Karavika’s debut ‘SUNRISE’ has been receiving enormous praise since its March 2012 release. All About Jazz describes the music as “a dynamic sonic blend of uncommon mesmeric beauty”, and Lucid Culture “a diversely melodic, often hypnotic original sound that occasionally reaches toward Appalachian rusticity or a brisk Celtic mood...” The album features original music inspired by the rhythmic complexities of Indian Classical music as well as collaborative arrangements inspired by old film and folk music from different regions in India and Sri Lanka. Much of the music illustrates various aspects of life, ranging from the innocence and playfulness of youth to the intense sacredness of love and devotion.
Since its creation, Karavika has been active in the New York City creative music scene, collaborating with artists such as violinist, Arun Ramamurthy, vocalists Roopa Mahadevan and Reeni Rostad, and percussionists Avi Shah, Sameer Gupta, Ehren Hanson and Rajna Swaminathan, among others.
The group has conducted children’s workshops at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Greenwich House and Music UnBoxed and performed regularly at NYC series’ such as Carnatic Sundays at Cornelia Street Café, the Brooklyn Raga Massive, and Classical Revolution.
They were featured in the Tagore Society’s 2012 event honoring the great Bengali Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, held at the NYC Indian Consulate. As festival participants, they have been featured at Brooklyn’s 2013 Prospect Park Fiddle Festival, Brooklyn Arts Council’s 2012 Half The Sky Festival: Women in Traditional Performance, the 2012 Classical Revolution Music Festival held in the San Francisco bay area, the 2012 WKCR Raga Live Festival at Columbia University, the first annual “Sangeeth Utsav” Carnatic Music Festival at Cornelia Street Cafe as well as the 2011 NYC Winter Jazz Festival.
"A diversely melodic, often hypnotic original sound that occasionally reaches toward Appalachian rusticity or a brisk Celtic mood... Whether quiet and reflective or joyously energetic, the melodies are as bright as the musicians' tone: this is music for celebrating or getting lost in" - Lucid Culture
Karavika’s music has been featured as soundtrack for the film, “Kids of the Majestic”, an award-winning documentary by Dylan Verrechia exploring the world of impoverished children living in Bangalore’s Majestic railway station. Karavika has been honored to perform for organizations such as Global Health Bridge, Asha, an education and health care agency that provides support in impoverished communities in India, the Watershed Management Group, which works on improving health and sanitation conditions in India and other underdeveloped parts of Asia, and Sneha, a U.S. based South Asian organization that supports and upholds women who have been victims of domestic abuse.
Karavika has been showcased live on IndiaTalks TV based in Queens as well as the world-wide social networking event, TEDx Gotham, at which they were broadcast live on the web from the Cooper Union in New York.
Their second album is due to be released in late 2015, and will feature music exploring themes of family and motherhood. Tracks include interpretations of American lullabies, classical compositions from South India, an arrangement of a piece by Rabindranath Tagore as well as a popular Sri Lankan melody.