Kris Chetan Ramlu

Kris Chetan Ramlu (Hindi: चेतन रामलु, Telugu: చేతన రంలు ), is a New Zealand musician, sometimes known by the stage name Cheats. Though his main instrument is the tabla (a pair of tuned hand drums from India), Chetan plays many other percussion instruments. His biggest musical influence is Ustad Zakir Hussain, a virtuoso percussionist whose name is synonymous with the tabla. Chetan plays Vhatkar Tabla and Meinl Percussion.

Career

Chetan started playing the tabla at the age of 10 and was trained by Dr. Tarlochan Singh (Independent), Muhammad Sardar Khan (Pandit Vithal Rao) and Shantanu Kinjawadekar (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy). He has also trained in the art of Indian classical singing with Sumeet Tappoo and briefly with Pandit Vithal Rao (Hyderabad)..

More recently, Chetan has worked with many western and Indian artists, including Vaishali Samant, Bollywood playback singer (Lagaan, Saathiya) and MTV Asia Award nominated pop artist; with Rhian Sheehan, a Wellington electronica artist whose debut album Paradigm Shift (2001) was named New Zealand album of the year by music critic Colin Morris; and with Raashi Malik from the Wellington super-dub band Rhombus.