Biography
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Early Years:
Kalyan Pathak was born in Ahmedabad, India. At the age of three Kalyan discovered his father’s Dholak (a two sided drum), which his father used for accompanying himself while singing devotional songs at community gatherings. To the surprise of his father and everyone in the family, at that age, Kalyan had taught himself some basic technique and rhythms to play on the dholak. Kalyan, who barely had learnt to speak, was encouraged to accompany his father and other singers and instrumentalists during the social gatherings as a designated drummer; a role that deeply rooted Kalyan's association with rhythms and music as a personal self-expression.
Kalyan’s formal training in tabla started at age 9 with Ustad Kadar Khan and his renowned father Ustad Rehman Khan, and went on until he was fifteen years of age. This was an intense study in speaking rhythms, hand and finger technique for Delhi and Ajrada style tabla, intricate rhythmic cycles and traditional compositions. Kalyan learnt to accompany and perform solo repertoire in the North Indian Classical style.
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At the age of 13 he was the youngest ever first prize winner of a state level music competition for young musicians (age group 13 to 19) |
Around the same time Kalyan was teaching himself to play Bongos and Drumset in different western musical styles. While growing up Kalyan listened to all types of records in his family collection. This eclectic collection not only included Indian Classical music from North and South India, but also music of Bach, Beethoven, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and many others; it was no surprise that Kalyan wanted to study Western music.
Career in India:
Kalyan moved to Bombay in the mid eighties to study drumset, jazz and fusion music from
India’s most prominent drummer/composer Ranjit Barot. Kalyan considers
his 5 years apprenticeship with Mr. Barot extremely fruitful as, from Ranjit, Kalyan learnt all the
aspects of being a musician. It was this foundation which enabled him to progress
towards formal training in jazz and orchestral percussion.
| While studying drumset and western music from Ranjit, Kalyan, concurrently, furthered his tabla studies with Ms. Sitara Devi, a legendary Kathak dancer, who taught him nuances of tabla rhythms relating to various dance compositions |
Rock and Fusion Drummer/Percussionist:
In Bombay, Kalyan came to be recognized as a rock and fusion music drummer, and he performed with India's premier bands such as Waterfront, Crosswinds, People, Hammersmith, Bronze Axe, Mirage...performing at reputed rock shows such as Rock Mania 88, Rock Yatra 87, and touring and playing Nationwide through all the major cities of India...Delhi, Bombay, Banglore, Mangalore, Baroda, Poona etc.
| The audience capacity range was anywhere between 2000 and 15,000 for many of these concerts, highest being over 50,000 at Marine Drive, Bombay, 1990. |
Hammersmith:
The highlight of Kalyan's rock drumming was with his premier rock band Hammersmith, which originated in Kalyan's hometown, Ahmedabad, and went on to make a national presence. During 1985, the founding members of Hammersmith, Mark and Philip Haydon, along with Cedric Fernandez, combined forces with Kalyan and worked very hard for 5 years to take Hammersmith from a local cover band to original music writing band in the international scene.
In 1987, Hammersmith swept the prestigious Mood Indigo festival/rock band competition by winning 3 out of 4 awards for...
| The Best Band (Hammersmith) |
| The Best Drummer (Kalyan Pathak) |
| Best Lead Guitarist (Mark Haydon) |
By 1992, a video of their original song 'Hitting it harder' was regularly on charts of Asian MTV, placing Hammersmith among the first few bands from India to achieve such success and international presence.
Session musician in Bombay Recording Industry:
In Bombay, Kalyan also found himself extremely busy in the commercial recording circuit playing and programming drums for leading music composers such as Louis Banks, Pyarelal Sharma, Vanraj Bhatia, Ehsaan Noorani, Zubin Balaporia, Leslie Lewis, Shiv Mathur, Ronnie Desai, Annu Mallik, Sharang Dev... and many more.
| From 1989, Kalyan regularly worked as a permanent unit member of Laxmikant Pyarelal Orchestra while they were scoring music for major motion pictures such as 'Hum', 'Saudagar', 'Chalbaaz', 'Agnipath', 'Narsimha'....just to name a few |
| Kalyan also contributed on numerous albums as a session player and recorded for TV serials. Notable are: Jasmine Bharucha album in 1990, TV serials Wagle Ki Duniya, Udaan 1987-88 |
| Kalyan played over 400 jingle dates with various music directors covering the full range of music studios in Bombay |
| Kalyan appeared on numerous National TV shows as well as State TV station shows regularly performing along with Hammersmith, singer Joe Alvares's band, and with many other bands |
| Kalyan also appeared as a musician/actor playing drums for commercials airing on National TV and shown in the movie theaters all over India, for products such as Seven Up Cola, Charms Cigarettes |
Career in the US:
In Fall 1991 Kalyan came to Chicago to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, and he graduated in 1996 with honors.
While concentrating on orchestral percussion studies and jazz drumset playing at CMC, Kalyan also passionately studied African, Afro-Cuban and Latin percussion styles with various teachers around Chicago.
Since ’92, Kalyan has expanded his performing experience, playing with numerous bands in various situations. The styles he plays range from traditional jazz, rock music and jazz fusion music to Indian classical music, klezmer music and experimental music.
Leading his own group Jayho Jazzmata, Kalyan has been performing his original compositions blending jazz, blues with Indian ragas and folk influences. This band has recorded a new CD in Jan/2000, released on Zilka Records, Nov/2000.
With the band Discolour, formed by Kalyan and Tzvi Lichtenstein in order to interpret, arrange and perform original tunes, Kalyan has played numerous club dates, and also at the Hyde Park Music Festival and the International Theater festival.
Recent projects include:
| Performances with Fareed Haque Sextet since 1999-current |
| Collaboration with the Natya Dance Theater and NDT orchestra of South Indian musicians and dancers, where Kalyan composed and arranged 25 minutes of music incorporating his jazz ensemble, Oct/2000 |
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Tour of Germany and Switzerland with Willy Schwarz Intercontinental Band, Feb/2000 |
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Member of Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, World Music Festival 1999, Field Museum |
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Original music scoring for the movies ‘Two Rivers’, 1999, ‘First Stone’, 1994 |
| Orchestral percussion with the Skokie Valley Symphony 96-99 and the Evanston Symphony during their 96-97 seasons |
