Garland of Devotion

The Bangladesh Academy of Los Angeles cordially invites you to an evening concert of interfaith spiritual and philosophical songs from South Asia on August 9th, featuring Neelamjit Dhillon (tabla) and Tomal Hossain (voice & harmonium).

Schedule

7:00 PM: Doors open & refreshments served

7:30–9:00 PM: Concert start

Details

Venue: The Bangladesh Academy (4201 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020)

• Valet parking available for $5. Street parking also available.
• Song translations and transliterations will be provided.
• General Admission Tickets: $25; Student Discounted Tickets: $15
• For more information: 213-804-0523 (Zahid).

About the Artists

Neelamjit Dhillon

Dr. Neelamjit Dhillon is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles. Skilled in both North Indian classical and American jazz music, Dr Dhillon’s music is a reflection of his own multifaceted identity, spirituality, and vision for promoting a more equitable and just society through shared experience and collective action.

Dr Dhillon has completed his doctorate degree (DMA) from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). His work centers around bringing jazz and Indian classical music together in an informed perspective and use that unique sonic expression in order to bring focus to issues of social justice. To further the narrative impact his work, Dr. Dhillon often interfaces with media technologies such as projection mapping, using gestural controllers, and visual sonic depiction.

Neelamjit has performed around the world at prestigious events and festivals in locales such as Somalia, India, South America, Europe, the United States, and Canada. He has been nominated for a GRAMMY award, composed and performed for ‘Jungle Book: Alive with Magic’ at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando as well as for other productions at this park and for Disney parks worldwide. Neelamjit performs and consults for Disney’s animated series ‘Mira: Royal Detective’ on Disney+ as well as has arranged music for the San Francisco Symphony for their ‘Rhythm Sprits’ production featuring Ustad Zakir Hussain and Vidushi Kala Ramnath. Neelamjit has performed at the White House, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at many prestigious venues around the world.

Tomal Hossain

Tomal Hossain is a Chicago-based musician and ethnomusicologist. His ongoing PhD dissertation research through the University of Chicago examines the socioeconomic field of tarana song performance among Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh as an interface for the processing and management of a collective multigenerational state of being in limbo as a stateless people through the lens of an Islamic epistemology of diaspora. He received his primary musical training in Hindustani vocal music from Sri Nabendu Bhattacharya, a senior disciple of Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty. Tomal specializes in solo vocal performance of khayal and nazrulsangeet while maintaining additional performance commitments as a founding member of Hamnavai.

Aside from his academic and music-making commitments, Tomal serves as director of the Rohingya Performing Arts Center in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, board member of Refugee Women for Peace and Justice, and co-founder of the Chicago Mehfil artist collective. Tomal’s research and music have been variously supported by the Fulbright Program, the Watson Foundation, the American Institute of Bangladeshi Studies, the Federation of Bangladeshi Associations in North America (FOBANA), the North American Bengali Conference (NABC), and the North American Nazrul Conference (NANC) among other institutions. Prior to his ongoing PhD program in ethnomusicology, Tomal earned a BA in Computer Science and Music from Amherst College and a certificate in ethnomusicology from the Five College Consortium (2017).