DIRECTIONS is very proud to celebrate his new group which features a blend of North and South Indian music as well as East and West.

DIRECTIONS featured young talented musicians:
Joshua Geisler – Bansuri                                                    

Ehren Hanson - Tabla
Matt Kilmer - Percussion
Arun Ramamurthy - Violin
Nemanja Rebic - Guitar

Joshua Geisler is a young master of the Bansuri, the North Indian Bamboo Flute. He plays with a flowing, highly ornamented style that effortlessly weaves together Indian Classical Music and Jazz. By embracing the concept of hybridization, Joshua Geisler has innovated both the playing technique and construction of his instrument. His book, The Chromatic Bansuri, details a unique fingering system of his own creation that enables the bansuri to play virtually any style of music. As a flute maker, he has improved the tone, volume, and response of the bansuri by studying flute-making techniques from around the world and the mathematics governing the process.
An award-winning artist, his work has received funding from the American Institute of Indian Studies and the New York State Council for the Arts.
After graduating in 1998, he moved to upstate New York to study North Indian Classical music with the great American bansuri master, Steve Gorn. This was followed by multiple trips to India to study with Pandit Raghunath Seth, one of the living legends of Indian flute playing. In recent years, he has been learning with Varanasi-based Sarod maestro Pandit Vikash Maharaj, a 14th-generation master musician. An unusually versatile musician, he has worked with many great artists in various genres. He has performed with several masters of Indian Classical Music such as: Pandit Raghunath Seth, Steve Gorn, Pandit Vikash Maharaj, Fazal Qureshi, Sabir Khan, and Ramesh Mishra. In popular music, he has worked with the likes of Paul Simon and Josh Groban among many others. http://joshuageisler.com/html/text_block.php

Matthew Kilmer (born 1979 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American percussionist, drummer, and producer. A student of Jamey Haddad at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, Mr. Kilmer has performed and recorded with artists such as master oudist Simon Shaheen, Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill, tabla master Zakir Hussain, Krishna Das, and Steve Gorn. Currently he is working with the singer and composer Haale, playing percussion in her live band. He also produced Haale's debut full-length album "No Ceiling" which was released in 2008 to critical acclaim. His work with electronics, sampling, and live looping has further added to his sonic palette.

Max ZT - Dulcimer

After hearing the hammered dulcimer at a Chicago area folk festival at the age of six, Max ZT was hooked. He studied under Kat Eggleston for ten years before venturing to Bard College in upstate New York. Several years in to his college studies, Max traveled to Senegal, West Africa, to study the Mandinko technique with his Guru Bouba Cissoko from the Cissoko griot family. He has returned for a total of three trips to Senegal and has put out four disks. Max has won the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship and works with scores of national and international artists. End of 2009, Max will be traveling to India and will study intensely Santoor and Indian Classical Music under the tutelage of renowned Pandit Raoul Sharma.

Suphala - Tabla

Tabla Artist, Composer, and Producer, Suphala:

“This Indian-American beauty plays those two small drums like Bruce Lee in a fistfight - with fast hands and a furious beauty.” – St. Petersburg Times.

There was always music in Suphala’s life; she began studying classical piano at age four. But then she found her calling in the tabla, which won her over with its beautiful sound and the freedom of its improvisatory nature. Tabla artist, composer, and producer, Suphala, has been sought after by, and collaborated with a wide range of talented artists including Norah Jones, Sean Lennon, Perry Ferrell (Jane’s Addiction), hip- hop producer Timbaland, Lady Ms. Kier (Dee-Lite), 4Hero, Yoko Ono, Vijay Iyer, DJ Logic, Gingger Shankar, Michael Bland (Prince), and Jeff Lee Johnson.
Suphala is a protege of Ustad Allarakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain who are a constant source of inspiration to her. Blueprint (Suphala Productions, released 2007), now available worldwide (2008), is Suphala's stunning new album. She builds from the base of her world- renowned tabla knowledge, with infusions of modern electronic sounds, and top-flight songwriting. Suphala features such notables as vocalist Edie Brickell (on two songs), heavyweight producer King Britt, guitar legend Vernon Reid, as well as bansuri player Rakesh Chaurasia, Vikter Duplaix, Harper Simon, Mazz Swift, David Gotay and others on her third and most adventurous release.
Suphala's previous release, The Now, (Tommy Boy Records, released 2005) featured contributions from such stellar guests as Norah Jones, Vernon Reid, and even Antonio Banderas, and was featured from the New York Times to the Times of India.
In Feb. 2005, Suphala made history when she became the first musician to play in public since the fall of the Taliban.
According to the New York Times, "Kabul's badly depleted music scene received a welcome injection of excitement last week with the arrival of Suphala, the New York-based tabla player and composer… Suphala certainly brought brightness… her touch and rhythm are sure." It caused a sensation in the war-torn country. "I have not played with a woman before," one Afghan tabla master said. "Our grandfathers do not even know of it." www.suphala.com

The Neel Murgai Ensemble

The Neel Murgai Ensemble a chamber quartet that
features students of these masters, will open the night with their unique blend of Raga, western classical and jazz. Its features Neel Murgai on sitar, voice and frame drums, Sameer Gupta on tabla, Mat Maneri on viola and Greg Heffernan on cello. They perform new music that straddles cultures, continents and eras. Neel has assembled this talented ensemble after years of experimentation with different groups and instrumentations. Best described as Indo-chamber jazz, their sound ranges from an overtone singing, droning minimalism to intricate arrangements of raga based melodies and mathematical rhythmic structures, with healthy doses of improvisation throughout. Neel and Sameer are students of Krishna Ji and Anindo Ji respectively, and are honored by this opportunity to play before them. 

http://myspace.com/neelmurgai

Michael Harrison - Vocal & Piano

Steve Gorn  - Bansuri Flute

Steve Gorn is creating a new idiom, a music that combines
the essence of classical Indian tradition with a contemporary world music sensibility. In his astounding new solo album, Colors of the Mind, Steve infuses great mastery with a haunting, lyrical sweetness to bring the healing breath of the sacred to our demanding contemporary lives. Drawn by Bismallah Khan who played the shenai, (Indian oboe), and to Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan sounds at early age, Steve followed the music east and found himself in Benares, India in 1969, in a boat on the Ganges with the famous sarangi master, Gopal Misra, listening to his classical raga float out over the water in the evening light. Steve would eventually tour with Gour Goswami. Returning to the U.S., he brought his elegant bansuri sound to American pop music, drawing from classical Indian, jazz and world music to create a distinctive signature sound. Describing his 1996 performance in Mumbai at the Sangeet Research Academy's Indian Music and the West Seminar, SRA West Chairman, Arvind Parikh has said, "Steve Gorn's concert was widely appreciated for its outstanding musicianship.... and has won him a host of admirers." In 1998, Steve returned to India performing to enthusiastic audiences at The Nehru Center, NCPA, and the Dadar Matunga Music Circle in Mumbai. www.SteveGorn.com

Samir Chatterjee - Tabla

Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player of India. He
travels widely across the world throughout the year performing in numerous festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and western musical traditions. Chatterjee began his studies early with Pandit Bankim Ghosh, Pt. Balaram Mukherjee, Pt. Rathin Dhar and Mohammad Salim. His later formation as a musician occurred under the guidance of Pt. Amalesh Chatterjee (since 1966) and Pt. Shyamal Bose (since 1984). All of Samir's teachers have been from the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of Tabla-playing, which he now represents.

www.tabla.org 

Silk Road Project, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization,
initiated by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions, promoting multicultural artistic exchange, and studying the ebb and flow of ideas among different cultures along the Silk Road. The Project encompasses a number of artistic, cultural and educational programs. It has been described as an "arts and educational organization that connects musicians, composers, artists and audiences around the world"and "an initiative to promote multicultural artistic collaboration."

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the Silk Road Project is scheduled to present performances and programs by the Silk Road Ensemble in North America, Asia and Europe from 2008 to 2010. The Project is also involved in a two-year educational pilot program for middle-school students in New York City public school^s. Its anniversary season began with the Silk Road Ensemble's performance with Yo-Yo Ma of the United Nations Day Concert in October 2008. Tenth-anniversary activities have also included a North American concert tour by the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma in March 2009, which featured the North American premiere of Layla and Majnun, a chamber arrangement for the Silk Road Ensemble of a traditional Azerbaijani opera.

The organization has published a book, Along the Silk Road, and commissioned more than 60 new chamber music compositions.The Silk Road Project has also created educational materials entitled "Silk Road Encounters" and has partnered with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) to produce Along the Silk Road, a curriculum for students in grades six-10, and The Road to Beijing, a documentary made available with related lessons about Beijing in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. As of December 2008, the Silk Road Ensemble has recorded five CDs.

At its height from the second century BCE until the 14th century, the Silk Road was a vast network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean through Greater Iran. For centuries ideas, objects, and people traveled along the Silk Road, making it one of the most fluid and broad arenas of exchange the world has known and a major conduit of culture and civilization. The name Silk Road Project serves as a metaphor of the cultural exchange of ideas envisioned by the project.

Eric Fraser - Bansuri

Eric Fraser is a disciple of Pandit Gopal Roy of Kolkata,
India, a leading exponent of the Padmabhushan Pannalal Ghosh and Pandit Gour Goswami lineage. Eric's “gayaki ang”or vocal approach to the bansuri flute is unique and rare, deep and sincere. Merging a healing breath with craft and musicality, Eric brings an exciting, meditative and moving performance. While at home in New York, Eric continues to perfect his art under the guidance of master musician Steve Gorn, a bansuri player from the same "Gharana" (lineage). Eric regularly performs Indian classical music on the bamboo flute in India and the USA, including much collaboration as an accompanist for dance and theatre. He is also involved in the ground breaking Latin/Indian fusion project, the Tollywood Allstars (WWW.TOLLYWOODALLSTARS.COM), and has made contributions with his bansuri to music ranging from Hip Hop to childrens music. Besides flute, Eric Fraser is a music therapist (MA-BC), freelance teaching artist and singer/songwriter. 

http://www.myspace.com/ericfraser 

Falu is widely recognized for a rare ability to seamlessly
blend a signature modern inventive rock style with a formidable Indian classically-shaped vocal talent.
In her early years in Bombay, singer Falu (aka Falguni Shah) was trained rigorously in the Jaipur musical tradition, honing her talent for up to 16 hours a day at times. She later continued studying under the legendary sarangi/vocal master Ustad Sultan Khan - a mentorship that continues to drive and inspire her to this day. Today, Falu's band brings together musicians who draw elegantly from Indian classical, alternative rock, contemporary pop, and electronic styles to create a tight mix of East and West, of ancient and modern. More recently, Falu and her band were featured internationally on National Geographic Channel's Geo Sessions, as well as on Fox TV's Fearless Music, where the hit single Rabba became the first Hindi song ever performed on the national network.
On the night of Tuesday, May 5 2009, New York based Hindi songstress Falu made a special appearance at the Time 100 Gala, performing a rendition of “Jai Ho” alongside Slumdog Millionaire film composer AR Rahman, for an exclusive and star-studded crowd which included First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah, Barbara Walters, Stella McCartney, Liv Tyler, and more.
http://www.falumusic.com/

Daisy Paradis - Sitar

Daisy Paradis is one of the few Americans who can give a pure and authentic rendition of North Indian classical music. An outstanding musician in full command of her instrument, she has had the benefit of more than twenty years of training with one of the greatest artists of India, Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Her depth of knowledge and devotion to music is coupled with rigorous classical training. Her interpretation is enlivened by an individuality and spark of energy that fills her performance with excitement.

Lotus 5 - Indo-Jazz Fusion

Featuring:
A.R. Balaskandan - Mridangam
Richard Bennett - Piano
Naren Budhkar -Tabla
Arun Ramamurthy - Violin
Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury - Sitar

After jazz pianist Richard Bennett's recent trip to Mumbai where he immersed himself in Indian music, he began composing solo piano ragas.
To Hindustani sitarist Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury and Carnatic violinist Arun Ramamurthy, Richard's compositions had the right energy for them to take the leap into Indo-jazz fusion.

Accompanying musicians A. R. Balaskandan  and Naren Budhkar support and enhance the evocative sound of the Lotus 5.

First performance in New York, July 17 2009 at Drom.

Red Baraat - Indo/Brass Funk

Led by drummer Sunny Jain, Red Baraat is the first and
only dhol ‘n’ brass band of its kind in the States, melding the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with brass funk and expressing the human spirit through improvisation and a powerful live sound.  Comprised of dhol (double-sided, barrel-shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder), percussion and horns, this NYC-based group plays fresh originals, as well as traditional Punjabi songs and Bollywood numbers with a dramatic stage performance and presence.

In the short time since their inception, the group has delivered blistering performances at the 4th Annual Droma Gypsy Festival, The Kitchen performance art space, the underground loft party series Brooklyn Wonderland, India Independence Day Parade, Barbes, Joe’s Pub, Santos Party House, as well as a live radio broadcast for WFMU-FM 91.1 and WKCR-FM 89.9.  They recently recorded the credit roll theme song for the movie, The Yes Men Fix the World, performed at the 43rd Annual War Resistors League Peace Award ceremony, alongside folk legends Steve Earle and Allison Moorer, and performed for Ports 1961 at the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (NYC).

Debut CD to be released January 2010. http://www.redbaraat.com/

Jazz-funksters Brooklyn Qawwaly Party deconstruct the
Sufi melodies of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for fans of adventurous improvisation.

http://www.brooksqawwaliparty.com/live/

Daniel Weiss - Tabla

Daniel Weiss started playing the drums at the age of 6. He studied privately since he began. His main teacher as a child and teenager was Jeff Krause. While in high school he studied classical piano and classical composition. He studied drums and composition at the Manhattan School of music. His drum teacher was John for 4 years and his composition teacher was David Noon. Dan also studied frame drums with Jamey Hadaad. He has performed and or recorded with David Binney, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Miguel Zenon, Wayne Krantz, Kenny Werner, Ritchie Beirach, Ben Monder, Uri Caine, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Ravi Coltrane and many others. He has been touring Europe and North America extensively for the past seven years with many different projects. He has also played in South America and Asia and has recorded for Omnitone, Fresh Sound/New Talent, Arabesque, Pi, Criss cross, Between The Lines, Act, Hat Hut, and Auand record labels.

Tiger Lilies - Violin & Cello

Tiger Lilies is a newly formed duo based in New York City, composed of violinist Trina Basu

and cellist Amali Premawardhana.

As two emerging artists with roots in India, Sri Lanka and North America, Trina and Amali aspire to discover and bring to light the music of their own cultural backgrounds as well as music from other parts of the world that has deeply inspired them. Drawing upon influences of nature, beauty, simple folk melodies and complex classical compositions, Tiger Lilies seeks to blend creative improvisations and arrangements with authentic traditions.

http://www.myspace.com/tigerliliesmusic

SOM - Indo Jazz

With Snehasish Mozumder - Mandolin

Snehasish Mozumder is among those few established

musicians in India who has mastered the art of playing Mandolin, and has blended it perfectly into the style of Hindustani Indian Classical Music. Coming from a musically oriented family, he started his initial training at the age of four with Tabla and then Mandolin under the guidance of his grand father late Sri Bibhuty Ranjan Mozumder and then he took training under his father Sri Himangshu Mazumder and his uncle late Sri Ranjan Mozumder. Gradually he switched over to his cousin Sri Tejendra Narayan Majumdar who is a well-known sarode player of the country. He continued his study under late Acharya Ajoy Sinha Roy who was a beloved disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan Saheb, the founder of Maihar Gharana and he takes lesson of laykari under the guidance of Pandit Anil Palit who is a senior most disciple of Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Finally he came under the tutelage of Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. Snehasish, has performed many major festivals in India like Sankat Mochan Utsav of Varanasi Swami Haridas Sangeet Sanmelan of Mumbai, Indian Habitat Centre of Delhi, Bhowanipur Sangeeet Sanmelan, GolPark Ramkrishna Mission of Kolkata and Saltlake Music Conference of Kolkata e.t.c., and also he has toured Europe , U.K. , and USA and made a very good name amongst the music lovers. He is the recipient of Surmani and Jadubhatta Awards.

www.mandolinmusic.com 

Ray Spiegel - Tabla

Ray Spiegel is a disciple of the late Tabla Master Ustad
Alla Rakha since 1975, specializing in the Punjab Gharana (style) of Tabla playing. He has also benefited from the intensive training and guidance he has received from Ustad Zakir Hussain from 1973 to 1980. Ray began his formal training at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA under Sri Shankar Ghosh in 1970. He studied with Sri B.S. Ramanna, (a disciple of Sheik Dawoodkhan of Hydrabad) in New Delhi in 1971 and 1972.
Ray Spiegel has performed in the U.S. and India as both accompanist and soloist, appearing with such well-known musicians and vocalists such as: Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Sultan Khan (Sarangi), Ustad Aashish Khan (Sarode), Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta (Sarode), Pandit Vidyadhar Vyas (Vocalist), Pandit Manilal Nag (Sitar), Pandit Ragunath Seth (Bansuri flute) and Pandit Barun Kumar Pal (Hindustani Guitar).
Spiegel also plays a variety of musical instruments such as Indian folk drums, Vibraphone, marimba, and assorted western and Asian percussion. He is head of Simla House, Inc. an independent CD label. Ray spent his formative years in the San Francisco Bay area, where he was associated with musicians such as Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Alla Rakha, and at the Ali Akbar College of Music, studying tabla and playing in the Diga Rhythm Band (with Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain), and various small combos. http://www.simlahouse.com/people/ray.php

Andrew Shantz is an emerging keyboard improviser, vocalist and composer with a background in Jazz and an appetite for musical exploration. Since graduating from William Paterson University in 2003 with a B.M. in Jazz Studies Andrew has continued to develop his musical skill and vocabulary and in 2006 began studies of Hindustani classical music in Kolkata, India with Pandit Samar Saha and Shrimati Madhumita Saha. This year Andrew debuted his group Colors of Tarab at Alwan for the Arts in a concert featuring traditional pieces and original compositions combining elements of Indian and Arabic music and Jazz
improvisation.

Paul Livingstone - Sitar

International performing artist *Paul Livingstone* is one of
the few American artists to have learned directly from the living legend of Indian music Pandit Ravi Shankar.  He also learned from sarod maestro Rajeev Taranath.  Paul's authentic feel in performance of classical ragas and level
of virtuosity of his sitar playing are rarely heard from artists of non-Indian origin.  He has given concert performances & workshops on traditional and crossover music around the US, Mexico, South East Asia, Spain and India when he was recognized in the Calcutta press as "an Indian soul in white skin".  In the creative tradition of Hindustani (North Indian)
classical music Paul has been rigorously trained since 1985 in India and the US to play and improvise in the raga system (traditional melodic forms) on sitar.
Paul's recording credits include popular artists Ozomatli, Alanis Morrisette, Beck and Cypress Hill.  Paul has also performed and/or recorded with diverse virtuoso artists such as African griot, Prince Diabate, Persian artists Hossien Alizadeh & the Liän Ensemble, Indian
artists such as Swapan Chaudhuri, Poovalur Sriji, Abhijit Banerjee, Geetha Bennett, as well as Glen Velez, Pedro Eustache, Kenny Burrell, Ali Jihad Racy, Miroslav Tadic & John Bergamo.  In addition to leading and composing
for his own Arohi Ensemble he has composed scores for film, television live theater and dance and is the Founder & Artistic Director of the Sangeet School of World Music in Los Angeles through which he has presented musicians from all seven continents of the world in concerts and workshops of traditional and contemporary world music.  He was also on music faculty of Cal Arts for 5 years.  www.tanpura.com