Compelling tāl (rhythms) of the Northern Indian drum with the mellifluous rāg (melodies) of the Southern Indian classical violin.

PURNAPRAJNA BANGERE

Purnaprajna comes from an important school of violin players in India. He had rigorous training under the well-known south Indian violinist and a teacher of great repute HKN Murthy. HKN Murthy is the student of the legendary Indian musician M. S. Gopalakrishnan. Purnaprajna is a representative of his school, and follows the style of music known as the Parur system, characterized by high technical virtuosity and musicianship. In the last few years, he has been invited to give solo recitals in the prestigious music festivals such as the Learnquest music festival in Boston, the Cleveland Music festival and the Toronto Music festival. Purnaprajna has recently come up with a geometric framework to explore integration of various genre and is currently working on this with David Balakrishnan, the director of the well known musical group Turtle Island String quartet, which has won several Grammy awards. He is a professor of Mathematics and Music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

PHIL HOLLENBECK

Phil Hollenbeck’s pakhawaj studies began in 1969, at age 22, under Mahant Pt. Amarnath Mishra of Sankat Mochan Mandir, Varanasi.
He has lived for extended periods in India on five occasions over the years, and has received training under 6 renowned master drummers of the North Indian tradition. A substantial amount of training also was undertaken in USA. While in India, Phil received Dhrupad accompaniment training from Dagar family of vocalists.
In 1997, at age 50, he began formal training in the Odissi style tradition of Mardala, and have received teachings from 3 master drummers of Odisha.
At present Phil is working actively in both the North Indian and Odissi styles, notably with Kathak dance and Odissi dance, as well as Dhrupad and instrumental music, including fusion projects.
Based in New Mexico, USA, Phil travels nationally and internationally.