by Atmic Vision

The three musicians who comprise Atmic Vision have created an exotic fusion of Indian and American styles that is accessible and mesmerizing. Their Indian bamboo flute (bansuri), bowed and plucked double bass, and tabla drums combine to bring the listener inward to the place where stillness lives and where healing is possible and back outward into a joyous reverence for the world and one’s place in it.

Flautist Annada (Butto) Prasanna Pattanaik, a student of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, is considered one of India’s foremost performers on the classical bansuri. He performs as a soloist throughout India, Asia, and Europe, and his playing has been featured on more than 1,000 songs in fi lms made by the Asian fi lm industry. He has also made solo recordings, including Inner Vision, Deep Sky, Igneous, and India Songs.

Double bassist Dr. Paul Erhard is a pioneer in the use of the double bass in Indian music. He has brought a rich, singing bowed tone and an energetic, plucked jazz bass to the creation of the new sound. He has studied with some of the leading Indian musicians, both in India and the United States, has extensive jazz experience, and holds a master’s and doctoral degree from Juilliard. He is a professor of double bass at the University of Colorado College of Music.

Muthu Kumar has been playing the tabla since the age of fi ve and studied in Bombay with tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha and virtuosos Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Yogesh Samsi. He performs and records extensively in India and abroad and has explored and recorded music in styles as diverse as Indian, jazz, gospel, and hip-hop and has a solo CD, Tabla Rap.

Together, the three musicians have presented “Expanding the Horizons” workshops in Indian music to more than 9,000 students in the United States.