The Alaya Project is the essential bridge between the intricate Carnatic style of Indian classical music and contemporary jazz and funk. Born in the cultural bastion of Oakland, California, The Alaya Project explores new textures and perspectives built over two decades of friendship, dialogue, and musical immersion across genres and continents. The driving hybrid kit grooves of Indian percussionist and drummer, Rohan Krishnamurthy, the soulful Ragas and melodies of Prasant Radhakrishnan on saxophone, and the harmonic bedrock of Colin Hogan embodies the permanence of a changing soundscape.
The Alaya Project
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 7 – 8:15 PM
1395 Presidents’ Cir, Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Call: (801) 581-7100
Indian-American percussionist, composer, and educator Dr. Rohan Krishnamurthy is one of the leading voices of Indian classical and cross-genre music in the South Asian diaspora. Acclaimed a “musical ambassador” and “pride of India” by The Times of India, Rohan’s cross-cultural artistry draws from his formal study of south Indian classical Carnatic music, at once propagating the ancient tradition and expanding it across global genres.
Having received initial training on the mridangam with Damodaran Srinivasan in his hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, he continued advanced training from legendary maestro Sri. Guruvayur Dorai in Chennai, India. Rohan’s prolific artistry also explores the intersections of Indian percussion and contemporary jazz and funk drum set. He studied drum set with Alan Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory. His new hybrid kit bridges drum set and Indian percussion, and stick and hand drumming more broadly.
Rohan is the recipient of prestigious international awards and grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Foundation, and Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). Rohan received grants from ACTA and the Ali Akbar College of Music to undertake a cross-genre endeavor with tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri to study extended techniques on tabla, and adapt Carnatic and Hindustani rhythmic repertoire across mridangam and tabla. He was awarded a Virtual Residency in 2021 from the Goethe Institute (Germany) to explore new techniques in South Indian and Western percussion. An innovator, Rohan designed and patented a new drumhead tuning system that is now available worldwide.
Prasant Radhakrishnan is a versatile saxophonist steeped in both South Indian Classical (Carnatic) and jazz disciplines. The unique vocal texture of his sound on saxophone, noted for its expressive complexity and rhythmic ingenuity, reflects Prasant’s continued study of tradition, constant innovation, and vast concert experience over the past 23 years.
The foremost disciple of Carnatic saxophone pioneer, “Padmashri” Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, Prasant began developing his music over the course of nearly a decade of intensive musical training under his guru, much of which took place in the traditional gurukulam format of complete immersion. Waking at 5am each morning in his teacher’s home and practicing through the day under his guidance, Radhakrishnan was initiated into the world of Carnatic music in a format seldom available today in India, much less in his native Arizona. The rigor of this training, followed by the privilege of accompanying his teacher on stage in hundreds of concerts in subsequent years, fostered a deep understanding of Carnatic music.
In 2010, Radhakrishnan was awarded a Zellerbach grant for the creation of new compositions performed by VidyA in 2011 and will be included in VidyA’s anticipated second album, already recorded. He has also collaborated with a variety of Bay Area artists in various fields, such as Indian classical dance artists Natya, Charlotte Moraga and Rina Mehta. In a 2010 artist residency with Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) Radhakrishnan and Mehta created original work combining Kathak dance with Carnatic, Hindustani and jazz musical traditions culminating in a grand collaborative performance there in May 2010. He has since received grants from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Sparkplug Foundation and SF Friends of Chamber Music for his original work.
Prasant’s exceptional approach to his music and instrument has been witnessed in a diverse range of venues and locations around the world: from concert halls in India and jazz venues in Japan, to concerts, cultural festivals, and lecture demonstrations all over North America. Prasant has also lectured in several universities in the U.S., including U.C. Berkeley, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Chicago, and Wellesley among others.
Colin Hogan, is one of The Hogan Brothers – Steve (bass), Colin (keyboards), and Julian (drums) – who are a jazz fusion trio based in Oakland, California. Their influences, while rooted in American styles such as Jazz, Funk, R&B, and Pop, are also informed by many international styles such as Timba, Tango, Gamelan, Highlife, Soukous, Afro-pop, North Indian Classical music and much more. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the brothers credit their parents (Jim & Maddie) for their diverse musical upbringing, exposing them to a plethora of international musical styles at young ages.
They were fortunate not only to take advantage of the wide variety of excellent music programs available in the Bay Area (Berkeley High Jazz, Young Musicians Program, Cal State East Bay Music, UC Berkeley Ethnomusicology), but also had the opportunity to study internationally with master musicians in such countries such as Indonesia, Cuba, Ghana, and Brazil. The brothers are collectively involved in many projects and have performed extensively throughout the US and internationally (Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Barbados).
They have performed with many great artists/projects such as: Goapele, James Moody, Hugh Masekela, Peter Erskine, Tommy Igoe, Larry Graham, Bob Brookmeyer, Roy Ayers, Josh Jones, Goapele, Maria Schneider, Bobby Brown, Evan Rachel Wood, Keith Terry, Victor Wooten, Latoya London, Dave Chappelle, Crosspulse, Dynamic, Adam Theis, Jazz Mafia, and O-maya. The Hogan Brothers continue to perform and study internationally, always seeking to broaden their audience and sound.