The Berklee Indian Ensemble is delighted to release our second student original "Arz-E-Niyaz" by Sashank Navaladi, featuring the award-winning virtuosic Indian vocalist and composer, Vijay Prakash on Mirza Ghalib's 219th birth anniversary. It's the first time the Berklee Indian Ensemble has had a renowned artist perform on a student composition, and hope this will be the first of many such collaborations.

Hailing from Mysore, Karnataka in India, Vijay Prakash is one of the most sought after Indian playback singers with hits in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi films. He has performed with the likes of Zakir Hussain, A.R. Rahman, and Taufiq Qureshi at venues like Wembley Stadium, the O2 Arena, WOMAD and Woodstock. He also won the prestigious Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer (Kannada) for the song 'Gatiya Ilidu' from the film 'Ulidavaru Kandante,' and was one of the four vocalists on "Jai Ho" which won both, a Grammy and an Academy award. The Berklee Indian Ensemble recorded "Arz-E-Niyaz" with Mr. Prakash during his Berklee India Exchange artist residency at the college in November 2015.

Our composer, Sashank, was inspired by "Arz-E-Niyaz," a poem written by the preeminent Urdu and Persian Sufi poet of the 19th century, Mirza Ghalib. Written in the form of eight couplets, 'arz-e-niyāz-e-ishq' literally translates to the 'supplication for the blessings of love.' Ghalib reflects on the days when the heart was more engulfed in the humility of passion and considered himself a more worthy offering to the beloved. For a detailed translation of the poem, please visit: https://goo.gl/P4zWCo

Special thanks to our friends from the literary world for helping us with pronunciation of the Urdu lyrics: Urdu specialist, Salim Arif, and poetess, Sunayana Kachroo

Vijay Prakash:
http://www.vijay-prakash.com/home.html

Sashank Navaladi:
https://soundcloud.com/sashanknavaladi
https://www.facebook.com/sashanknavaladi/

Berklee Indian Ensemble:
http://www.facebook.com/BerkleeIndia
https://www.facebook.com/berkleeindianensemble
http://www.twitter.com/BerkleeIndiaX
http://www.berklee.edu/india

Berklee:
Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1MjVyEN
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkleecollege
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/berkleecollege
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berkleecollege
Site: https://www.berklee.edu

Founded in 2011 by faculty member, Annette Philip, the Berklee Indian Ensemble is one of largest and most diverse ensembles at Berklee. The ensemble performs a wide array of South Asian music, with the ultimate goal of presenting concerts that consist entirely of original student compositions.
-------

"Arz-E-Niyaz-E-Ishq" Poem: Mirza Ghalib
Composer/Arranger: Sashank Navaladi
Producer, Director of Berklee Indian Ensemble: Annette Philip
A&R: Clint Valladares
Planning and Logistics: Rohith Jayaraman

Dance and choreography: Meera Seshadri, Sunnyvale, CA
Calligraphy: Parham Haghighi, Mashhad, Iran

Vocal Soloists:
Vijay Prakash, Berklee India Exchange guest artist
Harshitha Krishnan, Chennai, India
Dhruv Goel, Lucknow, India
Sashank Navaladi, New Delhi, India

Berklee Indian Ensemble Choir:
Ava Dudani, Brighton, MA
Srishti Biyani, New Delhi, India
Vasundhara Gupta, Kolkatta, India
Harshitha Krishnan, Chennai, India
Katyayani Krishnan, Singapore
Sanjana Raja, Chennai, India
Thara Dhishay Ramamurthy, Manama, Bahrain
Lydia Renold, Schönenwerd, Switzerland
Purvaa Sampath, Bangalore, India
Gretchen Schadebrodt, Valdivia, Chile
Lyusi Simon, Moscow, Russia
Ishita Sinha, Patna, India
Swarathmika Swaminathan, Mumbai, India

Berklee Indian Ensemble Instrumentalists:
Annette Philip: Piano, Kerala, India
Johnathan Lee: Oud, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Anton A. Sten: Acoustic guitar, Stockholm, Sweden
Aleif Hamdan: Electric guitar, Jakarta, Indonesia
Rishabh Sharma: Electric guitar, New Delhi, India
Achal Murthy: Bass, Strassen, Luxembourg
M.T. Aditya Srinivasan: Tabla, Chennai, India
Yogev Gabay: Drums, Be'er Sheva, Israel
Sashank Navaladi: Additional programming, New Delhi, India

Dance filmed at Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Video produced by 4Reel Productions
Teo Karakolev: videographer and editor
Kevin Greene: videographer
Sam Harchik: videographer

Recorded at Q Division Studios
Recording Engineer: Calum Brockie
Assistant Recording Engineer: Kaushlesh Purohit
Mixing Engineer: Calum Brockie
Mastering Engineer: Sashank Navaladi