Guru Bros
SANTOSH NAIDU
Is a Canadian ‘Platinum’ recording artist who has been in the music industry for over 20 years. At the tender age of 5, he embraced the study of classical tabla under the tutelage of Ritesh Das and master Pundit Swapan Chaudhuri. At the age of 14 he became a co-founding member of the Juno Nominated World Percussion group “Toronto Tabla Ensemble”. As a member of TTE, he performed all over North America at various music festivals, In 1999 he became assistant Artistic Director of TTE, a position he then held for 3 years.
Mr Naidu continued to hone his craft. With his passion for classical Indian culture he began to study other South Asian folkloric instruments, and mastered the Dholak and Dhol. After 10 years of perfecting his craft in the South Asian idiom, Santosh turned his eyes to Latin music and House music.
Santosh is now an accomplished musician in various genres, recording and writing for various artists, Base Is Base, Lal, Toronto Tabla Ensemble, I Mother Earth and The ROOTS too name just a few.
In 2001, Santosh joined Platinum and Grammy nominated recording artist K-OS as his lead percussionist and drummer and has written and performed with K-OS for the past 8 years. Santosh Naidu has been nominated for numerous awards including a Juno award and My Bindi Award.
Mr Naidu has performed with K-OS all over the world. His performances include:
The Montreal Jazz Festival; Good Vibrations In Australia; Edgefest 2007; ‘MTV Unplugged with K-OS’; David Letterman; MuchMusic; Virgin Music festival UK; Bugglepop Festival in Belgium; Coachella Music Festival; JUNO Awards; VH1 Unplugged; Warp Tour; Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Late show with Craig Fergison.
He has also performed with artists like Pundit Mukesh, Desai, CBC Radio Orchestra, Shambhu Das and Narendra Dater, Tea Party, Oasis, Nelly Furtado,The ROOTS and India Arie.
Santosh’s talents also include film, where he wrote the score for “Anamika” (2002) and added his musical talents to the Documentary film “Burning to Shine”(2006).
Santosh Naidu currently lives and works as a musician in Toronto.
GURTEJ HUNJAN
Is a multi instrumentalist, dj and electronic musician with over 20 years experience playing, recording and touring.
Gurtej received his first pair of tabla at 18 months of age and that is when his lifelong affair with music began. His formal training began at age 7 with Privinder Sarl and after four years he continued his training with Ritesh Das. Under Mr. Das’s tutelage he was given the incredible opportunity to join the critically acclaimed, Juno Award nominated, world music band – The Toronto Tabla Ensemble – founded in 1991 by Ritesh Das. As a member of TTE, Gurtej performed all over North America in the jazz and folk music festival circuit, recorded three records, and performed and collaborated with some of Canada’s most respected musicians such as George Koller, Ian DeSuza, Julie Michaels and Donald Quan- to name a few. At the same time he continued his tabla training and participated in numerous workshops with tabla master Pundit Swapan Chaudhuri.
During these years Gurtej began to explore other world music styles and instrumentation and learned how to play other percussion instruments, such as the Dhol from North India, the drum kit and the bongos from Latin America. Simultaneously, his love for “the beat” led him down a road that put him in front of the gates of the realm of electronic music. Once through he began dj’ing and experimenting with sine waves and oscillators.
In 2002 Gurtej played alongside Canadian rockers, The Tea Party, in a five city concert series across Canada.
It was at this time that Gurtej also began to compose and produce music with and for other musicians as well as film; 2002 saw his scoring debut in the Richie Mehta directed film-Anamika.
In 2003 Gurtej joined the ground breaking, Toronto based artistic collective – iDRUM. In following with its axiom of the ancient energy that is rhythm and it’s relevance in today’s world he began performing regularly at Toronto’s most prestigious nightspots, collaborating with dj’s bringing the sound of the live drum back to the dance floor.
In 2008 Gurtej auditioned and landed the part of percussionist for INDIA CIRCUS- an Indian themed circus spectacle designed by Franco Dragone (Cirque du Soleil) and moved to Germany for 6 months to tour with the show. Upon returning to Toronto Gurtej performed with Salman Ahmad (lead singer of Junoon- India’s biggest and longest lasting rock band) at Toronto’s Masala Mehendi Masti Festival.
Gurtej now lives and works as a musician composer performer and dj in Toronto.
DISCOGRAPHY:
The Toronto Tabla Ensemble – “Second Palla” (1998)
The Toronto Tabla Ensemble – “Weaving” (Naxos World- 2001)
Fire Dance
Eye and Eye (2002)
Eco Stereo (2010)
FILMS:
Anamika
Serendipity (2001)
The Love Guru (2008)