Baluji Shrivastav (born 21 June 1959) is one of the great instrumentalists India has produced excelling in sitar, surbahar (bass sitar), dilruba, pakhavaj and tabla. Amazingly he was not born into a well known musical dynasty and was not guided by famous gurus.

The traditional guru-shishya (master-disciple) system of passing on knowledge assumes that the shishya performs various duties and favours for the guru, a real barrier for a blind person.

Apart from his initial instruction at blind school Baluji is mainly self taught and his success has been due to a combination of natural talent, hard work and determination. His quest for knowledge has dispelled many of the myths that surround the process of mastering Indian classical music. His command of both rhythm and melody enriches the scope of his improvisations. As a result Baluji is less constrained by convention in his and remains fresh and spontaneous in his attitude to performing and teaching. He loves to communicate with audiences, his aim is for them to have an uplifting experience and to keep a smile with them!

(Source: http://www.baluji.com/indian_classical.html )

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