Ustad Habib Khan
Sitarist - Musician - Music Director - Producer

"...Resoundingly entrancing" says BAM Magazine. "...Fusion...in favor of ensemble fluidity, which has a seductive and serpentine appeal" - SF Bay Guardian.

Ustad Habib Khan is regarded as one of the best sitar players in the world today. He was born into a family of musicians and can trace his lineage back several generations to when classical music enjoyed the patronage of the nobility and royalty of India. He began his training at the tender age of five under the strict eye of his accomplished father, Ustad Hameed Jaffar Khan. The Jaffar Khan family was from Indore and were well known for their unique style of playing the sitar, melding the effect of the human voice and the instrumental tone into a harmonious whole.

Habib Khan has carved out a distinct style of his own which is a blend of his father's traditional techniques and his own imaginative innovations.
He is as much at ease with light classical and religious music as he is with pure classical renderings of raagas. Habib Khan lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs all over the world. He has composed music for several CD ad performed with world class musicians including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit Ramesh Misra, Pandit Vikku Vinayakram, Hamze Aul Din and others. He composed Fire Dance (With Pat Martino, Zakir Hussain, Peter Block, and Ilya Rayzman). He also produced music for a yoga video series by Vasanti Bhat.

Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
Tabla

Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri's parents initiated his formal musical training and inspired him in the field of tabla, at the age of five. Swapan bases his style on the intensive training he received from his guru, Pandit Santosh Krishna Biswas of Calcutta, the eminent exponent of the Lucknow Gharana. Swapan Chaudhuri is an eminent tabla player whose musical accomplishments have earned him world renown. In 1981, Ali Akbar Khan invited him to come to the U.S. from Calcutta and teach at the College. Swapan holds a Master's degree in Music and has received honors and awards from the Government of India and other institutions. He developed his skill as an accompanist through years of accompanying Ali Akbar Khan. As a soloist and accompanist, he has also travelled throughout the world, accompanying many of the leading musicians of India. Swapan is associated with various American Universities as a visiting professor. He is also a faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts.