Jagadeesh M.R – Self taught guitar player, composer and founder, Jagadeesh has been playing with pop, rock and jazz bands since the last 20 years.  From a young age, Jagadeesh was exposed to Indian Classical sounds at home.  His other influences come from jazz and ‘jamming’ with different musicians  of different styles and from a brief stint in Spain learning Flamenco.  Jagadeesh also recorded and uploaded a song called Road to Pondy, a breezy instrumental based on a mythical journey to Pondycherry, on the internet way back in 1999, on IUMA (iuma stands for internet underground music archive) and uploaded this song ‘just for fun’ and forgot all about it.   The song received more than 1000 downloads and was also featured on a Easy Listening compilation by  kidantrimmusic.com, an independent label in New York, and aired on radio stations in the US.  Jagadeesh also recently composed and directed music for a school play which was adapted from Salman Rushdie’s “Haroun and The Sea of Stories”.  As Head of Events at Radio Indigo (till 2008) Jagadeesh was instrumental in conceptualising a number of international quality concert events, and almost single handedly reviving and putting together what is arguably Bangalore's finest and one of India's best Jazz Festivals - The Indigo & Blues Festival in 2007 - and in 2009 a 3 Day Jazz Festival at the UB City for the Bengaluru Habba.  Jagadeesh continues to network with musicians both locally and internationally as part of his events interest.

Karthik  Mani drummer, percussionist hails  from  a  family  of  musicians  –  his  father,  TAS Mani  is  a renowned  percussionist  of  "The Karnataka College of Percussion", and  his  mother R.A.Ramamani  is  a  reputed  ground  breaking  Carnatic  vocalist  who  has  performed all  over  the  world.    He  has  performed  in  Various  Prestigious  festivals  in  India,  China,  Spain, Germany, USA, Canada, and Australia.  He has performed with musicians like Louis banks, Karl peters, Keith Peters, Amith Heri,Ranjit Barot, Ramesh Shotham, Mike Herting, Carnatic maestro Mandolin U. Sreenivas   and  Carnatic  flute  Maestro  N. Ramani. For  the  past  few  years,  he  has  been  a  part  of  internationally-renowned  Carnatic percussion  ensemble  "Tala Tarangini"  (of  the  Karnataka College of Percussion), Laya Lahiri,  Vrushti,  Laya Taranga,and  Laya Milana Das.  He had been privileged in playing for an album with the internationally renowned Jazz legend Saxophonist the late "Charlie Mariano” for the album "Om Keshav" which was a success worldwide.  

He has performed  in  various  International  Music  Festivals.  "La Marde Musicas",  "Kispiox Valley Festival", "Islands Folk Festival", "Harrison Festival of the Arts ", and "Pacific Rim Summer Festival". Recently he performed at the “Ruhr Triennale” festival with the  African singer Mory Kante, Tunisian singer Dhafer Yousuf and Carnatic Vocalist Mrs Ramamani.  In  the  same  festival  he  also  played  with  Afro-Cuban percussionist  Mokhtar Samba and Japanese guitarist Paul Shigihara.  In  Switzerland  he  did  a  project  with  the  band  “Zoom” with  Lucas Niggli,  Trombonist Nils Wogram  and  Philip Shaufberger.    He  has  also  toured  with  the renowned percussion group “The Family of Percussion” with Peter Giger. Currently  he  is  the    percussionist  of  the award winning Indo-Canadian band "Lehera". 


 

Madhuri Jagadeesh–  Singer songwriter and co founder Madhuri’s vocals has influences from all over the world, but rooted in India. Inspired by Singers like Susheela Raman, Sheela Chandra, Ella Fitzgerald and Freddy Mercury to name a few. She began singing in school operatas and small musical productions since she was eight years old. She’s also been singing in pop and rock bands professionally since she was eighteen. She’s always loved the irreverent and open sound of jazz and finds it the most inclusive form of music and a universal mode of communication. Madhuri has found a niche in world music and is constantly looking to expand the scope and possibilities of this genre with new influences and sounds from around the world as she travels. Her other passions include public speaking, writing, drama, dance, art, craft and fashion. She's been in the field of learning and development. With her special area being communication, her other areas of interest include performing arts, fine arts and applied arts. She has begun work on an entrepreneurial venture to make things viable for her, those who work with her and those less privileged.

Prakash Sontakke –http://prakashsontakke.com  

Prakash is the son and disciple of Dr. R.B . Sontakke, a Doyen of the Gwalior Gharana and a direct disciple of the Legendary Pt. Omkarnath Thakur. Both of Prakash's parents were distinguished music teachers at the prestigious Benares Hindu University. Prakash has a triple masters degree in Hindustani classical music - guitar, vocals and violin. Greatly inspired and personally blessed by Pt Brijbhushan Kabra, the pioneer of Indian slide guitar, Prakash prefers to play the Gayaki Ang (vocal style) which recreates the emotion of the human voice on the instrument.He is equally at home jamming multi-cultural Funk in concert with triple Grammy winners, Ozomatli as he is exchanging phrases with North and South Indian classical virtuosi, opening for Rock Legend Jethro Tull or jurying auditions and training India's young future singing stars.Prakash performs internationally, and his Classical Guitar concerts have been broadcast on All India Radio. Recipient of the prestigious Aryabhatta and Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai awards, his creative explorations in Jazz and World music are deeply underlined by his classical training. He was awarded a scholarship from the Indian Department of Culture for his second instrument, the violin , and gives lectures and workshops on classical Indian music and slide guitar at home and abroad. Prakash has traveled and performed overseas in Spain and Canada with various international  groups such as Arya, Lehera.  Recently, Lehera has the distinction of winning the world fusion award from the Independent Music Awards NY for their instrumental Heartsky, from judges like Peter Gabriel, Kylie Minogue, beating four hundred thousand entries worldwide. In Nov 2010, Prakash toured Norway with"FOOD" on a tour of Norway (progressive Electronic Jazz crossover ) where he performed with British Saxophone Legend Ian Ballamy and the phenomenal Norwegian Drummer Thomas Stronen .Occassionally they also have Eivind Aarset a legendry Guitarist and virtuoso

Wilson Kenneth 

Kenneth Wilson, known as Kenny is a young and phenomenally talented bass player, keenly honing his skills in jazz sensibilities.  Kenny began by learning to play lead guitar with various bands in college. But the percussive nature and tonality of bass guitar playing was magnetic and Kenny found himself attracted more and more towards bass playing.  Kenny found the ideal combination with a young group called Caesar's Palace which chose to stay away from the typical rock format that many young bands ventured into.  Instead, Caesar's Palace, backed by Kenny experimented with funk, fusion and soul with some original compositions as well as covers.  

 

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