Amar, Kunal & Vatsal

Amar Tirkey is a guitarist based in New Delhi. He is a graduate of Swarnabhoomi academy of music with a diploma in music performance.

Kunal Netrapal has been playing drums as his principal instrument for the last 17 years. His journey began when he attended his first ever professional workshop at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, where he studied with 9 times Grammy Award Winner, Rodney Holmes and the renowned teacher, Benny Greb. He also spent a significant time under the rigorous mentorship of Manoj Mavely in Delhi, after which he was accepted at the prestigious 'The Collective School Of Music' in New York. Drummers Collective, reputed for being the world's best school for drums gave Kunal the opportunity to shape himself by being at the heart of artistic and commercial music scene in New York. While studying there, Kunal was fortunate to study under some of the best teachers in the percussion segment namely; Ustad Zakir Hussain, Peter Retzlaff, Pat Petrillo, Vince Cherico, Marco Djordjevic, Jason Gianni, Ian Froman, Chris Coleman, Steve Smith.

Vatsal Bakhda, pianist/composer, started his musical journey in Kolkata learning Classical Piano under Roshen Gazder, LSRM with whom he spent over 10 years, and Suddhaseel Sen (Ph.D. in Musicology) for 2 years.

He continued his musical education further at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, where he spent three semesters learning under Pedro Carneiro Silva and Gabriel Geszti, both of who hail from Brazil, equipping him with a unique playing style with strong traditional Brazilian influences. He continues to grow and develop currently with Aman Mahajan. He has also had the opportunity to collaborate with various artists form India and abroad.

His time at SAM has enabled him to playing various styles such as Jazz, Funk, Latin, Brazilian, RnB/Soul, Pop, Fusion, Blues, etc., and greatly takes influences from various artists such as Avishai Cohen, Tigran Hamasyan, Shai Maestro, Brad Mehldau, to name a few.

Vatsal is also currently working extensively on his own music, and wishes to bring it out early next year. A music educator himself, Vatsal is currently working as a Piano Teacher at Theme Music Institute