Biography

Bihar Brothers is a professional singing duo based out of Bijnor, Bihar. Manish Kumar and Sanjeev Jha perform dhrupad vocals in jugalbandi. They are trained in the Dagar Gayaki of Dhrupad by Ramakant Gundecha and Padmashri Umakant. The duo is the first dhrupad vocalists from the state to perform the Dagar style of dhrupad. Sanjeev Jha has had the honour of being the first male dhrupad singer to be trained at the Dhrupad Sansthan (Gurukul) by world renowned dhrupad singers, Padmashri Gundecha Brothers (Shri Ramakant Gundecha and Shri Umakant Gundecha) of Bhopal, under the Guru Shishya Parampara. Since 2007, he has been under their able guidance and has been performing with them at many reputed platforms throughout the country and abroad. He received his initial training from Ustad Habeeb Khan from 1994 to 1996 and Pandit Arun Bhaduri from 1996 to 1998. Manish Kumar is an accomplished dhrupad (Hindustani Classical Music) vocalist. He started his basic training at the age of 15 at Samastipur. Later, he came to Varanasi and joined the Faculty of Performing Arts, BHU for his diploma in vocal (Hindustani Classical) music. Dr Vijay Kapoor from Varanasi is his first guru. Later, he came to Bhopal and joined the dhrupad sansthan. He learnt the art of drupad singing under the Guru-Shishya Parampara from Padmashri Gundecha Brothers for more than eight years and has completed his dhrupad singing course. He still continues to learn from the Gundecha Brothers in Bhopal.