Rafiq Bhatia
“one of the most intriguing figures in music today."
New York Times
“one of the most intriguing figures in music today."
New York Times
We welcome composer, producer, and guitarist, Rafiq Bhatia (member of Son Lux) with electroacoustic trio including Ian Chang (Son Lux, Joan As Policewoman) and Jackson Hill (Xenia Rubinos).
Bhatia is the first-generation American son of Muslim immigrant parents who trace their ancestry to India by way of East Africa. Early influences such as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Madlib—as well as mentors and collaborators including Vijay Iyer and Billy Hart—prompted him to see music as a way to actively shape and represent his own identity, not limited by anyone else’s prescribed perspective.
Bhatia’s embrace of the electronic realm bolsters his ability to express hybridity. At times, he uses the studio to destabilize, twisting the stereotypes of Indian music he heard as a child into noise beyond recognition. But frequently, he exaggerates the human qualities of the sound he mines, conveying intimacy and tension through elements many producers would scrub clean.
Presented by Seresin
