Bio

I was born in 1954, in Kent, England, an area then accurately described as the ‘Garden of England’. Around our 400-year old farmhouse was a patchwork of hop gardens, apple orchards, wheat fields, woods and streams – a playground in which I could disappear for hours without my parents having any idea of where I was. (To dispel any notions that it was a true paradise, let me point out that this was rural Britain in the 50s and 60s – a repressed, depressed and tradition-bound culture that made being a rebellious Scorpio teenager a tough job!). More here

my first guitar in 1970

1970 was a turning point for me. I smoked my first whiffs of euphoria, hitchhiked to see Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival, and acquired my first guitar (a nylon string).

Over the next years of school and Art College, I mixed my love of painting with learning classical guitar and trying to copy the sound of my favourite folk musicians ‘Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and Planxty’. (The sound of my favourite progressive bands – Pink Floyd and Genesis was altogether beyond my abilities!).

India was always calling in those years, and in 1975 I took myself off on the hippy trail through Turkey and Afghanistan. Holed up in the mountains of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province surviving on fellow travellers generosity for months, having lost all my money, I got my first taste of the gentle rhythms of the East, where acceptance of whatever comes is more important than pushing your own goals. I also became a vegetarian (I have not lapsed) and started yoga. More here

my first sarod in 1986

It was my next trip East in 1979 that proved the decisive turning point in my life. At an all night concert in Delhi, I saw Ustad Amjad Ali Khan playing sarod and instantly fell in love with the instrument. On the same trip I fell in love with my first Osho sannyasin and started out on my journey with the infamous ‘Bhagwan’. More here

Returning to London, it took me four years before a sarod teacher appeared on the scene. Gurdev Singh (by chance Amjad’s leading disciple) found me an instrument and taught me over the next years.

Right from the start I seemed, mysteriously, to have some feel for Indian Classical music. I remember at Gurdev’s house, his fellow musicians sometimes putting their heads round the door to the back room where I was practising and saying, “Wah, I thought it must be an Indian playing not a gora (white man)!”

In 1988 I moved to the Osho Commune (now Osho Meditation Resort) in Pune, and studied sarod under Pandit Shekhar Borkar. I also began performing with some of the Commune musicians, people of diverse musical backgrounds blending Indian with Western music in the presence of Osho.

with Gopal and Lolita in Pune in 1988

Two years later I recorded my first CD ‘Terra Incognita’ with some of them (including Prem Joshua and Ravi, both now well-known artists – photo below).

‘Tribal Gathering’ was released on Tao Music (today called New Earth Records) but is now only available as a rare CD.

with Ravi and Prem Joshua in 1991

During the 90s I lived in Munich, Amsterdam and Maui, Hawaii, returning each year to Pune for a few months.

with Karunesh and Shastro in Maui in 1997

I made a series of CDs for Nightingale Records in Germany and then rejoined New Earth Records in 1997 for ‘Celtic Ragas’ (with Vidroha Jamie), a CD that was later to bring me as close to fame as I am ever likely to get, when Paul McCartney fell in love with the CD and invited me to perform at his wedding in Ireland in 2002.

Chinmaya and his Celtic Ragas Band at McCartney’s wedding, Ireland 2002

I formed the Celtic Ragas Band especially for the occasion. We assembled from all over the world for rehearsals in Wales and then flew off to our mystery destination (Paul’s people had kept all details secret and only instructed us to be at Manchester airport at a certain time!). He was very welcoming, danced along with us as we played and was kind enough to write afterwards a few words about us to use as a quote:

“I love the unique blend of Irish and Indian style music of Celtic Ragas. It has become one of my favourites.”
Paul McCartney

Read the full story here

Kirtan Band in Pune in 2000

I now have nine CDs released on New Earth Records and a further three on Malimba Records. On each of them I have been joined by wonderful musicians to explore the crossover points between Indian classical music and various Western music traditions.

Live in Devon, England 2019 https://youtu.be/LQM8ded1we4

I see myself as an explorer of this musical territory. I also just enjoy creating with my friends!

Celtic Ragas Band in concert

The Celtic Ragas Band has given a series of multimedia ‘Concert for India’s Environment’ in India over the past few years. These aim to raise awareness about the many difficulties facing the natural and human environment in India because of unrestrained ‘development’. These have also turned me into a filmmaker with my films ‘Concert for India’s Environment’, the ‘Smiles From Off the Road’ series and ‘Green Ragas’.

with fellow musicans Gopal, Karunesh and Bindhu
with Shastro, Zeuben, Palash and Naveena in Goa

I spent many satisfying days deep in the Indian wilderness collecting wildlife footage for these, and travelled to some remote places for interviews and shots of the people who live around and depend on the wilderness.

Filming in Redi Fort Maharashtra with Naveena
In my studio 2001

After four years of living in Auckland, New Zealand (while my Israeli partner Naveena trained as a midwife) I moved to Goa in August 2007, where my daughter, Koyal, was born in 2009.

Tambi Surla Temple in Goa in 2008
with Naveena and Koyal 2010

The following six years saw my development as a wildlife filmmaker (Birds of Goa, Kumaon etc), the creation of the multimedia environmental awareness band â€˜Green Ragas’(performances at Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2010, Earth Day etc) and my initiation of the â€˜Assagao Mehfil’, a performance space in Goa (now, 2019, in its 50th edition!).

In 2014 we returned to live in Auckland, where organic gardening, bee-keeping and exploring living off grid became my focus.

With Koyal in our garden in new Zealand 2016
Living in our 1968 Bedford bus in Titirangi, 2018
‘The Grateful Dads’, my Auckland band formed with fellow-parents at Koyal’s Titirangi Steiner School.

In December 2018 we left New Zealand for UK. It is the first time in thirty years that I have called UK home.