The Brooklyn born band members met musically to bring back their musical root from the rich heritage of Bengal by presenting traditional South Asian classical compositions and giving a tribute to the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam from Bangladesh.
About the Artists
Mir Naqibul Islam is a New York based tabla artist from “Farukhabad '' gharana. He has been trained in the traditional guru-shisya style of South Asian Classical music from Pt. Ashoke Paul, disciple of the great tabla guru Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Mir presents tabla solo recitals and regularly accompanies artists from the South Asian tradition. He also collaborates with musicians from a wide variety of genres, bringing tabla to Jazz, Chamber Music, Middle-Eastern music, hip hop and other contexts. He is continuing his training with the great Farukhabad Master Pt Anindo Chatterjee and Pt. Ashoke Paul.
Tomal Hossain is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. His dissertation concerns the music and song of Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh and questions of Islam and migration crisis in the Indian Ocean region/world more generally. Alongside his studies, Tomal is a performer primarily of Bengali and other South Asian traditional musics. Moreover, Tomal is a co-director of the South Asian Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago, and he is a co-founder of the Chicago Mehfil, a collective with a particular focus on the music of South Asia.
Rohan Misra is a promising young musician, specializing in the unique Indian bowed instrument called the Sarangi. As the son and disciple of great Sarangi virtuoso Pandit Ramesh Misra, Rohan started learning at the age of six and has inherited many of his father-Guru’s specialties, including tonal quality and aesthetic approach. Rohan has also pursued his education in western music, particularly focusing on the Piano and Clarinet.