Biography

In May of 2005, in Boston, Massachusetts, Nandlal Nayak created a musical project that is now known as, Nagbansi. Nagbansi is an Indian term that means “ancestors of the cobra”. The band is composed of Nandlal Nayak, singing and dohlak (traditional Indian percussions), Fraction aka Eric Raynaud, electronic programming and sound production, Ed Broms (USA), bass and piano, and of Dani Danilian, violin, cello, and sitar.


Nayak has collaborated with musicians, dancers, theater and film, and video artists from India, the United States, Japan, France, Ghana, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Great Britain. He has composed and performed music in collaboration with the contemporary composer Michael Galasso for the Monte Carlo Ballet in a work choreographed by Carole Amitage, and for the Lady From the Sea, directed by the internationally acclaimed theater director Robert Wilson. Nayak has also composed music for numerous media projects for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, including a video and music project, which was presented in over 220 countries around the world.


Fraction, is involved in a lot of collaborations such as: multimedia collectives, sound installation, and so on, for which he develops his own particular style, influenced by past and present artists like John Cage, Aphex Twin, Monolake, and the French tradition for the concrete and experimental research. His music is entertaining and challenging, yet at the same time engaging melodic conversation with its listeners – keeping bodies stable so the minds feel free to wander. The overall beat is driving and created through a regular drum beat including other industrial sounds, as if the beats were always the aforementioned well calculated noise to an innovative structure of beat and melody in clever and seamless motions.


Edward A. Broms began his music career in 1977 with three years as a chorister with the Grammy nominated National Boy Choir. He continued studying piano, organ, and conducting with the director, Brahmachari Keith. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Performances and Bass from Berklee College of Music in 1986 where he studied with John LaPorta, Whit Browne, and George Garzone. In 1986, he received the Abe Laborial Award for the Most Outstanding Performance. He received his Master’s Degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory in 1990 where studied with Bob Moses, Joe Maneri, and worked closely with Ran Blake in redefining Third Stream Music today.


Dani Dalinian started studying violin at eight years old with Virginia Carmen, a protégé of Fritz Kreisler and later continued studies at Catholic University with William Starnes of the National Symphony in Washington D.C. He is an international Columbia recording artist with Andromeda, produced by Joe Raposo (CBS), and became friends with Bruce Lundval (Blue Note Record). Recently, he has made an independent recording, Raga for Peace, with Anupama (tabla) and Shailendra Mishra (sitar). He is a talented arranger, who is able to play violin, cello, percussions and sitar all while giving the perception of freedom as a unique artist.