The Bridge Series #1

Date: Saturday, March 1, 2025

Location: Williamsburg Art and Historical Center

Join us at the beautiful and historic WAH Center for this special performance of Hindustani music featuring:

SET 1:

Jake Charkey: a pioneering cellist known for adapting the cello to Hindustani music, blending Indian classical traditions with contemporary genres. His unique sound has been featured in over 100 Bollywood soundtracks, the title theme of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Sacred Games, season 2 of MTV’s Coke Studio, and multiple episodes of MTV Unplugged. Described by composer Clinton Cerejo as someone who “redefines the sound of cello,” Jake has performed at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center.

An advocate for new music, Jake received a New Music USA Creator Fund award in 2023 for his double album Rasika: Beyond the Bounded Territories, which merges Hindustani music with modern cello compositions. He has collaborated with legendary musicians such as Zakir Hussain, Hariharan, and Arijit Singh and serves as Education Director for Brooklyn Raga Massive.

SET 2:

Alec Goldfarb: a Brooklyn (NY) based Hindustani singer and composer. Her serene vocals, steeped in nostalgia and longing make for transcendental performances of the Urdu Ghazal, Hindavi folk and Punjabi Sufi Kalaam - often minimally arranged to stringed instruments like the classical guitar and Kora (African Harp). Currently a student of Ust. Abu Muhammad (Fareed Ayaz Qawwal, Delhi Bacchhon ka Gharana) and Pt. Sanjoy Bannerjee, her musical expression draws inspiration from Bibi Abida Parveen, Begum Akhtar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Farida Khanum, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan.

SET 3:

Ria Modak is a guitarist, composer, and historian from New York. She is a PhD student at Brown University, where she studies music and nationalism in India, and is a recent graduate of the dual degree program between Harvard College and the New England Conservatory. She has worked with Ali Sethi, Paquito D'Rivera, Vijay Iyer and others across the United States and South Asia, at venues including Joe's Pub, Roulette Intermedium, Carnegie Hall, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! and more.

Alec Goldfarb is a Downbeat Magazine award winning guitarist, composer, and Hindustani classical musician based in Brooklyn whose music is "full of ingenious juxtapositions and twists" (The Wire) with a penchant for "something like soliloquies" on the guitar (the Wall Street Journal). Active in the NYC jazz and new music communities, his work explores histories of migration, labor, and ritual.

An exponent of the Maihar Gharana, he performs globally with a guitar technique inspired by the sarod and sitar. Alec has premiered works by leading composers and played at Roulette Intermedium, The Jazz Gallery, and Asia Society NYC. He has worked with Anthony Braxton and the CMO at Darmstadt, JACK Quartet, and Patrick Bartley Jr. His recent projects include Fire Lapping at the Creek, The Tree of Heaven, and tours across Asia, North Africa, Europe, and the U.S.

In addition to the evening's performance, this event will include the opportunity to enjoy drinks and light snacks in the art gallery before and after the show, featuring our latest showcase!

For more information about the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, visit https://www.wahcenter.net/about/

Host or Publisher Williamsburg Art & Historical Center