Ben Kunin, a sarod player learned his instrument with over 20 years study under the legendary Maestro Ali Akbar Khansahib at the Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) in San Rafael, CA. He taught there for many years and served as the College's Director from 2000 to 2004. He studiedtabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri beginning in 1987.
He is also a guitarist and composer who has successfully blended music from east and west with numerous recordings of original music. In 2002 a recording of solo guitar pieces was released on the Communion label. Of this Thom Jurek of All Music Guide wrote,
“Kunin plays with the transcendent freedom that all great musicians do, but channels his influences and theories into a music that is not only thoroughly accessible to anyone with the ears to listen, but so spiritually, emotionally, and archetypically sophisticated as to be in a category all by itself.”
He began training and performing with the Chitresh Das Dance Company in 2006. He performs frequently both as a soloist and as an accompanist to kathak dance. He has performed nationally and internationally with artists such as Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Ramesh Misra, and the great kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das.
