Round Robin Improv Jam Session

Featuring musicians Rahul Sharma, bass, sitar (Funkadesi); Lucia Thomas, violin (Ochin Pakhi); Krissy Bergmark, tabla (Sprig of That); Sonny Patel, bansuri flute (Do The Needful); Siddharth Devarajan, mridanham w/ Special Guest Dancer Raji Venkat.

Join us for a unique, one time only night of improvisational music and dance by some of Chicago’s most creative musicians working in the field, not only within the South Asian music genres, but each are members of different bands that are moving the Chicago cultural landscape forward. Each guest performer is a noted and acclaimed musician in their own right and are all masters of their instruments. For this special Mandala Makers Festival Round Robin Jam Session event at i/O Improv Olympics, which aligns perfectly with the 2026 Mandala Makers Festival overall theme, ‘Live Composition & Improvisation’, the musicians will be seated on stage together in a semicircle and will all performing together for the very first time as a collective. They will each showcase their own solo musical talents, but will also share and create something brand new from this first time gathering, be it in solos, duos, trios and quartet combinations. The musicians will be on the edge of their seats the whole time along with the audience members who are lucky enough to be along for the musical journey.