MSU to welcome tabla virtuoso Sandip Burman

Contact: Sammy McDavid

A veteran Indian drummer who has performed with musicians from fellow countryman and master sitarist Ravi Shankar to improvisational jazz group leader Bela Fleck will be featured Monday [April 22] in a free Mississippi State University concert.

Sandip Burman demonstrates his range of talent and creativity on the tabla in a solo recital to begin at 4 p.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of Giles Hall.

A small pair of drums tuned to different pitches, the tabla often is used to provide background theme music for movies set in India or the South Asian subcontinent. Burman, who was born near Calcutta, has performed on the percussive instrument since age 6.

Burman's Mississippi State appearance is made possible through the university's Lois C. Kaufman Endowment for Music Education, which supports activities associated with music of world cultures.

Most recently, he has toured with Fleck, leader of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and is among the artists featured on the group's new Grammy Award-winning album, "Outbound."