DMV Fankaar Ensemble

Shilpa’s musical foundation was laid as a child in Mumbai when she learnt Hindustani classical music under Pdt. D V Jadhav. Throughout her school and college years, she performed in numerous classical and light vocal concerts and competitions. Just before moving to the US to work as a physical therapist, she had also started making forays into Bollywood by sharing stage, and interacting, with eminent personalities like Sudesh Bhosale and Anu Malik. Shilpa was fortunate to be able to continue with light music performances in the USA and has enjoyed performing with various local groups. She enjoys singing all varieties of light music equally - from semi classical and devotional, to ghazals, to golden oldies as well as latest pop and dance hits.

Farid Mahmood learned music first from Ustad Hamid Hussein for about 10 yrs and competed in multiple categories and won first prize in Solo Duets Thumri ghazal and Bhajan categories. He has done multiple special performances in the finale of the competitions. Still he is a student of music and enjoys listening to music. Sur Bahaar formed about 10 yrs ago with Rakesh Mathur and Farid Mahmood, have done several live shows in DMV area.

Sangeeta Mathur Simlote is a passionate singer who eats and breathes Hindi filmy music. Sangeeta is a singer trapped in a physician's body. A professional singer who has been performing on stage for many years in the Washington DC area. Her idol is Lata Mangeshkar. Though Golden era music is her passion. She firmly believes in music as an ongoing learning experience, and we continue to learn every day. She has learnt classical and semi-classical music from Shankar Mahadevan Academy for several years, and will continue to learn while focusing on filmy sangeet performances. She comes from a musical family. Sangeeta created the group Sur Dhanuk in Jun 2016, for passionate Hindi filmy singers in the DC metropolitan area, to bring the talented area singers under one roof. The mission of this group was to showcase Hindi film music and raise funds for charitable organizations in the USA and in India.Sur Dhanuk has not only organized live stage shows, but also over 50 online shows during the pandemic. I am fortunate to have had the pleasure of working with some very talented local artists.

Parasuram Iyer also known as Shridhar to friends & family is the founder of the Clarksburg MD MUSIC Group, a fledgeling community-based genre, language and age agnostic Music group that welcomes all who have a desire to move their musical journey forward with open hands. Clarksburg MD MUSIC Group's sole objective is to help those whose Musical journey may have taken a back seat in life and it does that with no strings attached. Parasuram is an avid follower of Indian Music, both Classical and Non-Classical. Hailing from the land of Movies, Bollywood / Mumbai, Parasuram, grew up with memories of singing songs of his idol, Mohammed Rafi sahab. He is a Hindustani Vocal student at the Shankar Mahadevan Academy for the past 10 years. Parasuram was the winner of the 2014 DCSAFF Karaoke Bollywood competition (Duet category) as well as the 2015 Karuna Charities Talent competition ( Male Solo category). Parasuram has participated in several Musical events locally in the Washington DC area. He has a penchant for helping others and considers that his calling.

Alok Srivastava, founder Sound Affair, is an IT management professional who is a passionate singer & guitarist. Trained under veteran music director Robin Bannerji in Kolkata, Alok performs on Hindi and Bengali film songs and Ghazals with equal ease & finesse. In the past he has been a regular performer in live singing shows in CT/NY/NJ and other cities on the East Coast. Sound Affair is a talented group of trained & professional singers/musicians/anchors that specialize in performing Hindi film songs and Ghazals on live stage as well as karaoke and online show formats. Since inception in 2014, our team has performed for a wide range of private musical events (ghazal nights, anniversaries, weddings, milestone birthdays, graduations) serving the greater Washington DC metro area. Sound Affair has conducted professional fundraising concerts for global charity organizations like Akshaya Patra.

Host or Publisher DC SOUTH ASIAN ARTS COUNCIL INC