The art and playing of Mridang/Pakhawaj/Mardala - the double-sided North Indian drum - is my love, my joy, my passion, my spiritual practice, my grounding, my sanity-medicine, my friend and ally.
I am the musician, Phil Hollenbeck.
I have been a student of the art for 45 years. I live in USA, my teachers are in India, and that reality has shaped my development and progress, and is one of the reasons I remain a lifetime student of the art and its performance practice.

I am creating this page and site for the following purposes:

~To make a dedicated place for other North Indian musicians and dancers, as well as students and artists of other traditions, to view my background, to easily contact me for collaboration, or for assistance and instruction in the way of guru-shishya parampara
~To provide information on the art and practice, and on the gharana traditions and gurus under whom I have trained
~To honor and celebrate the pakhawaj and mardala traditions by providing information on, and linking to, some of the great contemporary players of these instruments
~To feature various recordings and videos of pakhawaj/mardala masters, and make available links to rare old samples of masters of past generations
~To be an online place open to contributions of any kind from other pakhawajis, artists, rasikas, and collectors - including comments, dialogue, and suggestions


Bio and Resumé

My pakhawaj studies began in 1969, at age 22, under Mahant Pt. Amarnath Mishra of Sankat Mochan Mandir, Varanasi.
I have lived for extended periods in India on five occasions over the years, and have received training under 6 renowned master drummers of the North Indian tradition. A substantial amount of training also was undertaken in USA. While in India I received Dhrupad accompaniment training from Dagar family of vocalists.
In 1997, at age 50, I began formal training in the Odissi style tradition of Mardala, and have received teachings from 3 master drummers of Odisha.

At present I am working actively in both the North Indian and Odissi styles, notably with Kathak dance and Odissi dance, as well as Dhrupad and instrumental music, including fusion projects.

Based in New Mexico, USA, I am available for travel nationally and internationally. Please see Contact page.

I also offer teaching in person or online through Skype (technique and composition) in either style to any interested persons. 


RESUME:  [Downloadable Here]


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