Hindustani Classical Music and Dance Festival

Swapan Chaudhuri is considered one of the top masters of tabla in the world. He is the Director of Percussion at Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California. He developed his skill through years of accompanying Ali Akbar Khan and other leading musicians of India.

Pandit Habib Khan began his sitar training at the age of five under the strict eye of his accomplished father and has emerged among his peers as an ambassador of Indian classical music. Creating music that spans many genres, Khan has become an important contributor to the Indo-American classical music world as well as to the jazz scene and the fusion movement in the United States. As an accomplished composer and vocalist, he is as much at ease with light classical and devotional music as he is with pure classical renderings of Indian ragas. Khan frequently uses Western guitar, drums, violin, and Japanese Taiko drums in his orchestral compositions.

Dr. Pooja Goswami Pavan is a Hindustani classical vocalist, composer, teacher and scholar. Growing up in an environment of music and theater, she developed a deep interest in composing music to verses in Hindi and Urdu. The versatility in Pooja’s repertoire is evident in her ability to sing Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Bhajan, Sufiana Kalam and folk genres such as the Hori, Chaiti & Kajri besides the Khayal. Pooja was trained in Hindustani music by Pandit Surendra Goswami, Professor Ajit Singh Paintal and continues her advanced training in Khayal with her brother Professor Shailendra Goswami. She has also been trained in semi-classical music by the eminent vocalist Vidushi Shanti Hiranand. Pooja received a Ph.D. in Indian Classical Music from the University of Delhi.

Avirodh Sharma is considered one of the leading tabla players from the West Indies and the United States propagating the tradition of rhythm. A multifaceted artist he is also a composer and producer and his work has been featured in films, fashion shows, radio, documentaries, and TV commercials.

Raaginder, hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, is a multi-talented artist known for his prowess as a violinist, composer, and songwriter. With deep-rooted training in the ancient art of Indian Classical music, he masterfully weaves soul-stirring melodies on the violin. His creative journey has given birth to several groundbreaking albums, seamlessly blending the rich tapestry of Indian classical music with contemporary sounds. His compositions traverse the spectrum from velvety R&B vocals to entrancing raga-based pop, crafting lyrical and rhythmic experiences that captivate the senses. Having graced prestigious stages worldwide, including iconic venues like the Crypto Arena, Wembley Arena, and The Kennedy Center, Raaginder’s artistry consistently delivers a powerful and captivating auditory adventure for his audience.

Shambhavi Dandekar is an Indian classical Kathak dancer who has performed throughout the world to wide acclaim. Her foundational training was with her mother as well as Guru Maneesha Sathé, and tabla virtuoso Taalyogi Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. She holds degrees in dance, French, and Sanskrit and brings a modern vision to traditional Kathak dance. Shambhavi is the founder and teacher-trainer for Shambhavis International School of Kathak, with five branches in India and the US, and offers workshops and master classes worldwide.

Nilan Chaudhuri is a Bay Area based percussionist, educator, and performer. Initiated into
the tradition of Indian Classical Music at the age of five by his father, Pandit Swapan
Chaudhuri, Nilan has been performing as a tabla soloist and accompanist for nearly two
decades. Prior to beginning his formal training with his father in 2000, Nilan studied tabla
with Brad Van Cleve, Tim Witter, and Uttam Chakraborty, all of whom are senior disciples of his father.

Drawing inspiration from his father’s innovative approach to classical tabla solo, Nilan was
determined from a young age to be a soloist. He presented his first public tabla recital at theage of eleven, at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, in the presence of Maestro AliAkbar Khansahib. It was during these formative years that Nilan was introduced to the world of Tabla accompaniment by Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, providing rhythmic support for his vocal and instrumental classes at the college.

As a teenager, Nilan was inspired by the Jazz-fusion Band ‘Oregon’ a group spearheaded by his cousin, multi-percussionist, Collin Walcott. The band’s music influenced Nilan to broaden his rhythmic studies, and in 2003, he began learning the drum set with Sly Randolph, of Richmond, California. Today, Nilan experiments regularly with bridging the two styles of Indian and American drumming, and plays a hybrid kit that fuses together the tabla and drum set, and incorporates electronic percussion instruments like the Roland HandSonic, and Ableton Push. Since 2007, Nilan has had the incredible opportunity to attend tabla-centric rhythm workshops conducted by Ustad Zakir Hussain. He has also attended South Indian percussion classes taught by ghatam Vidwan Subhash Chandran, kanjira Vidwan Ganesh Kumar, and Jim Santi Owen.

Since his debut performance in concert with his father in Queens, NY, in 2005, Nilan has had the privilege of sharing the stage with some of Hindustani Classical Music’s most celebrated artists, like Ustad Amjad Ali Khansahib, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pt. Ramesh Misra, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya, and Alam Khan, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Fillmore, The Monterey Pop Festival, The Richmond Folk Festival, Fox Theater, The San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, and The Kennedy Center. His genre-bending collaborations include performances, projects, and recordings with the likes of conductor Michael Morgan and the Fremont Symphony, pop star, Beck, sitarist, Arjun Verma, sarodist, Manik Khan, violinist Raaginder Singh Momi, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, George Brooks, Dennis Chambers, Miles Schon, and DJ Teeko. In addition to maintaining a rigorous performing schedule, Nilan teaches Tabla throughout the Bay Area as a faculty member at the Ali Akbar College of Music, in San Rafael, and as the Director of Percussion at Chitresh Das Institute, in San Mateo. He also serves as an archivist at the Ali Akbar College of Music, where the construction of a musical archive spanning 40 years of his Father’s work, is underway. It’s his lifelong mission to contribute to the preservation and enrichment of Indian Classical percussion.