Profile

‘Breathing through the Bansuri’ is the path Sameer opted for himself at the tender age of eleven. Thus the journey began of learning Hindustani classical music playing on the Bansuri under the able and loving guidance of Pandit Veerabhadriah Hiremath, in Mysore. Sameer was fortunate and blessed to have been accepted as a disciple by the world renowned Bansuri wizard, Padma Vibhushan Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and has been under his tutelage since 2002. He was a resident student of Pandit ji, from 2004 to 2010 at the Vrindaban Gurukul, Mumbai that keeps alive to this day the ancient Guru-Shishya Parampara of the traditional Gurukul system.

Sameer was chosen by his Guruji Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, to look after his newly constructed Gurukul in Bhubaneswar, Orissa from 2010 to 2012. Here Sameer taught aspiring students and also took care of the day to day operational activities.

Sameer is an ‘A’ graded artist by the All India Radio and has performed at many prestigious places in India, China, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia, Spain, South Korea, Norway, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Sameer is an empanelled artist with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He was chosen for a scholarship during the year 1997-1998 by the music and dance academy of Karnataka. He was awarded the ‘Yuva Pratibha’ by the Directorate of Kannada and culture, Govt. of Karnataka in 2004. The Sri Guru Ganayogi Panchakshara Sangeeth Yogashram Trust, Chennai gave him the ‘Award of Excellence’ in 2004. In 2006, Nada Bramha Sangeeth Sabha of Mysore, awarded the ‘Nada Kishore’ to Sameer and he was awarded ‘Surmani’ by the Sur Singar Samsad of Mumbai in 2008. Sameer was given the ‘Dhaarini Puraskar’ from the Naada Nadi, Honnali in 2019 and in 2023, the Natya Taranga, Sagara gave him the title ‘Saamskruthika Saarathi’.

Apart from performing Solo concerts and collaborations, Sameer also composes music for light music albums, theatre productions, dance productions and documentary films.

Sameer has several internationally released Solo & World Music albums to his credit which are available on all major digital platforms.

Presently, Sameer lives in Mysore. Apart from his busy schedule of performing, he takes out time to teach a few dedicated students of Bansuri in Mysore and also teaches at Vrindaban Gurukul, Bhubaneswar as a visiting faculty.