demystify Indian music began. By following his nose, Kuljit has built an extensive and impressive repertoire:
He was awarded an MBE, an Hon DMus from Exeter University, has performed on over 2000 records, including with Ringo Starr and Shakira, and has produced and composed over 18 records, including with Bhujhangy Group, the world's longest-running Bhangra group. He has worked as a producer, performer, and composer on over 36 films, television shows, and plays, such as Bend It Like Beckham and The Ramayana, which he performed at The National Theatre in 2001.
Plus, he managed to fit in a degree in civil engineering from Middlesex University before following his heart and dedicating himself to music full-time.
Demystifying the Tabla
Armed with years of valuable experience and with the help of his degree, Kuljit wanted to break down the barriers to Indian music and, in particular, drumming.
"You don't just hear guitar in Spanish music, do you? You hear it in pop music and jazz music. But still, even to this day, the Sitar and Tabla are generally only played in Indian music." Having produced vast amounts of Bhangra music, Kuljit found a way to not only solve a problem associated with the Tabla, but also a way to easily include the instrument in other genres and have more people play it.
"Tablas are normally tuned to one pitch. If you tune a Tabla to one note, it stays in that one note for the rest of the concert... I've always dreamt of having a Tabla with a knob on it where you can change the note immediately without having to spend 15 minutes tuning it." And so, he created the world's first electronic Tabla.
After prototyping it in the Plus X Innovation workshop, he recorded a video of himself playing it, which has now amassed over six million views online.
Learning the Power of Trust
Having spent most of his life working solo, when Kuljit came to Plus X Innovation in Slough, he thought he had all the answers. "The idea of delegating something to somebody else was completely foreign to me. I thought I might as well do it myself because I can do it better myself." After entering a mentoring scheme at the hub, his mind was changed.
"My mentor, Chris Thompson, said that I needed co-founders. And I said, I don't need co-founders; I can do it all myself. And then I realised that actually, I was thinking in a very small way." He met his co-founders through the mentoring scheme and never looked back. "Last month, we were awarded an Innovate UK Smart grant. So suddenly, everything's blown out of proportion. And that wouldn't have happened had I not come here."
Learning how to trust and delegate to others has taught Kuljit a more philosophical lesson, "I always thought that I had to make a plan, and then to do it myself, and that's the way things happen. And you do need to plan." He tells us, "But at the same time, having a space where you can make prototypes and then trusting your mentor and all the messages that come to you is really the way forward - and it's about trusting that process."
"I think the biggest thing for me is allowing my time and work-mood here to dictate what I do that day, rather than being here to only do something that I had in mind before."
If you would like to learn more about how Plus X Innovation can help you to realise your vision, book a tour of one of our hubs in Slough or Brighton.
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