Frank J. Natale Concert Series- Butter Chicken

Quinnipiac University's Frank J. Natale Concert Series is proud to present Butter Chicken, a six-piece acoustic ensemble that fuses the baraat tradition of Southeast Asia with modern jazz, funk, and improvised music influences. Founded in Chicago, the ensemble is co-led by dholi Kabir Dalawari, tubist Akshat Jain and trombonist Catie Hickey. Most recent season highlights include performances for the South Asia Institute, DePaul and Loyola Universities, and annual Holi celebrations for the city of Chicago.

Butter Chicken is a collaborative effort by musicians across several disciplines to explore the intersection of South Asian music, a baraat band, and a New Orleans-style brass band. Butter Chicken explores South Asian cultural practices in music to study how to blend the sounds of traditional South Asian music with musical genres that are more modern and American. We play with a wide range of emotions, from introspective and meditative to upbeat dance music. Led by Catie Hickey (trombone, arranger), Kabir Dalawari (Dhol), and Akshat Jain (Sousaphone), the group features a rotating cast of musicians from the Chicago area, including Kyle Brooks (saxophones), Karli Bunn (saxophones), Constantine Alexander (trumpet), Millie Ahern (trumpet) and Gustavo Cortiñas Fouilloux (drums). In our first full season, we enjoyed performing at the Global Peace Picnic and South Asia Institute. In 2022, the band was awarded a 2022 IAP Grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), which enabled us to collaborate with Rahul Sharma and Maninder Singh from Funkadesi.

Host or Publisher Frank J. Natale Concert Series, Quinnipiac University