Chicago Mehfil
About
The Chicago Mehfil is a regular get-together of creators and lovers of the performing arts, with a particular focus on the music of South Asia. Rotating locations with open floors are offered by host volunteers, where we host potlucks and encourage donation-based contributions towards featured artists.
All this is meant to imbue the Mehfil space with a collective and collaborative ethos—one in which attendees entertain, teach, inspire, and care for each other.
Events
9th Feb 2024: Balzan Mehfil
located in hyde park
There is limited seating and mandatory registration for entry, please RSVP if you plan on attending!
Please join us for a lovely evening of South Asian and Middle Eastern music transcending genres, from classic and folk to popular. The event will feature performances by the artists below followed by an Open Mic.
Featured Artists
Habibullah Wardak (rubab)
Mir Naqibul Islam (tabla)
Nada Abulibdeh (voice)
Ronnie Malley (oud)
Pramantha Tagore (sarod)
Tomal Hossain (voice, harmonium)
Wanees Zarour (misc.)
Open Mic
We invite you to sign up using the button below if you would like to share a piece with us aligned with the theme of the Mehfil!
Agenda
6:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Doors open- Come in and get chai and snacks!
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Concert- Performances by featured artists
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Snack break
9:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Open Mic!
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, the Department of Music, the Franke Institute for the Humanities at the University of Chicago and the International Balzan Prize Foundation.
17th November 2023: Evanston Mehfil
COLLAB WITH THE SUBCONTINENT PROJECT, featuring MAULIKRAJ
The Chicago Mehfil is collaborating with The Subcontinent Project, a graduate student organization seeking to facilitate a critical engagement with South Asian politics and culture among the Northwestern University community. Together, we invite guests to join us for a featured performance by Northwestern scholar Maulikraj Shrimali accompanied by Subcontinent Project and Chicago Mehfil’s in-house band! The performances will be followed by an open mic, where we invite our community to come share songs from protest from every corner of the world.
Maulikraj Shrimali is Dalit artist-activist from western India and a graduate student at Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. He established the ‘Whistle Blower Theater Group’, an anti-caste theater troupe that uses a range of dramatic approaches to examine social and political issues in India. His research consists of Caste performance, anti-caste and anti-race performances, diaspora theater communities, and protest arts to better understand the global oppressed movements. He has also received a Mellon Cluster Fellowship to study “Comparative Race and Diaspora Studies”.
Venue:
Annie May Swift Hall 103, Northwestern Campus, Evanston, IL
Schedule:
6 PM: Welcome & Dinner
6:30 PM: Maulikraj
7 PM: TSP & Chicago Mehfil
7:30 PM: Open Mic
22nd July 2023: West Loop Pop-up Open Mic
featuring CARNATIC SINGER SHRUTHI KANNAN
The Chicago Mehfil presents an evening of music, food and community in the West Loop. Featuring artist Shruthi Kannan followed by an Open Mic.
Venue:
West Loop, to be announced 48 hours before event to confirmed Open Mic artists and their guests
Schedule:
5 PM: Potluck!
6 PM: Carnatic Music Duet
7:30 PM: Open Mic
11th June 2023: Shaam-e-Mehfil
featuring do the needful and lapgan
The Chicago Mehfil presents an evening of music, art and community in the historic Chicago Athletic Association. Featuring artists Do the Needful, Lapgan as well as an array of Chicago-based vendors.
Don’t miss an open mic followed by indie-punk psychedelic and hip-hop spins on classic Bollywood music with a golden hour view of Millenium park and Lake Michigan!
Venue:
Chicago Athletic Association on 12 S. Michigan Ave
Schedule:
4 PM: Artists, vendors, henna, and art!
4.30 PM: Open mic
6:30 PM: Do the Needful
8 PM: Lapgan
5th Feb 2023: Kick-off Social & Open Mic
HYDE PARK
16th October 2022: Devon Mehfil
Krissy Bergmark & Varshini Narayanan
Krissy Bergmark:
Krissy Bergmark is a tabla player, percussionist, composer, and educator. Bergmark centers her creative work on bringing tabla to new genres and cross-genres through composition and performance with a grounded understanding of the traditions of the instrument. She composes and performs with her progressive folk trio Sprig of That, experimental duo Lo.mocean, and a variety of other artists. She is an Adjunct Professor at Oakton Community College, and is a teaching artist with Mandala South Asian Performing Arts in Chicago. She studies tabla with Pandit Yogesh Samsi.
Website || Facebook || Instagram
Varshini Narayanan
Varshini Narayanan has been studying the Carnatic flute since the age of 12 under the guidance of Sri Shashank. Since then, she has performed widely as a soloist and accompanist for concerts, competitions, and arangetrams around the United States. She is currently pursuing a joint PhD in Ethnomusicology and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, where her research focuses on the music of the Indian American diaspora.
In addition to the flute, Varshini is an accomplished vocalist and has trained and performed extensively in Carnatic music, choral music, opera, and jazz.
University of Chicago Connect
15th July 2022: Strings of the Near East (Hyde Park)
FT. RONNIE MALLEY, HABIB WARDAK, WANEES ZAROUR & FRIENDS
Ronnie Malley:
Ronnie Malley is a multi-instrumentalist musician, theatrical performer, producer, and educator. He has collaborated with artists internationally, composed and consulted for many cultural music projects in film and theater, appeared as a guest artist on several works, and is executive director of Intercultural Music Production in Chicago.
Habib Wardik:
Habibullah Wardak studied Afghan folk music and Indian classical music on the rubab (an Afghan stringed instrument) at the age of 8. He has been featured on many news sources such as the BBC, NPR and WTTW. He also has collaborated on many projects with the University of Chicago, Miami University – Cincinatti and Columbia College Chicago, and has served as a consultant on Afghan culture and music.
Wanees Zarour
Trained in both Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, violinist and buzuq virtuoso Wanees Zarour specializes in Maqam music and is well versed in genres from jazz to Eastern European folk. The composer, educator, and performer of Middle Eastern music teaches Middle Eastern Rhythms, Maqam Theory, and other subjects and holds master classes, residencies and lectures at Universities and educational institutions around the United States.
19th June 2022: Retro Cafe Mehfil
PALBASHA & THE BAND
Palbasha Siddique was Born in Bangladesh in 1991, and she moved to Minneapolis, MN at age 10. She began to sing when she was 3 years old when she began to sing, and she still continues to sing in Bengali and English.
She is best known for her performance of Praan, a song adapted from the collection of poems Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, with music composed by Garry Schyman for Matt Harding‘s “Dancing 2008” video.
In 2013, Palbasha earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She lives in Chicago now and married to Dr. Durjoy Siddique, a civil engineer and musician. Together they perform their songs as a musical duo known as MOYNA.
15th May 2022: South Loop Mehfil
A TRADITIONAL TABLA SOLO FEAT. MIR NAQUIBUL ISLAM
An avid student of Tabla, Mir has trained in the traditional guru-shisya style of Indian Classical music from Pt. Ashoke Paul, a disciple of the great tabla guru Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh.
Now living and working in New York City, he performs regularly with musicians from a wide variety of other genres, bringing tabla to Jazz, Middle-Eastern music, and other contexts.
Mir is developing a unique musical aesthetic bringing together the musical influences of traditional Farukhabad style tabla and 21st century New York.
Support Mehfil
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The Mehfil Team
Aabir Abubaker Kar
Organizer
Samhitha Krishnan
Organizer
Pramantha Tagore
Organizer
Neomi Rao
Organizer
Srinidhi Madakasira
Organizer
Samhita Iyer
Organizer
Shruthi Kannan
Organizer
Aisha Naseem
Organizer
Bakhtawar Atta
Organizer
Ihsan Ul Ihthisam
Organizer
We would also like to give a special thanks to our Mehfil Alumni for making our past events possible!
Tomal Hossain
Organizer
Uday Jain
Organizer
Sachaet Pandey
Organizer