J.J. Gregg & Pavan Kanekal

Soaring sounds of the Sitar combine with the intricate & funky beats of the Tabla to take your spirit on a fantastic journey. J.J. Gregg & Pavan Kanekal bring their combined 50 years of music to entrance and elevate your heart.

About the musicians

J.J. Gregg and Pavan Kanekal first started playing together as a duo in 2018, with a few concerts in 2019, a pandemic hiatus, and their first album together, 're-cycling,' released in 2022. They met up for a week of rehearsals and recording at Electrical Audio in Chicago in May 2023, which produced their 2024 album Ease & Flow. As part of the album release, they have a short Pacific Northwest tour planned in October 2024. They are currently recording new material for a follow-up to Ease & Flow, due in 2026.

A dynamic yet meditative sitar player, J.J. Gregg performs improvised and pre-composed music. Trained in India by sitar guru Ustad Usman Khan, J.J. takes his experience performing western classical, experimental, and jazz music and marries it to the traditional world of the sitar. Based in Salem, Oregon, JJ has performed on the sitar in India, Japan, Thailand, and throughout the U.S.

Pavan Kanekal began his tabla training at age 7 in Bangalore, India, and continued studying while growing up in the San Francisco Bay area. Pavan has trained with accomplished tabla players such as Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Ustad Zakir Hussain, and Shri Anubrata Chatterjee. Based in Sterling Heights, Michigan, he teaches tabla to learners of all ages.

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