Look who performed for the President

Karsh Kale is the sort of musician you can’t help admiring. He is charming but more importantly, he is extremely talented. It comes as no surprise then that the Indian-American composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist  was invited to perform at the White House for President Barack Obama and other guests.

Karsh was invited to perform at the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month Celebration on May 28, 2013, at the White House in Washington DC, an evening to celebrate the impact that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have had on America over the years. Say Karsh Kale, “It was a true honour to be recognised for a moment for all the years of work. 

Not only for me, but for the whole generation of artistes I came up with who carry their heritage through the modernity of their art, to create a new identity in West. As if being there wasn’t surreal itself, sitting in the audience and hearing him mention me in his speech was truly the highlight of the day for me.” Following the performance, the president delivered a speech, highlighting the contributions that the Asian American community had made to America and thanking them for it, also mentioning the arts community and Karsh Kale specifically. President Obama said, “The artists joining us today exemplify that creed.

So we’ve got performers like Karsh Kale, who fuses the best of East and West, mixing eclectic beats with the sounds of his heritage and creating music that’s distinctly his own…” The audience for the celebrations included national, state, and local community leaders; elected officials; leaders of philanthropic, youth, and arts organisations; and members of the President’s Administration. Karsh Kale played both his own tracks such as Milan, his collaboration with Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar,  Easy, and Sunbeam from his latest album, Cinema, as well as Forest by Midival Punditz, and Mumtaz by Bombay Dub Orchestra.

He says, “The theme of the evening was to celebrate the impact that Asians and Pacific Islanders have had on American culture over the years. It was great to able to create the backdrop for such an inspiring gathering of interesting people. Musically I chose to take people through a bit of my own soundtrack of these colliding cultures using some of my more introspective, down tempo tracks.”    

At the moment, Karsh Kale is back in New York, performing at summer festivals in the US and will return to India later in the year, to work on, and release his first album with his band, Karsh Kale Collectiv.