LIVE MUSIC
Live music 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.
CLASSICAL AMBIENT
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 classical ambient 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
The house ambient 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.
SANGEET / RECEPTION / MEHNDI
Sangeet nights, mehndi nights, and receptions are joyous occasions filled with love and delight. Our bollywood / qawwali package is the perfect way to dazzle your guests. With modern takes on bollywood and qawwali classics, everyone will have an amazing time.
Musicians
Absolute Focus has put together the most elite and highly skilled musicians in the western hemisphere to present an enthralling performance to enhance your special event.
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.
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.