CONCERT BOOKINGemail: info@batish.com BAND MEMBERSAshwin Batish, Keshav Batish, Meena Batish, Myron Dove, Eliot Nemzer, Murray Low, Andrew Foehner, David Harnish +special guests always!RECORD LABELBatish Records, Santa Cruz, California, USA, (ASCAP)
2012 CD RELEASESCONCERT PICS |
Upcoming Concerts | Biography & Discography | Media Reviews | Electronic Press KitAll Music Guide | All Music Guide | World Music Review | A Concert Review | Sitarzan Ashwin Batish | More .....Must watch!! Sitar Trek Live - Space Fusion that is out of this world :) Watch on youtube and please share this video on your facebook pages!! It's 10 minutes of pure fun. It's my first video in full HD thanks to my friend Rigo Torkos. Featured soloists: Myron Dove on Bass, Murray Low on Keyboards, Keshav Batish on Drums and yours truly Ashwin Batish on sitar and Tabla. On rhythm guitar Eliot Nemzer, Congas Andrew Foehner, and on flute Barbara Christmann. Place is the Kuumbwa Jazz center. Thanks to Brad Kava of Patch for the writeup!! More live concert clips coming soon.Ashwin Batish is an extraordinary sitarist and tabla player. He received training in the North Indian classical tradition from his father S.D. Batish and later created his own unique fusion of Indian classical sitar with pop, rock, jazz, calypso, funk... an example of a few hybrids he excels at. He is famous for such songs as the Bombay Boogie, Raga Rock, Raga Jazz, Casbah Shuffle and Sitar Mania. His pioneering efforts in worldbeat music have earned him critical reviews and great respect in the music community.
Ashwin is also very well know for being an educator. His series of instructional videos for the sitar, tabla, dilruba, dholak, vichitra veena, harmonium that he has produced with his father Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish have become a very sought after commodity by the Indian music student. Ashwin often gives private and group Indian music lessons at his Santa Cruz, California USA facility and is often called upon by various music festivals and universities to perform his sitar and be a guest lecturer for weekend workshops and seminars on Indian music and ethnopop, raga rock sitar fusion.
" "Whether or not you’re familiar with the music, your mind is likely to be delightfully blown by what Batish creates."" Tara Jepsen, SF Weekly, 2010
" "This fusion is out of this world and ready to be heard everywhere. .... They were like waves of music crashing, one Indian, one Western and then both together. It was breathtaking." Brad Kava - Patch April, 2012
" “You could call it sambas, or Afro-Cuban, but it's beat music—with exotic, more cultural melodies on top,” says Batish, who describes the blend as “World Beat.” “You gotta get up and dance,” he says. “I think we don't, as a society, make it convenient enough for people to relax. With music we find an opportunity to escape … I can take my music and relax somebody, or put a smile on their face; they actually break out of their shell and share. They take a journey with me.” TREVOR STONEHOUSE - Good Times Santa Cruz
"Ashwin Batish has broken out of the classical Indian music mold into an electronic and electrifying style that is modern in every sense, but does not lose the melodic and often mysterious sound of India. In his way, he is making Indian music more accessible to the Western listener, bringing this music to the ears of people who otherwise would not make the effort to listen to more traditional players, such as Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar Khan. He is bringing great music to all of us." Mary McCaslin - Santa Cruz Sentinel
"His trademark “sitar power”–which appears on the cap that he usually sports–was coined during this period. There is a strongly spiritual and even a metaphysical quality to the way he describes music. “You are by your very nature tuned like an instrument,” said Ashwin, “That is why music is so beautiful . . . With my sitar, if I play the top notes the bottom notes vibrate–it is called sympathetic vibration. In the same way, your body has sympathetic nerves that are already in you so that when you hear music they sympathize and this is how you can react . . . There is no theory behind why we do it; it is just in us. It is one of the laws of nature I would say . . . Literally we are all vibrations, so that is why a bunch of notes that are attractive to you are actually a part of you . . . You are a part of it and it is a part of you.”" Sarah Lin Bhatia, California Diaspora The sitar is ageless in Ashwin's hands. It is souped up for amplification and effects! Try to catch one of Ashwin's electric performances. His music is as dynamic as his stage presence. Ashwin's son, Keshav, is only 14 years old but he is already a powerful tabla player, a phenomenal Trap drummer, and a truly amazing Santoor player. He has been studying music with Ashwin since birth! Some of his other favorite instrument of study are sitar, surbahar, mridangam and singing. He is a natural and he lights up the stage with his presence. Here is a recent review on Keshav's drumming .........
Mark your calendars so you don't miss one of their live performances!
PAST PERFORMANCESWinnipeg Folk Festival, Canada / ISIM International Festival and Conference, USA / Vancouver Folk Festival, Canada / Montreal Jazz Festival, Canada / Earthsong Festival, Hamilton, Canada / Womad Festival, Toronto, Canada / Oxfam Worldfest, California, USA / World Music Festival, Michigan, USA / Quebec International Music Festival, Canada / Nassau Community College Folk Festival, New York, USA / Worldbeat Festival, Ottawa, Canada / National Arts Center, Ottawa, Canada / Club Nu, Miami, Florida, USA / Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, USA / New Jazz Festival, Moers, Germany / UCSC Performing Arts Theatre, USA / The Independent Club, San Francisco, California, USA / Wetlands Preserve, NY, USA. Opened for Big Brother and the Holding Company / Johnny D's, Somerville, MA, USA / WorldOne Music Festival, California / Great American Music Hall, California, USA / SOBs (Sounds of Brazil), NY, USA / San Jose Chamber Orchestra / Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California / Kuumbwa Jazz Center, , Santa Cruz, California / Joshua Tree Music Festival, California /
SOME RECENT PERFORMANCESDate Venue Location Headliner 05/15/2010 Le Petit Trianon Th... San Jose, CA Taylor Igesti - tabla 12/05/2011 UCSC Recital Hall Santa Cruz, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 12/28/2011 The Independent San Francisco, CA Open for Cracker - Worldbeat 07/31/2011 Don Quixote's Felton, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 10/23/2011 Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 12/18/2011 KPIG Radio's "Plea... Freedom, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 01/07/2012 Kali Ray Triyoga Ce... Santa Cruz, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 01/28/2012 Cabrillo College Aptos, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 02/11/2012 KKUP 91.5 FM Santa Clara, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 03/23/2012 Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 03/24/2012 Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 03/25/2012 Asian Art Museum San Francisco, CA Ashwin Batish - Traditional 04/08/2012 KPIG Radio's "Plea... Freedom, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 04/08/2012 KPIG 107.5 FM Watsonville, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 04/12/2012 KSCO 1080 AM Santa Cruz, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 04/14/2012 Kuumbwa Jazz Center Santa Cruz, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat 05/20/2012 Joshua Tree Music Fest Santa Cruz, CA Sitar Power - Worldbeat
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UPCOMING CONCERTSSunday November 18, All DayAsian Art Museum San Francisco, CA PAST CONCERTSFriday Sept 21st, 5:30pm UN International Peace Day! World Cup Soccer Center 27301 La Paz Rd, Mission Viejo, CA 92692
Sunday, Sept 23rd, 2pm
Thursday Sept 27th, 7pm
Saturday Sept 29th, 7pm
BATISH PRODUCTSfor kids |