With Indian/Scottish roots in multicultural Toronto, Anita Katakkar‘s music practice represents a link between her heritage and community. In Toronto, she studied tabla with composer and musician Ritesh Das and in California and Kolkata with the pre-eminent exponent of the Lucknow style tabla, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Anita has performed, toured internationally and recorded with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble and Jeff Martin and has toured nationally with The Tea Party. She has shared the stage with legendary Kathak dancer Chitresh Das, flamenco dancer Esmeralda Enrique, sitar virtuoso Anwar Khurshid, Canadian/Armenian guitarist Levon Ichkhanian and Paris based singer/songwriter Melissa Laveaux. Growing up in Toronto gave Anita a diverse taste in music including folk, reggae, hip hop, rock, house and ambient electronica. She brought all of these influences to the table when conceiving Rakkatak’s self-titled debut CD in studio. From there, the band Rakkatak was formed and its evolution continues.
Rakkatak
Rakkatak is a Toronto-based collective that features three of the most talented female musicians in the city — Anita Katakkar, Oriana Barbato and Lisa Patterson. The music of Rakkatak merges Indian rhythms with lustrous instrumental melodies and tasteful electronic soundscapes to present classical tabla compositions in a modern and innovative way. Rakkatak started as Katakkar‘s solo project, inspired by her passion for highlighting the subtle beauty and versatility of tabla, in a non-traditional way.