Collaborators, Mehrnam Rastegari, Roshni Samlal & Jake Charkey explore currents of Hindustani Raga music & Persian Dastgah's modal and folk affinities. Join us for a night of Indo-Persian musical improvisation, with Jake Charkey bridging Hindustani & Western classical traditions on the cello, Kemenche virtuoso & composer Mehrnam Rastegari conjuring modern and centuries-old microtonal Persian melodies, and beatmaker Roshni Samlal on tabla.
Roshni Samlal is a tabla player, DJ, producer & curator. As a tabla artist, Roshni performs traditional tabla solos, classical accompaniment & also uses electronic music production and poetry as contexts to reframe the tabla solo within an experimental narrative lens. Roshni is the lead curator/producer of the Ragini Festival, which spotlights the work of artists engaged in traditional folk and innovative arts across the further reaches of the South Asian diaspora, with a focus on Indo-Caribbean heritage. Her DJ sets are rooted in her diasporic heritage as a Trinidadian immigrant during the 90’s, Global club, Bollywood, Chutney, Soca, Electronics, Dancehall, and Dub.
NYC-based Persian musician Mehrnam Rastegari is a master Kamancheh player, singer, violinist, and award-winning composer whose sound pushes Persian music into bold, modern directions. Her work threads Persian microtonal tradition through rock, psych, and contemporary styles, creating performances that feel deeply expressive. Her international stage credits include the Bill Gates Goalkeepers 2024 event with Jon Batiste, WOMEX, GlobalFest, Pitchfork Music Festival, Le Guess Who?, United Nations Headquarters, Into the Great Wide Open, Secret Planet/APAP, Ragas Live Festival, Montana Folk Festival, Crossing Border, Mutations, and many more. She is featured on Jon Batiste’s Grammy-nominated “World Music Radio” album and appears on Livaneli’s album “Rumi Suite.”
Jake Charkey is a pioneering cellist known for adapting the cello to Hindustani music, blending Indian classical traditions with contemporary genres. His unique sound has been featured in over 100 Bollywood soundtracks, the title theme of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Sacred Games, season 2 of MTV’s Coke Studio, and multiple episodes of MTV Unplugged. Described by composer Clinton Cerejo as someone who “redefines the sound of cello,” Jake has performed at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center. An advocate for new music, Jake received a New Music USA Creator Fund award in 2023 for his double album Rasika: Beyond the Bounded Territories, which merges Hindustani music with modern cello compositions. He has collaborated with legendary musicians such as Zakir Hussain, Hariharan, and Arijit Singh and serves as Education Director for Brooklyn Raga Massive.