MacPhail Presents: Ragas of India: Samarth Nagarkar – Khayal Ensemble
Khayal, the foremost form of North Indian classical music, is renowned for its intricate blend of melodic (ragas) and rhythmic (talas) improvisation. It offers listeners a deeply immersive and transformative experience. From serene, introspective moments to thrilling, ecstatic peaks, Khayal concerts traverse a vast emotional spectrum, captivating audiences with virtuosity and emotion.
MacPhail is thrilled to welcome vocalist Samarth Nagarkar, an artist whose mastery distinguishes him as a true custodian of this ancient tradition. Samarth’s profound command of Khayal—a genre celebrated for emphasizing creativity and spontaneity—sets him apart. Yet, his vision transcends classical boundaries. With a passion for exploring intersections between Khayal and other forms, such as jazz, Samarth embodies a rare blend of tradition and modernity, honoring the roots of Indian classical music while fearlessly pushing its boundaries.
Samarth’s Khayal ensemble features Samarth Nagarkar (Hindustani/North Indian classical voice), Suhail Yusuf Khan(sarangi), and Abhinav Sharma (tabla), with guest artists Michael Cain, MacPhail’s Director of Electronic Music Recording Arts (piano), and Isaac Rohr, Electronic Music Recording Arts faculty member (visual projection).
Samarth Nagarkar stands as one of the foremost ambassadors of Indian Raga music on the global stage. A supremely talented vocalist, educator, and author, I had the privilege of working with Samarth during the recording of sound samples for the Ekwe music app in New York last year. His generosity in contributing his voice, harmonium, and tanpura playing to our core music library is something we will always be grateful for.
Bringing Samarth to the Twin Cities for a performance at MacPhail is a rare and invaluable opportunity. His presence offers not just a performance, but an immersive experience for our community to engage with one of the finest exponents of Indian classical music today. It is a chance to witness the fusion of tradition and innovation, delivered by an artist of remarkable skill and insight.
-Michael Cain, Director of EMRA (Electronic Music Recording Arts) at MacPhail, Co-founder/CEO EKWE, Grammy-nominated jazz pianist
The concert’s visual projections, created by MacPhail faculty member Isaac Rohr, are presented in collaboration with the Goldstein Museum at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. These projections complement the museum’s exhibition, Narrative Threads: Embroidered Textiles from the Donald Clay Johnson Collection.
This exhibition delves into the history of embroidery and the transformation of textiles into cherished familial and community assets through the artful addition of hand-sewn threads. The geographical focus includes northern and western India and present-day Pakistan—regions central to Dr. Johnson’s collection and renowned for their diverse and intricate embroidery techniques.
The exhibition runs through December 21, 2024
About the Performers
Samarth Nagarkar
“An eminently talented virtuoso musician” – The Hindu
Samarth Nagarkar is a renowned Khayal musician (Hindustani /North Indian classical voice music) vocalist, educator, and author, regarded as a flag-bearer of raga music globally. His
Music is described as being richly traditional and emotive with a deep meditative,
introspective quality. He features in prominent music festivals and venues, including
Lincoln Center (New York), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) LearnQuest Conference (Boston), Central Park Summer
Stage (New York), ITC Sangeet Sammelan (Kolkata), Chicago World Music Festival, The Continuum Festival (San Francisco), Dakkhini Music Conference (Kolkata), and others.
He has several solo and collaborative
albums to his credit and has authored the much lauded book, ‘Raga Sangeet’.
Trained under distinguished gurus, Ulhas Kashalkar and Dinkar Kaikini, he represents
the Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur gharanas and is a former scholar of the ITC Sangeet
Research Academy, Kolkata. Samarth is a voting member of The Recording Academy, popularly known as the Grammys. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in
the Arts from NAKA, and a Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. He is one of the founding members of Brooklyn Raga Massive and co-curator of their Colors of Raga concert series.
Samarth presently runs Raga Sangeet Creative and is among the first to scale digital platforms like Patreon in the Indian classical music world, pioneering new avenues of audience engagement, music education and mentorship.
Learn more about Samarth at his website: SamarthNagarkar.com
Suhail Yusuf Khan is one of today’s leading exponents of Sarangi. He brings together expertise from a performance career that has extended over 25 years, a creative ability, and academic research to find new modes of expression in Hindustānī music. Trained under his grandfather, the pioneering sarangi maestro Sabri Khan, and uncle Kamal Sabri, Suhail carries forward a lineage of eight generations of musicians in his family. He is a PhD and Postdoctoral Associate Fellow at Yale Institute of Sacred Music for the Academic Year 2024-25. His doctoral dissertation, “Bridge Overtones: Lessons from the Sarangi” is the first in-depth ethnomusicological study of the North Indian bowed instrument tradition by a hereditary sarangi player. He has been featured on over twenty albums and signed to Domino records, U.K.
Abhinav Sharma has been playing Tabla and other percussion instruments for 20 plus years. He is a disciple of Pt. Anindo Chatterjee in India.
In theTwin Cities, he is under guidance of Dr. A Pavan.
Abhinav has been a part of various musical groups and has performed in many programs in India as well as the US.
He is a Software Engineer by profession and works for Amazon.com
Isaac Rohr (he/him)
Isaac aims to meet students where they’re at and give them a learning environment and guidance with no limits. Students can set the course and style of their own learning through open dialogue, ensuring that biases are minimized between teacher and student. Students learn to trust their instincts and follow their interests wholeheartedly to not only become a more sensitive musician/artist, but also a more sensitive person.
Isaac Rohr holds a Bachelor of Music – Music Composition from Brandon University and a Master of Fine Arts – Music Composition and Experimental Sound Practices from The California Institute of The Arts.
As a pianist and keyboardist, Michael Cain has had a prolific performance and recording career, appearing on albums for labels such as Blue Note, Warner Brothers, Universal, and ECM. Cain has worked with some of the most significant names in jazz and contemporary music, including Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, Terence Blanchard, Robin Eubanks, Pat Metheny, Charles Neville, Dave Holland, Bobby McFerrin, and Me’shell N’degeocello, for which he received two Grammy nominations as a pianist, keyboardist, and arranger.
Notable projects include composing the music for the films “Maybe” and “Real With Me” by director Carl Ford for Black Nexxus Films, serving as pianist and musical director for the Jose Limon Dance Company’s New York premiere of “Crossroads,” a collaboration between composer James Newton and choreographer Donald McKayle, and composing the music for the Broadway play “View from 151st Street,” which ran at the George Papp Public Theater in New York. Additionally, Cain was artist-in-residence at the University of Auckland, NZ during the summer of 2022, and during the spring of 2024, Cain collaborated with the Boston Ballet, composing electronic sound elements with Musical Director Mischa Santora and choreographer Ken Ossola for his world premiere of “The Space Between.” In September 2024, Cain was a featured artist at the Capão Jazz Festival in Bahia, Brazil, performing with his trio.
As an educator, Michael has held positions as a professor at the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Brandon University, and is currently the Director of the Electronic Music and Recording Arts program at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, MN. Michael is also Co-founder and CEO of Ekwe, a mobile-based, multicultural, digital music creation app that aims to redefine diversity, equity, and access to music creation and education.
Michael’s latest release is entitled Hoo Doo and is available on all streaming platforms.