India Blue

Adding piano to the timeless combination of sitar and tabla yields a captivating mix of sounds and musical traditions. This debut ensemble brings together Shakir Khan, a leading sitarist of the new generation, with Anirban Roy Chowdhury, a dazzling exponent of the dynamic Punjab lineage of tabla, and composer/pianist Michael Harrison, a 2018 Guggenheim recipient and one of the foremost pianists performing Indian music. Harrison’s “just intonation” tuning matches the sitar while capturing the essence and nuances of Indian ragas, or “melodies that color the mind.” Together, these musicians will explore new dimensions in the Indian classical tradition.

Presented with Harrice Miller Entertainment and community partner Sunny Thakkar.

About the Musicians

Shakir Khan is a promising young exponent of the legendary Etawah Gharana, following in the footsteps of his prodigious father and guru, the sitar maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan. Indeed, Shakir represents the eighth generational link in an unbroken chain of musical talent and tradition poured exclusively in the sitar and surbahar. The great Ustad Vilayat Khan is his grand uncle. As might be expected from such a pedigreed musician, his talent surfaced early in life, with Shakir giving his first public performance at the age of 11. In recent years Shakir has performed for the most prestigious music conferences in India as well as extensively worldwide.

Award-winning composer and pianist Michael Harrison earned international recognition when Revelation was selected as one of the Best Classical Recordings of 2007 by The New York Times and Boston Globe. Time Loops was selected in NPR’s Top 10 Classical Albums of 2012. Harrison is one of the most innovative artists of his generation, and Philip Glass called him an “American Maverick.” Harrison has been a practitioner of Indian classical music since 1978, and he is a disciple of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pandit Pran Nath, La Monte Young, and Terry Riley. As the co-founder and president of the American Academy of Indian Classical Music, his lifework is building cultural bridges through music. Harrison is the recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Anirban Roy Chowdhury is a leading talent among the young contemporary generation of tabla players. His music lineage hails from the renowned Punjab Gharana of Indian Classical music. He has trained extensively with renowned Punjab Gharana stalwarts, his first guru being Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, and his current teacher is renowned Ustad Zakir Hussain. In addition, Anirban pays homage to his Pandit Yogesh Samsi, with whom he trained for 12 years. Anirban has performed internationally with the legends of Indian classical music, as well as with various Western musicians. He was named a “Promising Young Musician of the Year” in May 2014 by Bihaan Music Industries in Kolkata.