Vermonters Jake Charkey and Joel Veena present Indian music on cello and slide guitar at NextStage Arts Saturday June 25

Saturday, June 25th at 7:30pm at NextStage Arts in Putney, Vermont, two Indian classical musicians from Vermont will present a concert of evening ragas played on the cello and 20-stringed Indian slide guitar. Jake Charkey and Joel Veena both hail from the Brattleboro area and have spent more than a decade studying the oral tradition of the music from their respective teachers in India. They are both among the only American musicians performing Hindustani classical music on stages throughout India as well as the US and Europe. The hour long performance will feature a contemporary repertoire of ragas and light classical dhuns accompanied by the expert tabla-playing of Mir Naqibul Islam and will be followed by a performance of the Arun Ramamurthy Trio; a South Indian jazz fusion project. Tickets are available from NextStageArts.org and at the door.

Indian classical music is an oral tradition, taught through direct interaction with a guru or teacher, and both Joel and Jake have spent extensive time living within this tradition; traveling to India to tour and study. Jake Charkey is a protege of the famous violinist N Rajam from Mumbai. After finishing an MFA in Indian music from CalArts, he spent 6 years in India studying Indian classical music and working as a session musician and arranger in the Bollywood film industry. Joel Veena has been traveling to India every year since 2007 to study and perform and is currently learning from sarod master Alok Lahiri from Howrah.

Both musicians play instruments uncommon to Indian classical music: the cello and 20-stringed Indian slide guitar. Jake has worked closely alongside N Rajam to adapt a definitive style of playing the vocal style of music, called gayaki ang, to the cello. Alongside his work rendering raga in a traditional format, he is actively commissioning and performing new works by western composers that incorporate these sounds. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. Jake’s work in Bollywood includes string arrangements for the Emmy award nominated show “Sacred Games” and his playing has been featured on MTV’s Coke Studio and Indian MTV Unplugged. Similarly, Joel has adapted the playing style of the Indian sarod to the Indian slide guitar. The Indian slide guitar developed when Hawaiian musicians brought their slide guitar style to Kolkata in the 1940s. Joel's authentic treatment of raga and lyrical style has won him the support of the Indian classical music community, performing at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Delhi and for over twenty thousand people at the 2019 Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India. His music has been featured by Radio New Zealand, BBC Introducing and NPR.

The concert on June 25 will be the first time that Jake Charkey and Joel Veena are performing together. They will present a program of contemporary North Indian classical music starting with a raga and followed by shorter compositions called 'dhuns'. The exposition of the raga will feature multiple movements played in fluid duet style between the slide guitar and cello, including compositions from the traditional repertoire and pieces composed by Joel and his teacher Alok Lahiri. The tabla accompaniment of Mir Naqibul Islam ties it all together; Mir is among the most sought-after accompanists in New York and is a representative of the Farukhabad style of tabla playing, learned from Bangladeshi tabla master Ashoke Paul. His blistering solos and sensitive grooves reflect a modern tabla sound influenced by the melting pot of music cultures in New York but rooted in the traditional.

World-traveling musicians Jake Charkey and Joel Veena return home to share the music they have been pursuing at the highest levels for over more than a decade. Come to NextStage Arts on June 25 to experience the depth and range of emotions of Indian raga played on cello and Indian slide guitar and brought to an exciting climax with the tabla-accompaniment of Mir Naqibul Islam.

For more information: JoelVeena.com, JakeCharkey.com, NextStageArts.org