about us

Tabla Rasa was formed in the fall of 1996 and had its debut performance opening up for vocalist Srimati Laksmi Shankar as part of the Ali Akbar College of Music Summer Concert Series. They base their original and traditional compositions on their collective years of training under the guidance of tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Members of the group also draw upon the inspiration of master South Indian percussionists T.H. Subash Chandran and K. Sekar, with whom they have studied.

Tabla Rasa has performed in India and in the USA, where they have had the honor of performing with their gurus, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and T.H. Subash Chandran. The have also performed with other world class musicians including Hamza el Din, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Omar Sosa, and John Santos. The were the producers of the Sacred Festival of Drumming, Dance and Song and World Music Sundays. Tabla Rasa's co-directors, Tim Witter and Jim Santi Owen, were both recipients of fellowships from the American Institute of Indian Studies to research and perform Indian music in India. They were co-recipients of an Isadora Duncan Award for their work with acclaimed choreographer, Alonzo King.

Tabla Rasa's vision is to respectfully represent the vast percussion traditions of North and South India while honoring their own cultural roots in jazz, contemporary new music, rock, funk, and other creative, improvised musical forms. They also hope to reflect their influences from other world music styles including traditions from Africa, Cuba, Indonesia and Brazil.

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tabla rasa founders jim santi owen (left) and tim witter (right)
with their guru, pandit swapan chaudhuri

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