Abakis (born Abigail Kiser) is a singer/songwriter living in Port Townsend, Washington, who creates collaborative music that bridges new and old worlds: a delicate blend of classic soul led by powerhouse vocals and Kottke-style fingerpicking guitar. Born and bred in Virginia where she learned to sing jazz in her father’s restaurant, Aba migrated westward to […]

Anil Sunny is a young and promising tabla player from Sialkot, Punjab. He received his training under Ustad Jimi Khan and has been practicing since the age of ten. Anil has performed with leading classical singers and instrumentalists and won a number of accolades, including first prize at a talent competition organized by the Pakistan […]

Danish Khawaja, who plays under the name Fat Bird, is a multi-instrumentalist from Lahore, specializing in guitar. As a 12-year-old, he remembers sitting with older, more seasoned musicians and just listening, absorbing everything he heard and quietly learning. This kind of patient dexterity is now a hallmark of his playing. “My friends were my teachers,” […]

Darbuka Siva is an actor, musician, music producer and a radio jockey based in Chennai, India. Siva started his performing career in 2002 with Oikyotaan, an outfit that experimented with Bengali Baul music. This experience shaped up Siva’s musical approach, inspiring him to go searching for his own sound, which he began to explore with […]

Debasmita Bhattacharya is an accomplished sarod player from Kolkata, West Bengal. She was first inspired to pick up the instrument at age six by her father, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, a renowned sarod player. “Being a lady,” she writes, “it was really challenging for me to grab ‘Sarod’ as a classical instrument for my musical journey, […]

Zeerak Ahmed (AKA Slowspin) was born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1990. Ahmed is a mixed media installation/sound/performance artist now based in Karachi. In 2009, she formed a four-person collective, the ‘TBP’, and has been working and exhibiting with them since. After completing her undergrad in Studio Art and Poli Sci, from Hiram College, USA, she […]