Headlining Performers
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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.