AROHI ENSEMBLE featuring Tabla Player Pt Samir Chatterjee

First Arohi Concert of the Year!! Saturday FEBRUARY 18th, 8PM!! Join one of the leading sitarists in the country, Paul Livingstone along with master tabla player Pt Samir Chatterjee, cello virtuoso Peter Jacobson, & Percussionist Dave Lewis for Arohi Ensemble: blending Indian ragas, jazz, counterpoint & rhythmic material from diverse world traditions.

8PM

$35 GTD CHAIR SEATING

$20 Limited Pillow Seating & Standing

DOORS OPEN 7:45pm

PAUL LIVINGSTONE, Sitarist

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, international performing artist Paul Livingstone is one of the leading sitarists in America today. He has focused his studies in the creative tradition of Indian classical raga music in which he has been rigorously trained for the past 25 years in India and the US studying under the late Amiya Dasgupta, Rajeev Taranath and the living legend Pandit Ravi Shankar.Paul has performed in around the US, Mexico, Europe & Asia and has just returned from a major concert tour performing Indian music in Nepal, India, Czech & Germany.

As a committed composer Paul leads his own Arohi Ensemble and has composed for film, television, theater and dance. He also plays a variety of fretless guitars and requintos of his own design and has also developed a unique style of ‘ragajazz chamber music’ blending Indian ragas, jazz, counterpoint & rhythmic material from diverse world traditions. As a creative force for true ‘world music synthesis’, Paul maintains a clear vision for the dissemination of traditional forms and is grounded in the rich cultural milieu of Los Angeles as a dedicated teaching artist & community activist.

PT SAMIR CHATTERJEE, Tabla

Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player from 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 non-Indian musical traditions. Samir performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway in 2007.

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.

Samir is rated ‘A’ as an artiste of Indian national radio and television. He can be heard on numerous recordings featuring as soloist, accompanying many of India’s greatest musicians and in collaboration with western musicians of outstanding caliber. In concert Samir has accompanied many of India’s greatest musicians including Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ud. Vilayat Khan, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Nikhil Banerjee, Pt. V.G. Jog, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, Ud. Amjad Ali Khan, Ud. Salamat Ali Khan, Smt. Lakshmi Shankar, Pt. Manilal Nag, Ud. Ali Ahmed Hussain, Ud. Aashis Khan, Dr. L. Subramanium, U Srinivas, Ud. Naseeruddin Sami, Smt. Veena Sahashrabuddhe, Ud. Shujat Khan, Ud. Saheed Parvez, Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Ud. Nishat Khan, Ud. Rashid Khan, Pt. Tejendra N. Mazumdar, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya, Smt. Arti Anklekar, Smt. Kaushiki Chakraborty, to name only a few.

Samir Chatterjee lives in the New York-New Jersey area, and has been a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Non-Indian music, in his own creations and others as well. He performs with Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Branford Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Joshua Bell, Yoko Ono Lenon, Dave Douglas, Steve Gorn, Glen Velez, Boby Sanabria, Dance Theater of Harlem, Boston Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Ethos Percussion group, Da Capo Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva and other jazz, classical and avant guard musicians and ensembles.

He is member of jazz trio SYNC with Ned Rothenberg and Jerome Harris and quintet Inner Diaspora together with Mark Feldman and Eric Friedlander.

He also collaborates with Sufi-Rock singer Salman Ahmad of Junoon from Pakistan.

He is the composer and director of Indo-Flame – a blend of Indian and Flamenco dance and music, Chhand-Anand – a world percussion ensemble, RabiThakur – a ballet on the life of Tagore, Meghadootam – a feature program of music and dance on an ancient Indian poem, and Dawn to Dusk and Beyond – on the effect of music on humans and nature.

He performs with Sanjay Mishra on his CD “Blue Incantation” featuring Jerry Garcia as guest artist.

Samir Chatterjee has been teaching for the last 35 years and many of his students are established performers. He is the Founder-Director of CHHANDAYAN, an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Indian music and culture. He has authored a comprehensive 654-page book entitled A Study of Tabla, a guide book to Indian music titled Music of India and Those Forty Days, a journal of an austere practice regimen. He is on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music, University of Pittsburgh and New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He also taught at the Yale University, Columbia University, New York University and Princeton University, among many other major institutions in the USA, Europe and India. He also contributes to several newspapers and periodicals. He won gold medal for his proficiency in a musical examination and has two Master degrees, in English and History.

Samir has working relentlessly towards the musical revival of Afghanistan. He is the recipient of several awards such as the Sunshine Award, Jadu Bhatta Award and Acharya Varistha Award.

PETE JACOBSON

Cello MasterPeter Jacobson is a cellist, producer, songwriter-singer, chamber musician, teacher and music selector who has recorded, performed and toured with renowned artists. He studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld at USC as well as at Cal Arts and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2013 he won a Grammy for best Latin Rock Alternative or Urban Album as a member of the group Quetzal. Mr. Jacobson has recorded cello for Dr. Dre and frequently plays alongside the San Diego Symphony. Pete has recorded for film and tv, including The Walking Dead. In 2000 he was a member of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan and has performed in the US, Mexico, Asia, Australia the Middle East and Europe. He plays with Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber Music, the Arohi Ensemble, the 440’s, SANGAM, ThE CoNcEnTr8s, Quartetto Fantastico, the Hutchins Consort and as a freelance cellist.

DAVE LEWIS

Renowned percussionist Dave Lewis is easily one of the most exciting drumming talents in the world today. Born in 1983, Lewis grew up playing piano and began composing at the age of 8. By twelve, he was given his first drum set and never looked back. Influenced by jazz, latin, rock and East Indian classical music, Lewis‘s ingenuity took him well beyond his years. He received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated in December of 2005. A solid, articulate and dynamic musician, Lewis has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Vince Neil (Motley Crue) Robby Kreiger (The Doors) George Thorogood, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, Joe Lovano, Sheila E., Deepak Ram, Kai Eckhardt, Taufiq Qureshi, George Brooks, Arohi Ensemble, Paul Livingstone, Abhijit Banerjee, Pedro Eustache, Peter Jacobson, Salar Nader, Alam Khan, Sheila Govindarajan, Maiya Sykes and Mirror Talk.