Ramya Shankar is a genre-blurring vocalist whose sound flows from deep Carnatic and folk music roots from India into the vibrant realms of jazz and global music. Her voice is a vessel for emotion, healing, and human connection—fusing improvisation, rhythm, and story. As a voice artist, composer, and producer, Ramya creates immersive sonic landscapes that speak to consciousness, culture, and the shared human experience such as Love, Grief, Courage Adventure, Joy etc..
Peter Barshay is a veteran bassist with a strong reputation built over decades of performing on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. He has collaborated with jazz luminaries such as Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Werner, Shirley Horn, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Blue Mitchell, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Johnny Griffin, and Bobby McFerrin. His sound reflects a lifetime of musical exploration—from salsa and straight-ahead jazz to fusion, avant-garde, and music rooted in Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions.
Varun Pattabhiraman is a Mridangist based in San Francisco, California. In addition to the mridangam, Varun explores hybrid acoustic and electronic percussion setups that include the khanjira, ghatam, konakkol, drum set and electronic drum pads. He regularly performs concerts in the Bay Area and is a member of fusion groups including the Sufi‑Rock band CaliQawwali.
Unpil Baek is a pianist, improviser, and composer whose music flows freely across jazz, classical, global, sacred, and experimental traditions. He also performs regularly with Vitamin Em, a chamber jazz collective known for its joyful, genre-bending performances that blend improvisation with classical and world music.
Zach Mondlick is a Berkeley-based drummer. He received his Masters of Music from Berklee College of Music, where he studied Contemporary Performance and Production. Zach is the music teacher for The Presentations School in Sonoma.
Together, they present a jazz crossover fusion set that journeys through songs from the Great American Songbook reimagined with a Carnatic sensibility, 15th-century Tamil poetry, and original compositions—offered with deep respect for the collective human experience.