Headlining Performers . 2017
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Ulhas Kashalkar
Ulhas Kashalkar is an acclaimed vocalist from India. He was born into a family of musicians. His father, N D Kashalkar, a musician in his own right, initiated him into Indian classical music. He also received training from great masters such as Pandit Ram Marathe and Pandit Gajananbua Joshi. Today, Kashalkar is considered to be a representative of the Gwalior, Jaipur and Agra gharana. He has toured extensively around the world and participated in various music festivals in India and abroad. Kashalkar is a recipient of several awards, among them the prestigious Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Academy Award. He has been a Guru at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy for nearly twenty years and is presently the Principal and Guru of the Bengal Parampara Sangeetalaya, in Dhaka.
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Vikku Vinayakram
Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram, popularly known as Vikku Vinayakram, is a distinguished Carnatic ghatam artist from India; one of the percussionists credited for popularising the instrument. He trained under the guidance of his father Thethakudi Harihara Sarma, a notable percussionist. Vinayakram has widely toured in India and abroad. Apart from being an exponent of classical, he was also one of the members of the band Shakti – fusing Indian music with elements of jazz, along with John McLaughlin, L Shankar, Zakir Hussain, and Ramnad Raghavan. Vinayakram is a recipient of the Padma Shree, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, Sangeetha Natak Academy Award, a Grammy, amongst many others, for his contributions to music. He is also the Principal of Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, India – an academy established by his late father in 1958.
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Vinayakram Selvaganesh
Vinayakram Selvaganesh is a renowned Indian composer and percussionist, known to play the kanjira. He is the grandson of T R Harihara Sarma and son of T H Vikku Vinayakram. Selvaganesh trained under the guidance of his uncle, T H Subashchandran, at the Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya. He is a patron of classical music, as well as contemporary genres. Selvaganesh was a member of the band Masters of Percussion – with Ustad Alla Rakha, Shakti and Remember Shakti – alongside John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. Throughout his career he has also performed with Dr. L Shankar, Dr. L Subramaniam, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurisia, Jonas Hellborg and Shawn Lane. Selvaganesh presently works with music for Indian films and his band dr JSM, with the UK-based songwriter/producer Dr. Joel and Carnatic singer Mahesh.
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Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is a renowned classical musician from India, creator of the Mohan Veena – a modified 20-string Hawaiian guitar. Bhaat trained under the guidance of Pandit Ravi Shankar, and has achieved international acclaim for successfully implementing techniques of the sitar, sarod and veena on the western Hawaiian guitar. He extensively toured in India and abroad, and is a recipient of the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and a Grammy.
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Yogesh Samsi
Yogesh Samsi is a distinguished tabla player from India. He is the son of the renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini and began his initial training under his guidance. He later trained under Pandit H Taranath Rao but it was under the tutelage of the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha that Samsi matured into a notable musician. He has performed with many renowned instrumentalists, vocalists and dancers, including Ustad Alla Rakha, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ken Zuckerman and Pandit Birju Maharaj. Samsi has performed at numerous memorable solo performances in India and abroad and is also a highly respected teacher – creating a syllabus for learning tabla designed specifically for teachers in the West, an initiative which can greatly benefit the advancement of tabla worldwide. He has a sound scholastic approach to the subject and has conducted several successful workshops in world music centres in India, United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan.
