Tomchess + Kevin Nathaniel

Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the Museum’s spiral staircase. Artists who specialize in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries.

About the Musicians

Tomchess (oud, ney) is a New York City”“based multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and composer who has performed and recorded with some of the most esteemed players in the improvisational scene (Dewey Redman, Butch Morris, Pharoah Sanders, Drew Gress, Ronald Shannon Jackson) as well as Moroccan sintirist Hassan Hakmoun. He has performed at notable venues around the world and in New York City including Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the United Nations, and the Turkish and Pakistani embassies. He has played on Grammy-nominated recordings and was awarded grants from the Turkish American Society and the Maryland Council for the Arts. In 2012 he was nominated for an Independent Music Award.

Kevin Nathaniel (mbira) is a pioneer of the world music scene and one of the first musicians to introduce New York audiences to the magical sound of the African mbira. He is an internationally celebrated musician in the new age, meditation, percussion, and yoga worlds. Nathaniel composed and performed music for the film Beloved, the audio book of Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy, Ali MacGraw’s Yoga Mind and Body, and countless other productions. He produces live music events weekly in New York City that encourage peace and global harmony. Nathaniel also serves as musician-in-residence at Omega Institute.