Born in a family of musicians, tabla came naturally to Mr Pandey. However, he was moulded to sharpen his talent through intense training given by his father Pt Arjun Dev and by dada guru (grandfather) Pt Bhagwat Singh of Ajrara, Delhi and Banaras gharanas. Mr Pandey has played with eminent artists like Nikhil Banerjee, Ustad Sujjat Hussein Khan, Ram Narayan, Amjad Ali Khan, Raiyas Khan, Girija Devi, Pandit Jasraj, Bhajan Sopore and others. "Playing with a diverse group has helped me specialise in different fields," says Mr Pandey.

He says Ajrara is the purest and the toughest gharana. He adopted the style of Ajrara, Banaras, Farukhabad and Delhi gharanas and made his own style. "My specialisation lies in harmonising the various gharanas." But he says that he has always given prime importance to his own style rather than being guided by either gharanas or by the way the main artist is playing.

And substantiating this, are three gold medals and other honours that he was awarded for outstanding performance. Amongst other laurels Mr Pandey has been awarded fellowship by the ministry of HRD for contributing to the cultural heritage of the country. He has also received the coveted `Tal Mani' and `Tal Ratan' by Sur Shringar Samsad, Bombay and Sur Mandir, Patna. Mr Pandey has been playing for both Doordarshan and All India Radio and SPIC-MACAY programmes since last ten years.

After doing his BA (Hons) in Sanskrit, Mr Pandey cleared the state level written test for sales and excise officers. But knowing that both his roots and future lay in the tabla, he decided to pursue music as a career. "I realised that at the end of the day it is tabla which will give me internal satisfaction and success for which I moved to Delhi in 1992," says Mr Pandey. And to further, what according to him, is his profession and vocation, he has toured countries like Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia, France, London and Gulf countries. He played in these countries both as an accompanist and as a soloist.

According to Mr Pandey, it is the combination of right (dayan) and left (bayan) that makes a tabla maestro distinct from others. "Very few players can combine the two skillfully and in earlier days most maestros mostly used the right," says Sudhir. And Sudhir has learnt the right trick of using both simultaneously. Being a part of both Benaras and Ajrara gharanas helped him develop this skill. "Both Benaras and Ajrara are known for the use of left (bayan) but the treatment is different in Ajrara gharana.

Mr Pandey has also done extensive research study on the intricacies of keeping the audience's interest intact and break the monotony of being an accompanist. "If I don't strike a good conversation between the right and left both the maestro with whom I am playing and the audience will lose interest," he says. After combining the richness of various gharanas, Mr Pandey has come out with his own style which extensively uses alaap, mir, gaseet and other forms.

And that probably is the reason that makes Mr Pandey popular with great artists excelling in different fields.