Sanju Sahai

Sanju Sahai (also known as Vishnu Sahai), is currently one of the finest and most sought after Tabla players of his generation. Belonging to the Benares Gharana (lineage) and being the 6th generation of Tabla players in the lineage, he began playing at an early age. Being a child prodigy, and the son of the legendary Pandit Sharda Sahai Ji, he gave his first Tabla solo performance at a major festival in Benares at the tender age of 9. He gained his Bachelor of Music at the age of 13 and Master of Music at 18 years of age. A phenomenal and outstanding Tabla player, he is well known for mesmerizing and captivating his audience with his power, virtuosity and complete spontaneity.
His meteoric rise in popularity in the field of traditional Indian Classical music has led Sanju to regularly collaborate with different genres such as Jazz, Egyptian, Flamenco, Opera, Western Classical, hip hop, folk, blues music and the world of contemporary music and dance. This makes him an imaginative and sensitive musician, having an elegant and poignant style of his own.
Sanju is an international artist and performs all over the UK, India, Europe, Middle East, USA, Australasia and the far East. He has accompanied many of India's legendary musicians and dancers such as: Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia (bansuri), Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pandit Bhajan Sapori (santoor), Ustad Vilayat Khan Saheb, and many others.
In addition to his performance and touring work he regularly conducts lecture demonstrations, workshops and residencies in schools, colleges and universities. He has been a tutor at SOAS London University leading a course in Tabla for over 15 years. Sanju was also Percussion Conductor of a unique South Asian music youth orchestra (SAMYO) and regularly leads workshops with the National Youth Orchestra involving some of the brightest young musicians based in the UK.