ASAAN

Live music by Asaan adds a spark of excitement and a vibrant color to your wedding. It sets the tone for each ceremony or celebration and immediately engages your guests.

Our instrumentalists are at the very forefront of contemporary Indian Classical music, dynamically weaving through sublime Ragas, joyous rhythmic patterns, and bollywood/folk melodies. Spanning from the sacred to the cerebral, filled with dignity and ambiance, is a delight for the senses and perfect for wedding ceremonies.

WEDDING CEREMONY

Indian wedding ceremonies are rooted in a deep and spiritual tradition. Yet attendees in this day and age have short attention spans and can often be easily distracted. They look at phones, they talk, they get up and move around. Having live musicians in the wedding ceremony locks the audience in to focus on the couple and enhances the experience for everyone involved. The quartet chooses Ragas that signify joy and auspiciousness and work to amplify the mood of the prayers and blessings. The dynamically adjust their performance in real time to convey through music the mood of the ceremony.

COCKTAIL HOUR & RECEPTION

The quartet fuses their Indian Classical roots with their western upbringing to create a new modern sound. Electronic backing tracks of house and ambient music are played while the quartet seamlessly plays over them to create a young and hip ambiance perfectly suited for any cocktail hour.

MEHNDI & SANGEET

The quartet also provides ambient music Mehndi and Sangeet nights to create that perfect mood. They create a perfect blend of Indian Classical Raga and modern Bollywood and Folk tune covers.

Musicians

SANTOOR

Kamaljeet Ahluwalia is part of the new wave of Asian musicians emerging from the UK. She began her training at the age of 7 under Sitar Maestro  Dharambir Singh (MBE). She continued her studies with Santoor Maestro Harjinderpal Singh and is currently under the tutelage of legendary Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. She uses her Indian classical roots to walk an innovative path on the Santoor, a rare and exquisite hammered dulcimer/zither that can simultaneously explore vast sublime melodies and intricate detailed rhythmic patterns. Together, with her husband Jas, they have written and produced music for live concerts, commercial advertising (Facebook), plays, and film/television scores (Disney).

TABLA

American-born Jas Ahluwalia studied the illustrious Tabla under the world renowned Ustad Tari Khan. Jas has learnt the Tabla in the traditional Ustad/Shagird relationship which entails a deep bond between master and disciple. Entrenched in the classical mode of training, he is utterly conversant in a variety of genres and is a favorite accompanist among touring musicians and an accomplished solo Tabla artist. Together, with his wife Kamaljeet, they have written and produced music for live concerts, commercial advertising (Facebook), plays, and film/television scores (Disney).

BANSURI

Aakash Pujara is a professional Bansuri (indian classical flute) from Pasadena. Aakash began his Tabla training at the age of 8 from the Late Pandit Ravi Belare, after which he went on to learn with Tabla Maestro Hemant Ekbote. Aakash connected so well with the melody aspect of Indian music that he then also began training in Indian Classical Flute from Pandit Divyang Thakore in Gujrat, India, where he obtained a Visharad degree in Hindustani music. He currently learns with Pandit Radha Prasad, and continues to give Flute and Tabla performances around the world. He regularly contributes to Hollywood film scores including Julia Robert’s Eat, Pray, Love.

PRODUCER / DHOL

Aman Bansil is a LA based electronic music producer and Dhol player focused on writing electronic dance music (EDM) under the alias ‘apostro’ and writing music meant for mindfulness, under the alias ‘Heliøflux’. Aman’s drive to learn music started in his teens; however, it wasn’t until his early 20’s that he found a teacher in Ustad Lal Singh Bhatti, who taught him the basics of Dhol (North Indian percussion instrument played in Punjabi style). Since then, Aman’s passion for music has taken him into the electronic music arena where he has released several dozens of tracks under both of his artist aliases and is a favorite in the LA club scene. Aman’s other creative endeavors include a Podcast (‘Driven’), which focuses on ‘the human drive to excel’ and a YouTube channel covering various topics such as Music Production, Financial Independence, and Skill building. His creative endeavors can be found at http://amanbansil.com

RABAB

Qais Essar is a contemporary Afghan composer, instrumentalist and producer who channels his melodic designs through the rabab, a 2,500 year old instrument from Afghanistan. He has toured extensively, sharing his new genre of music nationally and internationally. Essar has released two LPs, five EPs and one live album. His first LP, The Green Language (2014), quickly became an Amazon #1 bestseller, followed by  Tavern of Ruin (2016), and his 3rd album, The Ghost You Love Most (2018) to critical acclaim. . He has contributed original music to feature films also. In 2017, Qais was recruited by director Nora Twomey to compose an original song for her Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated film, The Breadwinner (produced by Angelina Jolie). He earned a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Original Song” for his piece The Crown Sleeps. Additionally, he orchestrated a sold-out run of the musical Tear a Root from the Earth at the OBIE award winning Ice Factory at the New Ohio Theater in New York City. Essar continues to be featured in festivals and venues around the world including the Newport Folk Festival, SxSW, The Kennedy Center, Treefort Music Festival and more.

PIANO

Conal Sathi has a background in Indian traditional music, jazz, and European classical music. From the age of 5, Conal studied Hindustani classical music from the sons of the legendary "King of Ghazal" Mehdi Hassan. He continued to develop his musical talent in college as the musical director of the Stanford a cappella group, Raagapella. He has performed all over the US as well as India and shared the stage with musical legends including A.R. Rahman, Mehdi Hassan, Abhijit Pohankar, Padma Shri Penaz Masani, and grammy award winner Tanvi Shah.

VOCAL

Nishan Bordia hails from Jaipur, India and recently won the Voice of Bay Area (2018) and Festival of Globe (FOG) Idol. He has a background in Rajasthani folk music and has shared the same stage with internationally recognized artists including Ram Sampath, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Akhtar, Abhijit Pohankar, and Tanvi Shah (first Indian woman to win the Grammys). He is currently learning hindustani classical music from Javed Bashir and Abhijit Pohankar. He is also the lead vocalist of the band Raga and Blues where he fuses together Indian traditional and Sufi music with jazz.

CELLO

Chris Votek is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, arranger, and educator living and breathing music in Los Angeles. He is an acclaimed cellist recording and performing with ensembles ranging from Arabic, Electronica, Jazz, Avant-Garde, Western Classical, North Indian Classical, Persian, Pop, and Rock. Chris plays regularly with composer/songwriter Julia Holter, arabic orchestra MESTO, chamber jazz group The Brad Dutz Quartet, and persian singer Mamak Khadem. He has also performed with Fun, Amanda Palmer, The Dirty Projectors, Father John Misty, and toured extensively at top venues throughout Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and the United States. A devoted student of master Gayaki-Ang violinists Dr N. Rajam and Jagannathan Ramamoorthy, Votek’s subtle and nuanced sound is greatly informed by his continual study adapting this ancient music to the cello.

SAXAPHONE / SHENAI / BANSURI

Neelamjit Dhillon is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Vancouver Canada, Neelamjit is skilled in both North Indian classical and American jazz music. His music is a reflection of his own multifaceted identity, spirituality, and vision for promoting a more equitable and just society through shared experience and collective action.

Neelamjit’s primary instruments are the tabla, saxophone, shenai, and bansuri. He has played tabla since the age of 10 and continues to study the instrument under the tutelage of world-renowned maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. Neelamjit has performed around the world at prestigious events and festivals in locales such as Somalia, India, Brazil, Europe, the United States, and Canada.

SITAR

Rajib Karmakar is a Los Angeles based performance artist, composer, and educator Rajib has performed in many countries including India, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, for the Ministry of Spain (Spain), the Ottawa Council for Arts (Canada), Boom Festival (Portugal), Festival of India (USA and Canada), NAMM (Los Angeles), Theatre Rogue Du Conservatoire (Montreal), National Arts Center(Ottawa), Straz Center (Tampa), Castello Di Romeo (Italy), Shrine Auditorium (Los Angeles) and many more. He has played in various projects for Disney, Sony, Universal, A&E Network and others and has also been an artist-in-residence for various colleges and universities. Rajib’s versatility and ability has allowed him to adapt his skills and knowledge to his various world music projects with his own creation “Mayur Tantri,” the world’s first double necked sitar. Rajib received his MFA in Music from California Institute of the Arts and currently he is the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles International Music and Arts Academy.