Featuring - Eric Fraser (bansuri flute), Vinay Desai (Santoor), Mir Naqibul (tabla)

Opening act will be a sound bath experience; Artist TBD

Description: North Indian classical music

Eric Fraser's training in Indian classical music on the bansuri flute occurred in the Guru-Sishya Parampara tradition, meaning that he received training in Indian classical music while living with his teacher (Guru - late Pandit Gopal Roy), in Kolkata, India. Eric has received extensive taleem (oral teachings) and his flute playing conveys a purity of tone, authenticity and tradition. The "sur" (tone and tune) of Eric's flute lineage has a unique sound in the landscape of Indian music, telling the story of an old world Kolkata vibe through a gayaki ang or "singing style" of bansuri flute.
Eric is also a multi-instrumentalist, composer and recording artist.  Eric's original music expresses the contours of a true cross cultural blending of Indian classical music, psychedelic long form instrumental music, and indie songwriting. He is a Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) and a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT). Eric is a co-founder of the Brooklyn Raga Massive and a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar for Indian classical music. Eric is the founder and director of Sound and Nature, a licensed mental health practice in Hudson, NY. 

Mir Naqibul Islam (b. 1989 in Dhaka, Bangladesh) is a New York based tabla player from the farukhabad gharana. He has trained in the traditional guru-shishya parampara pedagogical convention of North Indian classical music from Pandit Ashoke Paul, a disciple of the great Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Mir began learning tabla at the age of seven from Pt. Madan Gopal Das at Chhayanaut, a renowned music school in Dhaka, and completed a six-year-long course from 1996 to 2001. Thereafter, he continued onto advanced tabla studies with Pandit Ashoke Paul from the farukhabad gharana. During 2010–2012, he also received training in the benarasgharana of tabla from Pandit Gopal Mishra at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Center in Dhaka. Mir was also connected to the Bengal Parampara Sangeetlaya (BPS), Dhaka as a music scholar from 2014–2016 under Guru Padma Shri Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and received training in the delhigharana of tabla during this time. Currently, Mir is continuing his advanced tabla studies with the legendary maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. 

Mir regularly performs tabla solo recitals in addition to accompanying vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers from South Asian traditions including Hindustani and Bengali classical and semi-classical forms. He also frequently performs with musicians from a wide variety of other traditions, bringing tabla to jazz, chamber music, maqam musics, and hip hop among others. Mir has received international acclaim for his performances for diverse audiences across Bangladesh, India, and the US. He has performed with world renowned musicians such as Pandit Krishna Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, Pandit Anirban Dasgupta, Pandit Steve Gorn, Vidushi Bharati Pratap, Gyan Riley, Ben Monder, and Premik Russel among others. He has been an active member of the New York based musicians collective Brooklyn Raga Massive since 2016, playing a key role in experimental and genre crossing projects with the collective throughout. 

Alongside his history of study and performance, Mir has had a hand in training over 3000 students during 2010–2016 as a music teacher at Chhayanaut and the Nazrul Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Moreover, he continues to foster the tabla studies of his private students in New York.

In 2011, with blessings and direct guidance of Padma Vibhushan Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Vinay began his studies under Takahiro Arai. He later moved back to USA to learn from Kunal Gunjal. To expand his knowledge in music, Vinay has learnt from many different Maestros.

Vinay's passion and dedication to Santoor allowed him to be under the tutelage of Pt. Shivkumar Sharma for several of Panditji's last years.  Pandit Shivkumar Sharma sadly passed away in early May, 2022. The passing of a legend such as this leaves a great echo in the vast vista of pure music.  There is now a task upon the few people who really learned Santoor in this way to keep this music and this legacy alive. 

Vinay has previously performed throughout India, Argentina, Canada, The Bahamas and the USA including Hawaii . He is known for his meditative and dynamic musical phrases. His devotion to the purity and the depth of Shivkumar Sharma's style comes forth in performance.