Rakesh Chaurasia

The winner of two 2024 Grammy awards for his collaborative album with Zakir Hussain, Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer (Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best Global Music Performance for “Pashto”), Rakesh Chaurasia, the nephew of legendary Indian classical flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia continues to carve a niche for himself in Indian Classical Music as a master of the “simple yet extremely difficult to play” Bansuri (bamboo) flute. Much like his uncle, Rakesh “possesses the right balance of strength and serenity, very critical factors for an exceptional flautist” and he has performed all over the world, including at prominent festivals like WOMAD in Athens, ‘Festivals of India’ in Russia, and more. He has recorded with most of the leading stalwarts of the Indian film industry, and, along with his Grammy awards, has been the recipient of many honors, including the 2007 Indian Music Academy Award given by the President of India and the Nakshatra Samman 2024 by TV9 Network in entertainment and music. He performed a stunning duet concert with the late tabla Maestro, Zakir Huissain at the KiMo Theatre in 2012.  Chaurasia is joined tonight by his frequent collaborator Amit Kavthekar, tabla, who was heard just this past fall at Outpost with sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee. Known as the last ganda-bandhan (ordained disciple) of Alla Rakha, widely revered as one of history's most iconic players of the tabla, and a prominent disciple of Zakir Hussain, Kavthekar is regarded as one of the leading young artists of Indian Classical music and tabla.