“Milan” - Music Without Borders | Nazar

“Milan” - Music Without Borders

By Staff Reporter 3 October 2009 166 views One Comment

Association for India’s Development (AID) is proud to present “Milan” - Music Without Borders, a world music concert with the Chhandayan Fusion Ensemble. This group of musicians includes four talented individuals who come from diverse cultures and styles of music. The ensemble consists of Grammy award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Salman Ahmad from a popular South Asian band called Junoon, tabla player Samir Chatterjee, and percussionist Daniel Weiss.

‘Chhandayan’ features Indian melodies and rhythms performed by some of the greatest maestros on Indian and Western instruments, for the enjoyment of an international audience of all ages. Songs range from ‘Sayonee’, ‘Allah Hoo’ to ‘Keshariya Balam’ and exciting percussion duets.

When: Saturday, November 7, 2009, 5:00 pm
Where: Fine Arts Facility, Westlake High School, 4100 Westbank Dr, Austin, TX 78746

Tickets: $100, $50, $35, $25, $20 (students)

The proceeds from the concert will benefit AID-sponsored development initiatives in India. For more information, please call 512-524-3819 .

About the Artists:

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has attracted international attention by his successful Indianisation of the western Hawaiian guitar with his perfect assimilation of sitar, sarod and veena techniques. It is due to his maiden effort that he rechristened the guitar as Mohan Veena, establishing it at the top-most level in mainstream Indian classical music. With his sheer virtuosity and limitless supply of melodies, he was awarded a Grammy Award in 1994 along with Ry Cooder for their world music album, ‘A Meeting By The River’.

Salman Ahmad is the popular guitarist and composer of the musical group Junoon. Since its formation in the early 1990s, Junoon has become a phenomenon in the South Asian music scene and beyond, performing live at BBC’s Mega Mela, the MTV music awards in India, and at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ahmad, with Junoon, has been increasingly involved in humanitarian efforts, including playing at events such as the Building Human Rights Culture Gala, the Empower Peace program with students in Pakistan, and fundraising for Hurricane Katrina victims. Most recently in coordination with the UN, Ahmad joined relief operations for the October 2005 earthquake victims in northern Pakistan.

Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso tabla player. 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. All of his teachers have been from the Farrukhabad Gharana (school) of tabla-playing, which he now represents. He has performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway on December 10th, 2007. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings.

Daniel Weiss started playing the drums at the age of 6. He has performed and/or recorded with several artists of international acclaim. 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. Dan has been studying tabla for the last nine years exclusively under the guidance of his guru Pandit Samir Chatterjee. Weiss has two recordings under his own name.