Next Monday 10 August, at Silvana in New York City, a Luxembourg-born musician Achal Murthy will feature in the line-up of the Harini S. Rghavan band performing at the venue.
Described as a world music set of Rock & Electronic infused with Indian music, the band comprises Harini S. Raghavan (vox/violin/electronics), Aleif Hamdan (guitar), Achal Murthy (bass) and Ranajoy Das (drums/cajon).
Harini S. Raghavan hails from Chennai, India and has been trained in South Indian Classical (Carnatic) vocal and violin since childhood. In Chennai, she has numerous performances and recordings to her credit, a notable one being recording voice for a a jingle for A.R.Rahman, Oscar winning composer of Slumdog Millionaire. Since coming to Berklee she has been an active writer, performer and producer of the bands Trandcention and Invisible Techniques, and is a featured soloist and choir member of the Berklee Indian ensemble. She has performed at the Boston Symphony Hall as a part of the Final Fantasy concert 2013 as well as A.R.Rahman Meets Berklee concert 2014. She has been collaborating with various students and faculty and has performed at the International Folk Festival 2014. She was part of the choir that recorded for Grammy award winning composer Bill Whelan and has collaborated on campus with Seven-time Latin Grammy award winner Javier Limón. She received the Peter Gabriel Production award from the Berklee Electronic Production & Design department for her production skills and the Voice department achievement award for Spring 2015. She is also a freelance composer and sound designer who has an avid interest for animation and games.
Achal Murthy was born and raised in Strassen in Luxembourg Strassen. His musical journey through the many facets of the bass guitar started in 2008. That same year he attended the Jazz Department of the Luxembourg National Conservatory, under the guidance of Gast Walzing, David Laborier, Guy Cabet and Jacques Pirotton. Upon finishing his electric bass studies with Romain Heck, Achal took up the upright bass, commencing his studies with Marc Demuth at the Conservatory of Echternach. Mainly focusing on Jazz, Murthy developed a keen interest in a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from progressive hard rock, traditional folk and of course classical music. Murthy is currently studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Originally, concentrating on Jazz composition and performance, Murthy has lately discovered his love for Music Therapy which he continues to explore and develop. www.achalmurthy.com
Achal Murthy will also be performing in two other venues in New York, on 27 August and 3 September.
