Join Kaya Press and the USC Visions & Voices Arts & Humanities Initiative for a night of incredible artistic collaboration: Legendary South Asian musicians and poets will come together to celebrate and investigate the rich diversity of South Asian spiritual influences. From ghazals set to music and sung throughout the Muslim world to Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize–winning Gitanjali (Prayer Offering of Song), collaborations between poets and musicians have been a staple of South Asian religious life for centuries. In Mughal courts, nightly mehfils brought these performers together and elevated their collaborations to high art. This tradition will get a 21st-century update in a landmark evening featuring performances by internationally renowned diasporic South Asian artists including Sufi-influenced rock guitarist Salman Ahmad, vocalist and ten-string double-violin master Gingger Shankar, Mumbai-based electronic musician Bandish Projekt and hip hop artist and producer Brooklyn Shanti in collaboration with award-winning poets Kazim Ali, Tarfia Faizullah, Bhanu Kapil, Mandeep Sethi and Amarnath Ravva.The evening will be hosted by comedian/writer/performance artist D’Lo.

Mehfil Massive: South Asian Religions Remixed Through Poetry and Music

Wednesday April 23, 2014 | 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Bovard Auditoirum, University of Southern California (3551 Trousdale Parkway Los Angeles, CA 90089)

 Admission is free. Reservations required. RSVP at the links below. 

USC Students, Staff and Faculty: To RSVP, click here.
General Public: To RSVP, click here.

For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu