Brooklyn Raga Massive: Modern Jazz Raga Tradition at Rendon Hall

Sameer Gupta is known as one of the few percussionists simultaneously representing the traditions of American jazz on drumset, and Indian classical music on tabla. He completed his Jazz studies and began his Indian Classical learning from his peers and on stage in San Francisco and Oakland as well as now Harlem and Brooklyn. His own interests and love of tabla brought him up through several local tabla teachers in Delhi and San Rafael, ultimately to the great maestro Pt Anindo Chatterjee, of whom he is now a dedicated disciple. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Pawan Benjamin, started his musical training at a young age in Madison, Wisconsin, receiving guidance and mentorship from jazz luminaries such as bassist, Richard Davis, Roscoe Mitchell, and many others in the Madison area...

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Sameer Gupta is known as one of the few percussionists simultaneously representing the traditions of American jazz on drumset, and Indian classical music on tabla. He completed his Jazz studies and began his Indian Classical learning from his peers and on stage in San Francisco and Oakland as well as now Harlem and Brooklyn. His own interests and love of tabla brought him up through several local tabla teachers in Delhi and San Rafael, ultimately to the great maestro Pt Anindo Chatterjee, of whom he is now a dedicated disciple. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Pawan Benjamin, started his musical training at a young age in Madison, Wisconsin, receiving guidance and mentorship from jazz luminaries such as bassist, Richard Davis, Roscoe Mitchell, and many others in the Madison area. Pawan's training ranges many disciplines from Jazz, Hindustani and Nepali Folk traditions, to Hip Hop, Classical and Modern musical production and composition. Learning and honoring the legacies of contrasting cultures offers a unique perspective he shares in this music. These skills have enabled him to perform in a wide range of projects. Michael Gam is a versatile bassist, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer based in New York City in the lineage of the Ray Brown and Ali Akbar Khan. As an experienced, skillful and intuitive Jazz improviser, Michael has worked extensively alongside respected elder Jazz musicians and young innovators, while also being called upon regularly to play bass in variety of other musical worlds ranging from R&B, Classical, Bluegrass and Rock styles to Afro-Peruvian, Cuban, Klezmer and West African music. Since 2009, Michael has been a student of the rich musical traditions of North and South India and is an emerging sarod and sarangi performer of the Maihar gharana and a kanjira (South Indian/Carnatic tambourine) player.

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