Jay Gandhi (bansuri) and Ishaan Ghosh (tabla) perform Rag Malkauns at the Ragas Live Festival 2024. 12:30 AM set of the 24 hour event. A multifaceted artist, Jay Gandhi’s music is at once reflective of his devotion to his Guru, the inimitable legend of the bansuri, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a diverse range of other musical influences. Jay’s initial training in Hindustani music was under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal (vocal) and later in bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Inspired to gain deeper knowledge of both the gayaki ang (vocal style) as well as the tantrakari ang (stringed instrument style), Jay has also taken valuable guidance from Pt Vidyadhar Vyas (vocal) and Pt. Nayan Ghosh (sitar, tabla). In 2006, he was blessed to have been accepted as a disciple of Padma Vibhushan Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, and has since had the honor of accompanying his Guru on stage for multiple concert tours. From his formative years, Jay’s musical inclinations were not limited to that of the Indian sub-continent and he was also strongly drawn to the music of the African diaspora and American Jazz in particular. With the desire to bring the sound and versatility of the bansuri into the jazz idiom in a meaningful way, he formally studied Jazz Performance at Oberlin College/Conservatory of Music (Ohio) and trained under such Jazz luminaries as Gary Bartz and the late Marcus Belgrave. Today, his journey into this world continues to evolve in new and promising ways, and in more recent times he has had the fortune of performing with such greats as Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff “Tain” Watts, as well as of sharing the stage with one of the great voices of the tenor saxophone, Pharoah Sanders himself. A recipient of the prestigious AIIS Performing Arts Fellowship, Jay maintains a busy schedule performing for audiences across the globe. He currently is based out of New York City, where he is very active as both a teacher and performer and also as a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a prominent musicians collective. Ishaan Ghosh stands out as one of the front-ranking Tabla players in the younger generation of the Indian classical music scene. An exceptionally gifted child prodigy, Ishaan gave his first Tabla solo recital when he was barely 2.5 years old. Subsequently, his inherent talent, perseverance and sincere dedication have carried him to unprecedented heights of success and fame as one of the most promising Tabla players of his generation. Materialising the imagination and vision of his father Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Ishaan is committed to uphold the gravity of the art form professed by his family. He is the grandson of the renowned 20th-century Tabla maestro and guru- Padmabhushan Pandit Nikhil Ghosh and the grand-nephew of the pioneer flautist, Pannalal Ghosh. His captivating Tabla solos are an eclectic amalgamation of figured articulations and complex rhythmic tapestries groomed with appealing delineations drawn from the vast repertoire which he has inherited under maestro Nayan Ghosh’s blessed tutelage. He has carved a niche for himself in both solo Tabla playing and accompaniment. His power-packed solo performances and sensitive accompaniment have won him critical acclaim from both musicians and connoisseurs. He has performed with landmark figures in the Indian classical music field including his father Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Pt Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta, Ustad Aashish Khan, Ustad Nishat Khan, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, violin legend Dr. N Rajam, Kaushiki Chakraborty, Rakesh Chaurasia & Purbayan Chatterjee, among several other prominent artistes. Despite being firmly grounded in the classical tradition, Ishaan continues to explore new vistas of Tabla playing through his novel interpretations and creative collaborations with musicians of various other genres like Jazz Guitarist Max Clouth of Germany, Mohammad Rasouli and percussionists Fakhroddin Ghaffari and Hamid Reza Rahbaralam of Iran, Hoo Eouling of China and Raho Langsepp of Estonia. Besides that, he has also been invited by global platforms like TEDX to participate in their events as a speaker and he continues to actively perform, lecture and tour to increase consciousness and a following for Indian classical music amongst the youth worldwide. Since the age of 8, Ishaan has been regularly travelling and performing across USA, UK, Europe among several other countries. In 2016, he was specially invited to perform for the Habitat for Humanity project in Atlanta, USA and felicitated by the former president of United States of America, Jimmy Carter. Ragas Live Festival is produced by Pioneer Works in collaboration with NYC Radio Live, Brooklyn Raga Massive and the Society for Arts and Culture of South Asia (Palo Alto).
