Ashni & Friends at Joe's Pub

Ashni performs original music with her band, which spans folk, jazz, and R&B and weaves in her Indian folk influences. Special guests include Julia Easterlin, Ria Modak, and Ishita Mili.

Ashni is a New York-based vocalist, pianist, and songwriter. Her work spans folk, jazz, and R&B and weaves in her Indian folk influences. Her songwriting meditates on the relationships we build with the self, our communities, and all beings in our natural world. She has performed across the US, Paris, and Mumbai. Her performance credits include Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, and National Sawdust in NYC, Sunset Sunside in Paris, and most recently at The Quarter Mumbai. She is a member of the Resistance Revival Chorus. Her music has been featured on Spotify’s Women of Jazz playlist, in Ayodele Casel’s “Where We Dwell” at New York City Center, and the acclaimed, Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls. Her EP “Who I Dreamed Of” released in March 2022. Forthcoming work includes a full-length album, set to release in winter 2024.

Julia Easterlin is a Georgia-raised, Brooklyn-based vocalist and songwriter whose work has been recognized by the GRAMMY Foundation, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the TED Organization, and, through an unexpected series of events, T-Pain. She refers to her work as “chamber-folk” and frequently uses stringed instruments, her voice, and a loop pedal to create lush sonic worlds, shot through with the earthy storytelling of her upbringing on the Ogeechee river.
She has collaborated with internationally renowned artists, including UK musician Jacob Collier, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, American choreographer Bill T. Jones, and Oscar- winning film scorer Kris Bowers (The Last Repair Shop, Bridgerton). Her second studio album is currently in the works and is scheduled to be released in late 2024.

Ria Modak is a guitarist, composer, and historian from New York. She is a PhD student at Brown University, where she studies music and nationalism in India, and is a recent graduate of the dual degree program between Harvard College and the New England Conservatory. Her work is inspired by the rich intersections of Hindustani, flamenco, and jazz music. She has performed with Ali Sethi, Paquito D'Rivera, Isheeta Chakrvarty and others across the United States and South Asia, at venues including Joe’s Pub, Roulette Intermedium, Carnegie Hall, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! and more.

Ishita Mili is a Bengali American director and choreographer. Her unique movement style is primarily based in bharatanatyam, hip hop, chhau, and contemporary. Ishita founded IMGE Dance LLC as a performance company based in dance, film, and music that uses mixed cultural roots to share global stories with artists of diverse backgrounds. IMGE has performed repertoire at the New Victory Theater (NYC), Battery Dance Festival (NYC), Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (Mumbai), Seattle International Dance Festival, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors (NYC). Ishita has created and performed in choreography for music videos and live concert work for artists including J Balvin, Badshah, Keala Settle, Kahani, Sunken Cages/Ravish Momin, Bickram Ghosh, SANJ, and IndoWarehouse. Ishita co-choreographed for “HAIR,” the rock musical, directed by Josh Rhodes at Asolo Repertory Theater (FL), associate choreographed “Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park,” (Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC), and movement directed “The Sitayana,” directed by Sarah Shin (“The Tank,” NYC). Ishita was featured in Pulse Magazine UK, Dance Informa, and Pyragraph as a rising South Asian artist, and won an award for Artist of Exceptional Merit from the Asian American Arts Alliance ‘23.