Utsav 2004

Jeff Lewis

Jeff began his life in Indian music in Varanasi 33 years ago. From 1971 to 1976 he studied with Amiya Gopal Bhattacharya, a disciple of Ustad Ashak Ali Khan of the Seniya Gharana. After Amiya Babu’s untimely death, he continued his study with Narayan Chakravarty, Amiya Babu’s foremost disciple. Then in 1977 Jeff met and became a disciple of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Dagar-sahib was teaching at Dominican College, under the auspices of Bob Brown and his Center for World Music. Later, when Dagar-sahib was invited back to the University of Washington as visiting artist, from 1978-81, Jeff accompanied him, assisting him in teaching. Jeff lived and toured with Dagar-Sahib in India from 1981-83.

Jeff has the distinction of having learned within both the Seniya tradition and the Dagar dhrupad tradition extensively. He has been trained on sitar, surbahar, and the rudra veena, the oldest and rarest of North Indian instruments. He teaches a wide variety of students and instruments privately in Bothell.