Neel Agrawal & Michael Dwan Singh

Artist Statement

At MarbleHouse, Michael Dwan Singh and Neel Agrawal will embark on their first official collaboration as the Mirasi Collective. Historically, the mirasi were traveling groups of singers and actors; they would carry the news and cultural memory of the societies around them, traveling from village to village. While entertaining the masses, they also functioned as historians, revolutionaries, and even healers. Singh and Agrawal- taking a page from the mirasi playbook- will explore these ideas within the context of the South Asian diasporic sound. They will engage with the writings of older sufi saints (Shah Hussain, Abdul Qadir Jilani, Rabia) and modern poets like Irfan Malik and Amrita Pritam. Comedy and introspection will be the focus as they alchemize written words into musical performances- all under the backdrop of pulsing drum machines, tabla, sarangi, and synth grooves.

Neel Agrawal performing on Young the Giant's "American Bollywood" Tour at The Beacon Theater in New York City, in November 2022.

Bio

Neel Agrawal is a percussionist performing with leading musicians across a wide range of genres, including L. Shankar, Lord Huron, and Young the Giant. Neel received the 2021 COLA Individual Artist Fellowship and was recognized as an inaugural 2018 "Cultural Trailblazer" by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2022, Neel was presented with a Certificate of Recognition by the Mayor of LA, Eric Garcetti, for his initiatives in South Asian arts, education, archives, and advocacy. Additionally, he participated in “Celebrate the Connections”, an urban arts and education tour of India sponsored by the U.S. State Department, and completed a fellowship at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab for his groundbreaking research on African Drumming Laws. Neel was the section leader of the Michigan State University Drumline, where he received two national tenor drumming awards from Percussive Arts Society. He is the Director of Percussion at the Los Angeles International Music and Arts Academy (LAIMA).

www.neelagrawal.com

Michael Dwan Singh is one of a small handful of sarangi players in the US. He comes under the lineage of Ustad Sultan Khan, having studied with his senior student- Dr. Kashyap Dave. Over the past 12 years, he has accompanied classical vocalists, played festivals, and recorded for TV and film. Singh is also a producer and singer, and one half of the electronic duo- The Shadow Notes.

 ashram885.com