THE AMITHIAS PROJECT…

A space not only to immerse in music but also to reflect upon musical experiences

From Bavarian and Swiss Alps to how a morning in Bangalore sounds and feels, the music of The Amithias Project is varied and culturally diverse.
 
‘Schriefl, when still a youngster, was invited by the famous saxophone player, Charlie Mariano for a mutual cooperation with the Karnataka College of Percussion, which led to a more intensive study of Indian music’
 
And then in Bangalore, some years ago, a very intense friendship turned into the creation of a band with two leaders: Amith Nadig and Matthias Schriefl. The Band ‘The Amithias Project’ has musicians from India and Germany (Upper Alps) – a mix of true world music!
 
Amith Nadig                          Flute
Matthias Schriefl                  Trumpet / Flug Horn
Nivedita Sharma                   Bharathanatyam
Vinod Shyam Anoor            Mrudangam, Konnakkol
Sunaad Anoor                       Khanjira, Konnakkol
 
The 4 musicians are constantly trying to discover the connections of jazz harmony and Indian Ragas as well as mutual grooves around the globe. It is a fascinating creation, when the complex South-Indian rhythms unite with European harmony.

Amith Nadig, a virtuous flute player, hailing from a family of musicians and widely acclaimed as child prodigy has been performing with the sub-continent’s best classical musicians. Amith has toured many countries and has performed on all prestigious festivals all over India and abroad for more than two decades. He effortlessly adapts his playing to different genres of music including Karnatic, Hindustani, Jazz, Fusion etc. which makes him a very sought after flautist today.
Amith has had the honor of being the only Indian to have been invited to perform at the Dusseldorf Church Organ Festival and Jazz Art Festival in 2016.

However, the tackling with his own and complex culture was not satisfying enough for Amith Nadig musical search. In October 2018, Amith was invited as a featured soloist in the most prestigious HR-Frankfurt Big Band where he presented music from his Indo-Jazz band ‘The Amithias Project’ along with world renowned trumpet virtuoso Matthias Schriefl. In this band he also plays among others, Samba, Blues and Mambo pieces and he even yodels in an Indian way. In May 2017, Amith performed in Europe’s biggest jazz Festival at Germany as part of Jazz Fruhling.
Apart from being a flutist, Amith is also a software lead balancing both his career and passion by bringing nothing but excellence.
 
Matthias Schriefl, hailing from the Alps in Maria Rain studied in Cologne and Amsterdam. Since 2006 he has been organizing the concert series Jazz-O-Rama at the Artheater Köln. From 2008 to 2010, he toured with his band Shreefpunk as the "Rising Star" of the European Concert Hall Organization through the major concert halls of Europe. After that he experimented mainly with alpine music. In 2012, he released the multi-award-winning album Six, Alps & Jazz on ACT's Young German Jazz series. This is followed until today regularly by new CD recordings with various bands in which he as a musician and composer to his respective fellow musicians like "tailor made" his pieces on the body.
Schriefl lives in Cologne and partly in the Allgäu. His musical curiosity inspires him again and again on longer study trips to India and stays in African and South American countries, where he deals with various musical traditions. In 2016, his versatile involvement paid off with the World Music Prize RUTH in Rudolstadt. He knows and loves big stages and the wide world, but engages himself more to bring jazz to small, rural venues regularly.
 
Nivedita Sharma is one of the very few dancers today who has been at the forefront of cross cultural exhibitions of Bharatanatyam having performed with Jazz musicians across the globe. She effortlessly combines her deep understanding of classical dance with complex rhythmic patterns in the Jazz structure in addition to showcasing her expressional skills to mimic human emotions along with multi layered Jazz harmonies. Due to this skill, Nivedita has been invited on multiple tours to Germany, France, Morocco, Italy and many other countries. Nivedita is also an accomplished contemporary dancer and is adept at choreographing thematic dance sequences for many colleges and schools. Nivedita runs her own dance school apart from working as a dance faculty in many organizations, Nivedita also conducts workshops and seminars at many educational institutions.

Vinod Shyam Anoor started learning Mrudangam at the age of 10 and has a strong musical family background. Having secured many prizes in competitions and awards, he is also a B grade musician of All India Radio and Doordarshan. He has performed at many music festivals and organisations in India and the Gulf. He has front-headed many critically acclaimed and well received percussion ensembles and has been recording rhythm for many albums
 
Sunaad Anoor hails from a family of musicians and belongs to its fifth generation. Having secured first place in competitions and recipient of many awards, he has played the Khanjira for many eminent musicians in India. He is also adept in playing other instruments like Chenda, Sammela, Cajon, etc.
 
With long years of deep understanding through travel and research, Amith and Matthias had to mutually set aside their own musical and cultural horizons. Enhancing are the interactions by the charming dancer who dances with the musicians as the Alpine sounds are accompanied by Indian gestures.
True friendships, even far beyond music are created which offer a universal and unconditional joy to the listeners.