Master musician Nishaant Singh will play the pakhawaj, an ancient barrel - shaped, two headed drum associated with some of India’s most ancient classical music. This is a rare opportunity to hear this drum in the United States.  The pakhawaj drum is a harmonically rich instrument that forms the rhythmic backbone of Dhrupad, the oldest known vocal style of classical music.

Nishaant Singh, disciple of Pandit Chanchal Kumar Bhattacharya, is a celebrated pakhawaj player and the instrument’s torch bearer for his generation. He belongs to a famous traditional folk musical family in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, with a lineage of music that goes back four generations. Currently, Singh serves as a guest professor of pakhawaj in the Department of Cultural Affairs, Vidya Mandira College, in Kolkata, India. He is also a Fulbright Associate in pakhawaj, conducting research under the guidance of Maestro Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael.