Beautiful mix of how the Indian classical and western folk music has merged into a room filling vibrant and music that is both alive and bursting with energy but also delicately flowing like the sitar allows.
It was a performance by Haleigh Morgan Black - Violin Davis Little - Guitar Vishnu R - Navtar Percussionist was a friend who joined and improvised. It literally blew the steam off the roof..
BIC Blurb
Crossing genres and geographies, this performance is truly unique. The Vishnu, Davis & Haleigh project is a genre-defying crossover that brings together the richness of Indian ragas and rhythms with the expansiveness of American folk and jazz harmony into a shared soundscape. This collaboration began as a musical conversation across distance: between Appalachian folk traditions rooted in storytelling, the improvisational language of jazz, and the raga-based imagination of Indian classical music. Davis & Haleigh, a violin and acoustic guitar duo from Birmingham, Alabama, come together with Bengaluru-based Carnatic fusion artist Vishnu R—an award-winning performer and inventor of the Navtar—to explore what happens when distinct musical lineages meet without hierarchy, and with curiosity leading the way. Bridging traditions of the East and the West, the trio seamlessly blends Carnatic, folk, jazz, and blues, bringing centuries-old traditions into dialogue with innovative modern artistry. At the heart of the performance is dialogue: between strings and rhythm, structure and spontaneity, memory and invention. Davis & Haleigh’s intricate interplay is woven into Vishnu’s explorations on the Navtar, his self-designed nine-string instrument that merges fretted, fretless, and harp-like textures. Fresh from a US tour, this India and Southeast Asia debut carries music shaped by travel, trust, and attentive listening. Genres blur, and geographies dissolve, as music takes on a new form.
Songs they played:
Waypoint
B7
Headwind
The pilgrimage (bend)
Moksha - won award best composition
Kitchen girl
Jog (inspiration from karnatic)
Aadi
Maya by Shakthi tribute to zakkir hussain