Jan 13 2026 to Jan 13 2026 7 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

A jugalbandi for the new age!

This Hindustani concert brings together three musicians whose journeys converge at the frontier that is Indo-jazz. Saxophonist Phill Scarff, long associated with cross-cultural explorations, meets Bengaluru-based slide guitarist Dr. Prakash Sontakke, whose fluid phrasing draws from Hindustani grammar while remaining open to contemporary sound worlds. Tabla maestro Gurumurthy Vaidya completes the trio, grounding the dialogue with rhythmic depth and supple responsiveness.

What unfolds is a conversation through improvisation. The saxophone’s burnished tone, the gliding resonance of the slide guitar, and the intricate play of taal move between structure and freedom, tradition and risk. Rooted in classical sensibility yet shaped by jazz’s openness, the music charts a shared space where genres blur, listening deepens, and new possibilities quietly emerge.

Supported by:

Musicians

Phil Scarff
Saxophone
Phil Scarff is a pioneering soprano saxophonist known for bringing the nuance and depth of North Indian classical music to a Western instrument. Celebrated for performances described as highlights at festivals such as the Tansen Samaroh, he has appeared at major Indian classical platforms across India and internationally, from Dover Lane Music Conference to LearnQuest in Boston. He has shared the stage with icons including Ronu Majumdar, Kadri Gopalnath, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, and Chitravina Ravikiran. Equally at home in jazz, he features on forty-five acclaimed recordings and appears in the award-winning music video Vaishnav Jan To. His work reflects a lifelong commitment to listening deeply across traditions and letting sound travel freely between worlds.

Prakash Sontakke
Slide Guitar
Dr. Prakash Sontakke is an internationally acclaimed slide guitarist whose work reimagines the instrument through the expressive lens of Hindustani gayaki ang. The only slide guitarist from Karnataka, and the only Indian musician to receive both the Independent World Music Award and the Nashville Award for Composition, he is an A-grade artist of Akashvani and Doordarshan. With a doctorate in slide guitar and master’s degrees in vocal music, violin, and guitar, he has performed in over two thousand concerts worldwide. His collaborations span jazz, classical, and global fusion, including work with Grammy Award–winning artists and appearances on the ECM album Mercurial Balm. As Director of Hindustani Sangeet Vidyapeeth and a mentor at leading academies, he continues to expand the global language of Indian music.

Gurumurthy Vaidya
Tabla
Gurumurthy Vaidya, fondly known as the “Tabla Guru,” was born into a musically inclined family in Yallapura, in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, where rhythm was part of everyday life. Fascinated early by the complex patterns of Yakshagana, he began formal tabla training at the age of twelve, studying with Pandit G. G. Hegde and later Pandit Basavaraj Bendigere, before becoming a disciple of Pandit Ravindra Yavagal, whose guidance continues to shape his work. A graded artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has accompanied leading figures including Vidushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande and Pandita N. Rajam, and performed at major festivals in India and abroad such as Sawai Gandharva Festival Pune, Pt. Vasanth Rao Deshpande Smrithi Sangeeth Samaroh Nagpur, USA, Muscat, Dubai and Bahrain, to name a few. He is also known for popularising Laya Vinyasa and for mentoring the next generation through the guru–shishya parampara.