The Artist

Rohit Mujumdar

Rohit Mujumdar is among the established tabla players of the younger generation. Initiated into music in childhood, he took his first training under Guru Shri Babanrao Bhavsar of Jalgaon, and at the age of eleven was accepted as a disciple of the great Padma Shri Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.

He has matured into a versatile artist — a tabla soloist with many concerts to his credit, and one of the most sought‑after accompanists in Hindustani classical instrumental and vocal music. He is an ‘A’ Grade artist of All India Radio.

He has been part of his guru’s innovative concepts, Taal‑Mala and Taal‑Yatra, and has accompanied Pandit Suresh Talwalkar in many of his solo concerts — carrying the music forward, on stage and to his own students.

A dedicated teacher for over sixteen years, he gives personal training both in person and online, and has taught students across India and abroad, including as resident faculty at the New England School of Music, Massachusetts (2009–10).

Beginnings

Long before the concert stages, there was a wide‑eyed child in Jalgaon who could not be kept from rhythm. As a boy of three, Rohit Mujumdar would sit up into the small hours, lost in the voice of Pandit Prabhakar Karekar. His was a family that valued learning — his grandfather, Shri Murlidhar Mujumdar, was a respected teacher in the town.

When he asked his parents for a tabla teacher, they thought it a passing whim. He proved them wrong — drawn to a neighbour’s Kathak class by the sound of the tabla, he would stay for the whole lesson, and one day he brought the accompanist himself, Shri Babanrao Bhavsar, home and asked to be taught. So began his first training, in 1983; he gave his first All India Radio broadcast at the age of six. In 1992 he became a disciple of Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.

Through it all, his mother, Smt. Mrunalini Mujumdar, and his late father, Shri Chandrashekhar Mujumdar, were his constant support — it was their encouragement that travelled with him in 2004, as he left for his first concert tour of the United States.

Rohit Mujumdar with his first guru, Shri Babanrao Bhavsar — With his first guru, Shri Babanrao Bhavsar, in Jalgaon

Young Rohit Mujumdar with Ustad Allah Rakha — With Ustad Allah Rakha, after his tabla masterclass — 1993

Rohit Mujumdar as a child at the tabla — Where it began — at the tabla, around 1983

Rohit Mujumdar with his family, 2004 — With his mother, grandmother and late father, 2004 — before his first tour of the USA

Rohit Mujumdar in his school days — School days — with the teachers who supported his training

Parampara — the lineage

A disciple of Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar

From his first guru, Shri Babanrao Bhavsar, to the training of Padma Shri Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, his grounding reflects a lineage of clarity, discipline and depth — the values he now carries to his own students.

At the Guru Pujan of Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, 1995

With Pandit Suresh Talwalkar — Taal Mala, Pune, 2005

With Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and Sawani Talwalkar — Malhar Festival, Mumbai, 2005

The Taal Mala ensemble with Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, 2005

Tabla Sankirtan at Pandit Suresh Talwalkar’s 60th birthday — Tabla Sankirtan at his guru’s 60th birthday, Pune, 2008

“What is learned through listening and repetition is never forgotten.”