Priya Darshini, House of Waters, Shahzad Ismaily, Chris Sholar · Performance

The closing set from our event on 30th March 2024, "Solidarity: Beyond the Disaster-Verse," at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, New York, capped off two stimulating panels and marked the close of Volume 2 Issue 1 of SAAG. The performance by the quintet of Priya Darshini (vocals), Shahzad Ismaily (piano, drums/percussion, synth, guitar), Moto Fukushima (bass, shamisen) & Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), and Chris Sholar (electronics, ableton) ushered in new emotional registers, and another period of interpretive possibilities for SAAG, as reflected upon by Darshini.
Priya Darshini is a vocalist with a fresh, imaginative and fascinating sound influenced by Indian Classical music. Her debut album, "Periphery" (Chesky Records, 2020), was nominated at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards for Best New Age Album.
Shahzad Ismaily is a largely self-taught composer and musician, having mastered a wide array of instruments. Ismaily has recorded or performed with an incredibly diverse assemblage of musicians and has also composed regularly for dance and theater. He was a two-time nominee at the 66th GRAMMY Awards, for Best Alternative Jazz Album for "Love in Exile" (Verve Records, 2023) with Vijay Iyer & Arooj Aftab, and Best Global Music Performance for the track "Shadow Forces" from "Love in Exile."
Moto Fukushima is a Japanese artist currently based in NYC. He is a six-string bass player, composer, and shamisen player. Max ZT is a Chicago native now based in Brooklyn who had his first encounter with the hammered dulcimer at the age of two. He has been lauded as the “Jimi Hendrix of dulcimer” by NPR, and performed with the likes of Ravi Shakar, Tinariwen, Jimmy Cliff, and many more. Moto Fukushima and Max ZT together form the Brooklyn-based power duo, House of Waters, which recently released "On Becoming" (GroundUP Music, 2023), subsequently nominated at the 66th GRAMMY Awards for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
Chris Sholar is a world-renowned music producer and composer and one of the most in-demand guitarists in the world of R&B and Hip Hop music. He has worked with Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, A Tribe Called Quest, and Snoop Dogg, amongst many others, and has performed at numerous concerts, and arenas, including Carnegie Hall, Glastonbury, and the NFL Super Bowl Gala. He is a two-time GRAMMY Award winner from his collaborations with Jay-Z and Esperanza Spalding.