Shwetant Kumar (born 1996) is an Indian composer, musicologist and multi-instrumentalist. He’s other things, too, but these are the ones as which he hopes to earn a living.

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Kumar is a classically trained pianist – he studied with Mumbai-based  pedagogue Marie-Fleur Simoes for three years – as well as a self-taught synthesiser programmer and fretless bassist. He has played sessions and concerts as a backing musician, scored a few short films, and written a handful of works in the Western classical tradition.

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Kumar is currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Yale University, New Haven. He has a Bachelor of Music (magna cum laude) from Berklee College of Music, Boston, where he majored in Film Scoring and Electronic Production and Design, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Mumbai. He is also a longtime student of the eminent Boston-based composer Alla Elana Cohen.

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As the archivist and biographer for the late Indian composer Vanraj Bhatia, Kumar’s remit includes organizing Bhatia's score manuscripts, digitizing tapes of his recording sessions, and ensuring that his work eventually gets copyrighted and he gets some recognition. In this fashion, Kumar hopes to attract more attention to unusual musical topics.

 

Apart from music, Kumar enjoys literature, cinema, theatre, and – above all – the company of his friends.