MoonArra

Self-taught guitar player, composer and founder of MoonArra based in Bengaluru, India, Jagadeesh is an experienced guitarist who has performed with pop, rock, jazz and fusion ensembles for three decades. From a young age, Jagadeesh was exposed to Indian Classical sounds as well as Western Classical music. Playing both nylon guitar and electric steel string guitar, he has been collaborating with musicians around the globe in jazz concerts and albums.

His interest in flamenco music led him to Spain where he spent a month studying under Juan Maria Paul in Sevilla. Jagadeesh also developed an interest in playing the Oud after a trip to Cairo, Egypt.

As Head of Events at Radio Indigo (till 2008) Jagadeesh put together The Indigo & Blues Festival in 2007 and in 2009, a 3 Day Jazz Festival at the UB City for the Bengaluru Habba.   

Jagadeesh is the Director of the Bangalore School of Music, heading the Jazz & Contemporary music dept., handling music relations, concerts, events, programming, etc.

Singer-songwriter and co-founder of MoonArra, Madhuri’s vocals have influences from all over the world, but are rooted in India. She has been singing in school operas and small musical productions since the age of eight. She has also been singing professionally since she was eighteen. Madhuri has always loved the open sound of jazz and finds it the most inclusive form of music and a universal mode of communication. Madhuri has found her niche in world music and is constantly looking to expand the scope and possibilities of this genre with new influences and sounds from around the world as she travels. 

As a vocalist and songwriter, Madhuri has conceived and created significant concert productions for MoonArra such as Operaaga, Raagas Round Midnight, Women Aah Men & The Cosmic Tree. The second edition of Operaaga was successfully produced in Italy (Milan and Bologna, June in 2023) in collaboration with Italian musician Nicola Baroni and his ensemble.

Madhuri was also recently featured in an interview with Swedish based musician Biggi Vinkeloe in the first edition of Turnaround Magazine, run by Washington-based jazz musician Amy Bormet and her foundation – Washington Women in Jazz. Madhuri also presented two of her own compositions on Joan Cartwright’s Women in Jazz Global radio podcast.

Phil Scarff performs North Indian classical music on soprano saxophone. His Indian classical performances have included venues such as the Nehru Centre and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Mumbai); Saptak School of Music (Ahmedabad); Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (Kolkata); ICCR Theater (Delhi); and Pt Chatur Lal Festival (virtual). Phil is a jazz saxophonist, and leads world-jazz ensembles, Natraj and the Lewis Porter-Phil Scarff Group. 

Phil’s world-jazz appearances include India’s JazzYatra, and Prayojana International Music Festival; Ghana’s PANAFEST; and the Boston Globe Jazz Festival (USA). Phil is featured on over 40 acclaimed CDs/DVDs. He was named Best Instrumentalist in Foundations TV Red Carpet Awards (USA), and garnered New England Choice Awards for Art & Music. He is featured in the music video, “Vaishnav Jan To” (music director Dhruvit Shah), awarded “Best Music” in the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival and “Best Music – Jury” in the Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival.

Phil has performed with many Indian classical musicians including Ronu Majumdar, Shashank, Kadri Gopalnath, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran, Chitravina Ravikiran; as well as African master drummers Godwin Agbeli, Abubakari Lunna, Nani Agbeli, and Lamine Toure. Phil performs and records with creative jazz ensembles including Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Composers Alliance, Filmprov, and OddSong.

Phil received extensive training in Hindustani music in Pune, India, from vocalist Pt. Shreeram Devasthali, sundri artist Pt. Suryakant Khaladkar, and shehnai master Pt. Shyamrao Lonkar. In Boston, USA, he learnt under sitarist Peter Row, and vocalists Kalpana Mazumdar and Warren Senders. Phil appeared on ‘The Morning Show’ on SAAM TV, India. All India Radio broadcast his Hindustani performance, under the auspices of the Sangeet Research Academy. He has received awards from Music Forum and Indo-US Cultural Council (Mumbai).

Phil has presented workshops at institutions such as New England Conservatory, Indian Musicological Society (Mumbai), Berklee College, Tufts Univ., Kalakshetra Foundation (Chennai, India), Univ. of North TX, Univ. of OK, Lawrence Univ., Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College, Guelph Jazz Festival, Univ. of RI, MIT, LearnQuest Festival, Boston Univ., Berks Jazz Fest, College Conservatory at Univ. of Cincinnati, and North American Saxophone Alliance conferences.

Indian (Carnatic) Classical vocalist, educator and performer Mythili Anantharaman has a Master of Arts in English Literature and is a vocalist steeped in the Indian Carnatic Classical culture. 

She started her musical journey at the age of 7 and has been performing since in classical concerts and productions in India and overseas. Mythili has also lent vocal support to eminent Indian Classical dancers in India.

For over three decades, Mythili has been tutoring and conducting workshops for Indian, International Jazz and Western Classical vocal students, guiding them to learn the nuances, techniques and theories of Carnatic Music. Her interest and study in other musical forms such as Western Classical, Jazz, Folk and Indian music has led her to research and innovate with diverse musical styles.  Mythili has often performed and collaborated with MoonArra both in India and overseas.

Composer, lyricist, vocal lyricist and trained in Hindustani classical music, Jataveda Banerjee has been performing for more than a decade with musicians, groups and has also composed music for animation feature films and live and recorded music for theatre.

Prathima Rohini Rajashekaran is a a Bangalore-based dancer, writer, and arts educator

S. R. Ramakrishna is a music composer, music director, journalist and translator. Ramakrishna has composed music for films of Girish Kasarvalli and Umashankar’s Salada Magu. Primarily playing the harmonium, Ramakrishna has also presented and performed compositions in concerts using Vachanas collaborating with various other musicians.

Rohit P. S is a jazz drummer based in Bangalore and has performed with Aman Mahajan, MoonArra, Radha Thomas and many other musicians.

Joshua Lance is a bassist, educator and performer and has performed with MoonArra in various trios and ensembles.

Jeswill is a well-established choir director and trainer of Bangalore, with around 16+ years of experience. He has trained various choirs across Bangalore, to name a few, Christ University Choir, Jyoti Nivas Choir, Mount Carmel College Choir, St. Josephs College, Stella Maris & MNCs like Ericsson Global.

He is a trained pianist & vocalist as well.  An aeronautical engineer by profession, he has a Masters in Consumer Behavior. He currently heads the sales at the largest design software company, Autodesk.

He is also a certified Scuba diver.

Timothy is a young 8th grade pianist, teacher and has a deep interest in blending classical forms with jazz.