Trinaad

Trinaad is a conceptualized program by Tabla Maestro Harshad Kanetkar. Its a sound close to nature of Indian instruments Mandolin, Kanjira, Tabla, along with the Saxophone. This concert is of Carnatic sangeet (south indian music) with a blend of Hindustani music (North Indian music) compositions along with the flavor of western jazz through Saxophone. Renowned mandolin player Vidwan U. Rajesh, renowned Tabla maestro Harshad Kanetkar, young Kanjira player Swaminathan Selvaganesh (grandson of Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram ji) and famous Saxophone player George Brooks will be performing together.

Indian music has always different colors and flavors. Since many decades Indian musicians have been collaborating with western music because music has no boundaries. Many musicians have performed and recorded albums already and Mr. Brooks, U. Rajesh and Harshad Kanetkar are no exceptions to this.

In this concert they all will be performing traditional as well as contemporary compositions.

George Brooks is an award-winning saxophonist and composer, acclaimed for successfully bridging the worlds of jazz and Indian classical music. He is the founder of seminal Indian fusion groups; Summit with Zakir Hussain; Bombay Jazz with Ronu Majumdar and Larry Coryell; Raga Bop Trio with Steve Smith and Prasanna; Kirwani Quartet with Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Elements with Kala Ramnath and Dutch harpist, Gwyneth Wentink

Brooks began his study of jazz with Count Basie saxophonist, Frank Foster, and continued his studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with George Russell, Joe Allard and Jaki Byard. After graduating, Brooks traveled to India where he met master vocalist Pandit Pran Nath and began his study of Indian Classical Music. His albums, “Lasting Impression” and “Night Spinner”, released on Zakir Hussain’s Moment Records and subsequent recordings “Summit” and “Spirit and Spice” for Earth Brother Music are regarded as ground breaking work in the realm where jazz and Indian classical music intersect. Brooks has performed at prominent venues and festivals throughout India including the Nehru Center and NCPA, Mumbai; Music Academy in Chennai; Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore; Kamani Auditorium, Delhi; Saptak Festival, Kala Ghoda Festival, Jazz Yatra, Jazz Utsav and many others. Brooks has performed with leading artists from the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions including Kadri Gopalnath; Shujaat Khan, A. Sivamani, Vikku Vinayakram, Bickram Ghosh, Sonu Nigam, Rashid Khan, Kaushiki Chakraborty and sufi- rock pioneers, Indian Ocean. He has collaborated extensively with American composer Terry Riley and performed with genre defining artists Etta James, Anthony Braxton, Jaki Byard, Talvin Singh, Kronos Quartet, The Temptations, Michael McClure and Ray Manzarek. Brooks was a featured soloist on John McLaughlin’s 2008 Grammy nominated “Floating Point” CD.

As a composer, Brooks has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, EnActe Arts, Natya Dance Theater, Opera Piccola, Navarasa Dance Theater, Intermusic SF, Arts International, California Jazz Conservatory, USArtists, New Music USA, Mosaic America, Real Vocal String Quartet, SFMOMA, Met Life Creative Connections and Gwyneth Wentink. His compositions have been performed by Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Liverpool Philharmonic, and can be heard in the Merchant/Ivory film, “The Mystic Masseur”.

In addition to performing and composing, Brooks has taught on the faculties of UC Santa Cruz, Mills College and the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA and leads master classes at colleges and schools around the world. For more info about George Brooks go to his official website.

A Mandolin virtuoso, a composer, an arranger, a record producer; thousands of live performances in India and across the globe over the last three decades, mandolin maestro U Rajesh is one of the most sought- after musicians in the Carnatic and Fusion music genres. Brother of the legendary and master musician mandolin maestro U Shrinivas who is considered to be the Mozart of Indian classical music.  Mandolin maestro U Rajesh has recorded over a dozen of music albums and has done several collaborations with top musicians world over. He was the youngest participant of the Magic Mandolin Festival in Germany in the 80's and is credited with a performance at the Lincoln Center. His performance in New York during the summer of 2006 was voted among the best concerts of the year by the 'New Yorker' magazine. Rajesh was specially honored by the President of India in April 2007. To learn more about U. Rajesh and his brother, click Here.

Harshad Kanetkar, a young, accomplished Tabla player, and well-known young maestro who is one of the few Tabla players of his generation who is equally adept and versatile in the art of accompanying vocals, instrumental and dance as well as his solo performance. Harshad has performed with well-known artists like Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Shahid Parvez, Rashid Khan, Ronu Majumdar, Sanjeev Abhyankar etc.in various music festivals. He has also worked in Jazz with Grammy Award Winning renowned musicians like Jeffrey Barnes, George Brooks, Freddie Brian. His recent albums “Trinity”, “Resonance” and “Divinity” are available on 150 music platforms. Recently he has been selected on the panel of Recording Academy which is famous for “The Grammy Awards”. To learn more about Harshad, click Here.

S.Selvaganesh is a renowned percussionist hailing from a family world-class musicians. Born into a music dynasty, he is a grandson of Grammy Award Winner- T.H. Vikkuvinaykram and son of V. Selvaganesh. Throughout his career, Swaminathan has collaborated with Legendary Indian musicians as well as western musicians. He has performed at esteemed festivals such as whitelight festival by Lincon centre NY, Standford Jazz festival at Standford, CA to name a few. To learn more about S.Selvaganesh, click Here.