CHAI FOR 6 - SINGLE (2022)

What do you feel when you're sitting among friends? When you're laughing, learning, cracking jokes... this song is that feeling. Chai for 6 is the collective vision of artists from India, Iraq, Jordan, and the United States, each bringing their unique perspective to this project. These artists come from the worlds of Carnatic, Hindustani, Jazz, Arabic, Latin, and even film music, giving this song a character that transcends the boundaries of culture, nationality, or race. It brings you back to a time when you were sitting with your friends, laughing, telling stories, and enjoying a cup of something… maybe coffee, maybe wine, maybe a warm cup of chai.

MANAM (2021)

From mother-son duo Asha Ramesh and Rohith Jayaraman, Manam is a 5-track album, born from many evenings of family discussion in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jeyaraj and Bennicks, the Cisco discrimination lawsuit, and many more. These discussions were often prompted by questions, ranging from topics like race, gender, and caste, to religion, log kya kahenge, and deeply ingrained social norms. These questions morphed into poetry, and then into song. They draw from our roots in Carnatic music, while also exploring other genres like spoken word and jazz. The process of making this album brought our family even closer together, and we hope that the album may spark similar discussions in your own homes, with family and friends. Manam is not about solutions to the world’s problems. It simply questions norms and beliefs that some of us may take for granted.
Read more about Manam here.

HAMSA - EP (2019)

It began as a friendship between two musicians from two traditions: Iraqi-Jordanian violinist Layth Sidiq and Indian-American vocalist Rohith Jayaraman.

Sparked by their common interest in the rich musical traditions of India and the Middle East, Layth and Rohith embarked on a seven year collaborative journey that culminated in this EP — Hamsa. Entirely crowdfunded on Kickstarter, Hamsa raised over $4,000 in under 2 days. When the campaign ended, they had raised over 150% of their original goal, with backers from around the world!

In a world of heavily arranged and produced music, Hamsa is an homage to the simplicity and energy of live, improvised, classical-folk music. The music you’ll find in Hamsa is organic, honest, and maybe a little blasphemous — just the kind of music they love to play.