Vatsal Dave - Sitar
Aditya Phatak - Tabla
Come join us at the Chhandayan Center for an afternoon Sitar concert performed by Vatsal Dave accompanied by Aditya Phatak on tabla. The concert will also be streamed live.
Vatsal Dave
Based in Dallas, Texas, Vatsal Dave is one of North America’s leading sitarists and a direct disciple of Padma Bhushan awardee Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee, one of the foremost living exponents of the Imdadkhani gharana and the gayaki style of sitar playing. Under Pt. Mukherjee’s rigorous guidance — first at the Rotterdam World Music Conservatory and through continued study in Kolkata — Vatsal has dedicated over 25 years to mastering a tradition in which music is approached as a spiritual path rather than mere performance.
His musical journey began in Ahmedabad, India, under Ghulam Rasul Khan, an All-India Radio artist and disciple of Ustad Rais Khan. He performs regularly across the United States and India, presenting North Indian classical ragas, Sufi devotional music, and thoughtful world fusion in immersive, deeply expressive concerts.
Vatsal leads the ensemble Brahma Nada, which brings this living tradition to weddings, corporate events, festivals, and intimate gatherings. He has collaborated with Grammy Award-winning musician Art Greenhaw on the world fusion album Lone Star Sitar, available on Spotify and Apple Music. He is also the founder of the Saraswati School of Music in Dallas and the author of the book Sitar 101, available on Amazon Kindle.
Aditya Phatak
A highly sought-after performer of tabla, Scotch Plains native Aditya was initially inspired by his grandfather Deepak Phatak and guided by his uncle Shivraj Phatak. For more than fifteen years, Aditya has been developing his tabla under the loving mentorship of Pt. Samir Chatterjee. Over that time, Aditya has performed at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Woodstock Drum Boogie Festival, and the BRM "Ragas Live" festival. Notably, Aditya's tabla was featured in the Grammy-nominated song “Abundance in Millets”, commissioned by Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi and written by Indian-American singer-songwriters Falu and Gaurav Shah. Aditya is also an accomplished jazz drummer and Hindustani vocalist, having studied Hindustani Classical vocal music with Smt. Rucha Jambhekar, and more recently, under the guidance of Shri Kiran Lele. Aside from music, Aditya is a senior at Columbia University studying Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.