Berklee Indian Ensemble Presents BIE Live: The Shuruaat Tour
The Berklee Indian Ensemble
Image by Holy Smoke Photography
The Grammy-nominated Berklee Indian Ensemble is bringing its genre-bending sound across the country with BIE Live: The Shuruaat Tour, launching on Thursday, March 10, at 8:00 p.m. at the Berklee Performance Center.
Fresh off the release of its Grammy-nominated debut album, Shuruaat (which means “beginning” in Hindi), the ensemble will be on the road with a slate of originals, new arrangements, songs from the album, and audience favorites. This year's nine-piece touring band features some of the ensemble's most recognizable faces from over 10 years of making music.
“The first time we went on a mini tour in 2018 along the East Coast was a very pivotal experience for the band,” says Annette Philip ’09, the ensemble’s founder and artistic director. “Until that point, we hadn’t really considered BIE being a full-time touring entity. Our 2023 tour allows us to take our Grammy-nominated album Shuruaat on the road, and I’m pretty sure our sound is going to evolve even further. Big up to our associate director and lead vocalist Rohith Jayaraman for building this entire tour single-handedly!”
The innovative, multicultural ensemble, which was founded at Berklee College of Music in 2011, has earned acclaim for its unique style that honors Indian traditions while boldly experimenting with a cross pollination of genres, cultures, and multidisciplinary art forms. After more than 10 years of enthralling millions of fans through live performances and viral YouTube content (which has been viewed over 300 million times), the ensemble released Shuruaat, on July 15, 2022, and was later recognized by the Recording Academy with a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Global Music Album. The record features 98 musicians from 39 countries, including Grammy-winning tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and renowned singers Shankar Mahadevan and Shreya Ghoshal.
The 15-city tour will take the Berklee Indian Ensemble across the country to select cities including Brooklyn, Nashville, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon.
“I’m super excited about this tour we've been looking forward to for so long,” says Yoel Genin, a Berklee assistant professor in the Ensemble and Harmony and Jazz Composition departments who also plays guitar and bouzouki in the band. “I can't wait to share our music across the U.S., especially in places that I personally will be visiting for the first time!”
Admission to the March 10 show in Boston is $15–$50. Discounted admission with Berklee ID $5 off. Tickets are available online and at the Berklee box office. This is a seated event.
For more information about the Berklee Indian Ensemble and the tour, visit berkleeindianensemble.com.
Watch a performance by the Berklee Indian Ensemble at Power Station at Berklee NYC: