K.G. West, Mir Naqibul Islam + Amanda Welch

Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the Museum’s spiral staircase. This week K.G. West, Mir Naqibul Islam, and Amanda Welch are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries.

About the Musicians

K.G. West (sitar) is one of Europe´s foremost sitar players in the field of north Indian classical and semiclassical music. As a senior disciple of Pandit Rabindra Narayan Goswami, he has performed in India, Sri Lanka, Europe, and the USA as well as for radio and television. Due to training in both Indian and Western music, he also makes an excellent teacher of workshops regardless of the background of the participants. In 2017 his album Sonashish was released on the Kolkata label Bihaan Music.

Mir Naqibul Islam (tabla) is a classical music performer in Bangladesh and New York, both as a soloist and an accompanist. Though trained in a purely traditional style, he incorporates many genres and influences into his playing. He is fortunate to have Shri Ashoke Paul, a disciple of Padmabhushan Pandit Jnan Prakash ghosh, as his guru for the past 17 years, learning the technical and aesthetic aspects of tabla playing. Mir has also learned from Janab Syed Hafizur Rahman, Shri Madan Gopal Das, and Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Mir is currently taking musical instruction from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee.

Amanda Welch (tanpura) began her journey in Indian classical music in 2008 with lessons from Pandit Rabindra Narayan Goswami. She continued under the guidance of Peter Row of New England Conservatory before moving on to become a student of Abhik Mukherjee from Kolkata of the Etawah-Imdadkhani Gharana. Amanda has volunteered with music organizations such as Naad Mandir Escuela de Musica de la India in Buenos Aires, Chhandayan Center for Indian Music, World Music Institute, and Brooklyn Raga Massive in New York City.