Musicians:
- Rajesh Vaidhya (electric veena)
- Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla)
- Neyveli Venkatesh (khanjira)
- HS Sudhindra (mridangam)

Raag Kafi Espresso

Vaidhya’s concerts are off-beat, free-spirited and often a trend-setter of sorts. Raag Kafi sounds eclectic on his electrical saraswati veena as he builds it up with flashy ornamentations and pegs it with witty improvisations. Vaidhya has developed a style of playing which is foot-tapping and entertaining with a distinctly modern touch. He has named his rendition of Kafi as ‘Kafi Espresso.’ The concert ends with fireworks as HS Sudhindra (mridangam), Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla), Neyveli Venkatesh (khanjira) play a crisp taniyavarthanam in the end.

Rajhesh Vaidhya was born into a musical family in Tamil Nadu. His father K.M. Vaidyanathan played the mridangam and ghatam master Vikku Vinayakram is a relative. He followed his mother’s wish to play saraswati veena and trained under Jayalakshmi and Rama Nambinarayanan before receiving advanced technical instruction from Chitti Babu, a legend of the instrument. His penchant for technology soon found its way into his musical approach, as he took the controversial step to electrify his veena to allow for amplification, and restrung it with a type of wire usually found in DIY toolkits rather than music shops. He has also written for A.R. Rahman, K. Balachander and S. Ve. Shekher. He has forayed into fusion music and teaches veena at his own school.

Blessed with an exceptional talent and charishma, Satyajit Talwalkar stands true to his training from his father, Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, as he demonstrates the ability to play resounding solos and also play an amiable accompanist to most of the leading classical musicians from India. Talwalkar delivers a traditional concert with as much dexterity as his cross-over projects where he regularly collaborates with Jazz and electronic musicians.

Neyveli Venkatesh is a Chennai-based musician. His rhythm training began under his father AS Balaramanan, and continued under PP Venkatesan and MN Kandaswamy Pillai. His promising career has already featured top accompaniment slots and numerous collaborations, and he is renowned for superb solo performances.

HS Sudhindra has learned Carnatic percussions from two widely respected mridangam players from India - M. Vasudeva Rao and Srimushnam V. Raja Rao. He started to perform at the age of thirteen and has had a spectacular career till date.