LASANTHI: South Asian Express (Sri Lanka, India, Slovenia)
Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona, vocals, violin
Bharath Ranganathan, vocals, guitar
Vasja Štukelj, tabla, cajon
Luka Dobnikar, double bass
Rok Salokar, keyboards
The concert will give the audience a glimpse of South Indian and North Indian classical, semi-classical and popular music experience.
Dr. Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona is a visiting faculty member at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She earned her B.A degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, M.Mus degree in North Indian classical music (violin) from the Banaras Hindu University in India, and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Ljubljana. She is a certified artist in the Indian classical music at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. Her Indian guru was Prof. V. Balaji at B.H.U, India. She is the liaison officer for Sri Lanka in the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM).
Bharath Ranganathan is a performer, educator and composer who comes from Bangalore, India. His formal introduction to music was in the South Indian classical tradition as a vocal student. Bharath has had a career in performance and education in contemporary music. He was studying contemporary performance in India and Spain, and developing and teaching various courses in India and China. His musical interests include Indian rhythmic solfege and development of harmony from Indian scale systems. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Ljubljana and works with refugees and immigrants in Slovenia.
Vasja Štukelj has been perfecting his percussion skills, knowledge of various metric systems and Indian classical music for more than fifteen years, with the world-famous and legendary master of the Indian tabla Ustad Faiyaz Khan, professor at the New Delhi Academy of Music and visiting professor at Rotterdam Conservatory, the world music department. He continues his studies with his grandson, master Imran Khan. He deepens his studies of flamenco cajon with masters of this musical genre and teachers at the Amor De Dios flamenco academy in Madrid, Guilliermo Garcia – El Guillo and Rafael Cassad. He performs in various ensembles at home and abroad. He also shared the stage with world legends of classical Indian, flamenco, and contemporary music such as Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Prassana Ramaswamy, Ustad Johar Ali Khan, Steve Stevens etc.
Luka Dobnikar is a double bass student at the jazz department of Gustav Mahler University in Klagenfurt. He completed two years at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana with prof. Matevž Smerkol, and two years at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. He was a member of numerous bands like Jazz in the Pants, Big Band Grosuplje, Monowi Twins and collaborated with Haiku Garden. He lives and works in Ljubljana.
Rok Zalokar is a pianist and a composer. He completed jazz piano studies first at Ljubljana conservatorium and finished Codarts, Rotterdam. After living and studying in the Netherlands and Denmark, he is now settled in Ljubljana. His main focus is piano trio that started in 2011 and came to national recognition a year later, being selected for Club Marathon by Radio Študent. Since 2013 he has already released 10 albums as a leader or co-leader with the notable labels ZARŠ, Celinka, Kamizdat and Modigo records. He is awarded with Jazzon composition award and Erasmus Jazz Prize for his trio playing.
Admission free. Free tickets can be picked up the last hour before the concert at the entrance to the City Museum. The number of seats is limited, so we advise you to arrive a little earlier.
Due to safety measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections, all visitors must wear protective facemasks, disinfect their hands regularly, and observe a safety distance of at least 1.5 m. According to the NIJZ regulation, the collection of personal data of all visitors is mandatory, the data must be kept for 30 days. Entry to the event is only possible with a ticket, visitors are asked to enter the venue individually, hostesses will accompany them to a vacant seat. To ensure safety, we kindly ask all visitors to strictly follow the instructions. If you suspect that you have come in contact with the coronavirus or are showing typical signs of the disease, do not attend the event. Let’s take care of ourselves and our loved ones.
