Matthew is currently an inspired member of the newly formed world music band based out of Asheville, NC called "Shantavaani" which translates as "Peace through Music". An eclectic group of talanted musicians that create a mystical vibe through the soulful music traditions of the world. From roots Americana, jazz, to the far off traditions of India, Ghana, and beyond. For more information about other members of the band visit Shantavaani's Myspace page.

Shantavaani (L to R): Matthew Cox, Sarah Carlisle, Aditi Sethi, & Jay Brown

An extraordinarilly sensitive and creative percussionist, Matthew's style of Tabla is melodic and expansive, drawing inspiration from his guru, Ammachi and her tabla player Anu Chechi as well as his Indian music teachers Samir Chatterjee, Kuntala Ray, and Kumar Das. In order to blend the East Indian tabla traditions with other Western and sacred music forms he has adapted a unique form of modified tabla tarang to allow for chord changes and harmonies not found in Indian music.

Matthew has had the honor of accompanying or playing with:

• Kuntala Ray, his teacher and the world's only female Indian slide guitarist from Kolkata
• Gerald Trimble, Celtic and Euro-Asian string ethno-musicologist and virtuoso 
• Ammachi's Senior Swami Dayamritaji
• Bhagavan Das, western kirtan pioneer
• Wynne Paris, guitarist, Sarod player, and kirtan leader, raga, rock fusion artist
• Wynton Marsalis, modern jazz trumpet legend
• The late Sean Layton of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
• The Carnatic Brothers, reknowned South Indian Classical vocalists
• David Newman(aka. Durga Das)
• Yungchen Lhamo, Tibetan sacred singer
• Sangita Devi, band member from 2005-2007
• and Amma Satsangs in Asheville, Atlanta, and NJ.

He was constantly singing, pecking at his grandparents piano, and tapping on anything he could from an early age and formerly began studying music on marimba and percussion at UNC-Greensboro when he was 10. His musical career has consisted of classical, jazz, electronic music under the tutelage of Dr. Bob Moog and an eventual merit scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Native American sacred singing, sound healing under the apprenticeship of Cherokee elder Ed Littlefox and the NC School of Natural Healing, and finally Indian tabla playing and raga sacred music theory under the inspiration of his guru Ammachi and his music teachers Samirji, Kuntalaji, and Kumarji.

Both his spiritual and musical pursuits have consumed his passion for bringing harmony to the world. His spiritual lifelong quest has coincided with much of his musical pursuits already mentioned. In addition, he spent three years primarily off the grid living off the land and teaching wilderness skills in the early nineties. It was during this period that his family lost their 400 acre farm, which had been in the family for over 100 years, due to the rapid growth of Greensboro, NC. It was on this farm where he took several vision quests with the pressing question of what he could do for Mother Earth. As a result, he was guided to find peace within first then try and pass it on. That finding inner peace would automatically put an end to excessive consumption and generate a healing force for the environment.

For more than 10 years he focused on Tibetan Buddhist studies including 9 months as a resident student in a Tibetan Monastery while working for Tom Brown Jr's internationally attended wilderness and tracking school in NJ. He attended four teachings with H.H. the Dalai Lama, and personally studied with Geshe Dakpa Topgyal over a two year period. While in the monastery more than ten years ago he was introduced to hatha yoga, not realizing that having one on one instruction several times a week for six months was a rare exception in the US especially as an introduction. It took him awhile to later adjust to yoga "classes" but he eventually participated in two yoga teacher trainings and discovered kirtan along the way.

Although he began his studies as a percussionist at age 10, it wasn't until the tsunami in December, 2004 inspired him to make the most of life and start checking off his "bucket list". Learning tabla was near the top of list so it was then that he took the leap into what many percussionists consider the most difficult yet expressive drum on the planet, the East Indian tabla. Besides his primary teachers Samirji and Kumarji, other tabla players who have encouraged and/or taught him along the way include Isham Ishaya who gave him the encouragement to buy his first set of tabla, Sandip Burman, Krishan Khalsa(accompanist for Snatam Kaur), Loren Openheimer, Girish, Daniel Paul(accompanist for Jai Uttal), his teacher's son Dibyarko Chatterjee, and Anu Chechi(the tablist for Mata Amritanandamayi Ma).

It is through the recent blessings of the formation of the band Shantavaani that he has found a means of bringing all of his experiences both musically and spiritually together. Whether with Shantavaani, Kuntalaji, or otherwise it is his deepest wish to hopefully share through music an intimate moment of healing, peace, and harmony.