INDIAN STORIES - EN
INDIAN STORIES is the story of an encounter—a human and artistic encounter—between young Indian musicians from the north and south of the country and a trio of Breton improvisational musicians who recently completed two tours in India.
Through compositions and improvisations created or inspired by their exchanges, the musicians seek to create a new form of intercultural music, shaped by their creativity and their respective backgrounds. Far from being a fusion, the goal for each musician is rather to enrich an original orchestration that will take listeners’ ears on a journey from Rostrenen to Kolkata, and from Brest to Rajasthan.
One of the most distinctive voices among the new generation of female singers in India
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2 sisters who are violinists, renowned in both Indian classical music and contemporary music
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a tabla player and beatboxer from northern India
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Four unique personalities, little known to the public, waiting to be discovered…
ORIGINS
In December 2024, Nicolas Pointard, Étienne Cabaret, and Christophe Rocher traveled throughout India on an exploratory tour during which they gave 12 concerts, led workshops at universities, and had the opportunity to meet many musicians, primarily from the field of Indian classical music.
A year later (December 2025), Indian audiences were the first to discover the trio’s new repertoire during a second tour of 10 concerts across India, further cementing the group’s connection not only with local audiences but also with Indian musicians.
These exchanges and encounters inspired and gave rise to the project that the three Breton musicians now wish to share with French and international audiences: INDIAN STORIES.
Co-production :
Ensemble Nautilis – Musiques Têtues – La Grande Boutique (Langonned)
Varijashree VENUGOPAL – voice
Bangalore (India)
Varijashree Venugopal, born in Bangalore, India, on March 6, 1991, comes from an Indian Brahmin family: her parents, HS Venugopal and TV Rama, are both accomplished musicians. It was discovered that she possessed the rare ability to recognize about 40 ragas at the age of one and a half, and about 200 ragas by the age of 4. She is now an internationally renowned Indian singer and flutist. In 2024, she received her first Grammy Award nomination alongside Jacob Collier and Anoushka Shankar for the album A Rock Somewhere. She is the creator of “Carnatic Scat Singing,” a musical genre that blends Carnatic music and jazz.
She is a member of the Bangalore-based group “Chakrafonics”, alongside musicians Praveen D Rao, Ajay Warrier, and Pramath Kiran. Chakrafonics is famous for its unique blend of traditional classical music and other musical genres.
Nandini SHANKAR – violin
Mumbai (India)
Ragini SHANKAR – violin
Mumbai (India)
Ragini Shankar and Nandini Shankar are a sister duo of renowned Hindustani classical violinists who perform together as the Taraana Ensemble. They are the daughters of the famous violinist Dr. Sangeeta Shankar and the granddaughters of the legendary Dr. N. Rajam, a Padma Vibhushan laureate, thus carrying on a musical legacy spanning seven generations. They live in Mumbai.
The sisters caught the public’s attention with their performance at the IPL playoffs in Dharamshala, where they played for thousands of fans during the break between innings. They have signed a contract with Decca Records US (Universal Music Group) for their debut album, which blends classical Indian melodies with international sounds and Western orchestration.
Beyond their work as a duo, the sisters are involved in various musical projects:
Ragini Shankar is a member of the poetry-music fusion group INK and teaches at the Sharangadev School of Music.
Nandini Shankar is a founding member of Sakhi, India’s first all-female classical music ensemble, and regularly collaborates with her husband, fusion artist Mahesh Raghvan.
Ilyas Raphael KHAN – Tablas / BeatBox
Jaipur (India)
Ilyas Raphaël Khan grew up in an Indo-French family. A worthy heir to a long musical lineage from Rajasthan spanning seven generations, Ilyas is the son of the renowned percussionist Hameed Khan Kawa (Musafir, Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, Kawa Circus). He grew up in India, where he received a comprehensive education in North Indian classical music. Taught from a very young age, Indian classical music has been passed down for over 3,000 years according to the ancestral principles of oral transmission: the taleem.
He created Tablaboxing, a musical form that combines the ancient rhythms of the Indian tabla with the contemporary sounds of Western beatboxing.
Ilyas began performing at the age of 14. His musical career has taken him to festivals around the world. In France, he has performed at venues including the Solidays Festival, the Arab World Institute, the Festival du Bout du Monde, the Scène Watteau, and the Interceltic Festival of Lorient, as well as at numerous prestigious international festivals, notably with the duo he forms with his sister, Parveen Kahn.
Christophe ROCHER – Clarinets
Brest (France)
Christophe Rocher is now a clarinetist renowned for his sonic textures and complex melodies, as well as an original and innovative jazz composer.
He has collaborated with leading figures in jazz and improvised music in France, Europe, and the United States (Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell, Edward Perraud, Vincent Courtois, Bernard Lubat, Jacques Di Donato, Elise Caron, Jucara Marçal, Mike Ladd …).
Since the beginning of his career, he has developed a constructive vision of the role of creative music in our contemporary societies, acting both as an artist and as an event organizer (Atlantique Jazz Festival, Festival Les Luisances, the ARCH international exchange program).
Since 2012, he has served as artistic director of the Ensemble Nautilis, with which he has led numerous productions (Regards de Breizh, Brain Songs, Kapteyn Gaïa …).
Étienne CABARET – Clarinets
Rostrenen (France)
Widely known for his work on the “treujeun gaol” (a traditional Breton clarinet), he has developed an electroacoustic sound on the bass clarinet that flirts with jazz, rock, and improvised music.
He founded the Compagnie des Musiques Têtues and performs with Moger, Arn, Gosseyn, Dièse3, and others, thereby weaving his musical practice across a multitude of genres, touching on world music and traditional styles but always with a modern and uninhibited approach.
Nicolas POINTARD – Drums
Tregrom (France)
He began playing the instrument at the age of 9 and turned to jazz and improvised music at the end of the last century, studying with Césarius Alvim, Steve McCraven, Guillaume Orti, Benoît Delbecq, Carlos Zingaro, Fabrizio Cassol, and others… With bands such as Oko, Shampoing, Art Ensemble of Brest, and Rah-slup, he developed a drumming style that blends timbral exploration with polyrhythmic combinations; an approach he also applies to other genres (pop, rock, Breton music, electronic music, etc.) with bands such as Moger, Faro, Naab, and Faustine, as well as to other disciplines (theater, dance, silent film) with the show Dékoeff, the Hiatus company, and the For Trink Quartet…
A highly sought-after musician in Brittany, he also performs with other interregional and international ensembles (Moger Orchestra, Kami Octet, Ensemble Nautilis…).
Wirh the financial support of DRAC Bretagne, Région Bretagne, Conseil Départemental du Finistère, Ville de Brest, SACEM, Henri Selmer France and JLV Sound Paris.
