Presented by Cassius Khan and Amika Kushwaha

The 14th Annual Mushtari Begum Festival of Indian Classical Music and Dance returns to the Massey Theatre on October 4th with a celebration of the timeless forms of Indian Classical Music and Dance. The perfect show to kick off the performance season following this summer’s renovations.

This festival was started by New Westies Cassius Khan and Amika Kushwaha as a tribute to Khan’s late guru, the Ghazal Queen Mushtari Begum. Every year, Cassius and Amika would invite some of the finest Canadian and Indian artists to showcase their talents at this one-of-a-kind event. Music and dance hold no barriers, and you don’t need any prior knowledge to enjoy and be immersed in the performances.

Here is the line-up for this year:

• Hari Pal on Tabla with Amika Kushwaha on Harmonium
• Baljit Singh Ensemble of Dilruba Jugalbandhi with Kulwant Singh, featuring Tabla player Ustad Amarjeet Singh
• Mridangam master Keerthy Raghavan Shruti Laya Bhedam featuring Karnatik Nightingale Remya Rajiv on vocal and Shriram Rajagopalan on Violin and Prakriti Hemmige on translations
• Cassius Khan on Ghazal/Tabla featuring Amika Kushwaha on Harmonium and Baljit Singh on Dilruba with Ashifa Tharani and Ram Singh on translations

Such will be the passion and enchantment they create, intoxicating the spirit with melodies and rhythms, that undoubtedly, your Ears will begin to see and the Eyes listen!