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"Indofunk was first conceived when Satish, tired of all the Irish bars in Boston, crawled to New York on his hands and knees, with his trumpet strapped to his back. There he soon met Walter Fishbacher, who knew nothing about music, and was president of the multimillion dollar accounting firm at which Satish was cleaning bathrooms at the time. After pursuading Walter to quit his high-paying job and take up keyboards, the two met Harry Ganglberger, who had recently arrived from Austria and was paying rent on his 3.5 sq. ft. apartment in Virginia by drumming on broken pots and pans in the NYC subway. The newly-formed trio planned a heist in which they stole a full drumset from a major music store in Manhattan (the name of the store may not be disclosed because the statute of limitations has not expired). That night they met Bryon Hankins, who was stealing his first electric bass from the same store at the same time. After one rehearsal in Bryon's discount lingerie store, the band felt so bad for the crime they had committed that they hitchhiked to Dharamsala to do penance in an ashram. There they met guitarist Lee Boice, who had come to the ashram in search of a cure for his hay fever, and Bill Buchen, one of the gurus there. Since it turned out that Lee was from New Jersey, all five members of the newly-named Indofunk convinced Bill to come back to New York with them, where he took up tablas, the native drums of New Jersey.
"Steve James occassionally falls from the sky to play violin with Indofunk before he is summoned back to Jupiter on business. A human-shaped Chevy truck is known to play tablas when Bill needs to participate in week-long hula dance marathons."
Indofunk has no popularity in Europe. In fact, nobody outside of New York City knows who the hell Indofunk is. Because any two-bit hack band can get lots of press and a huge following in Europe, where their idea of good music generally involves 2-note tuba lines and bagpipes. No, Indofunk has not chosen to take the easy route and impress the easily-impressed Europeans and use that false fame to convince New Yorkers (who mistakenly believe that all Europeans eat caviar for breakfast and sip wine with their pinkies sticking out while discussing Shakespeare, Rembrant, and euthanasia in Latin) that since Europeans love their music, it's worth listening to. Nay, Indofunk insists on gaining popularity the hard way, by playing at dive bars with a capacity of 5 for no compensation. If it doesn't make us popular, at least it'll put hair on our chests.





The Musicians
Satish


Satish hails from the Boston area of Indian immigrant parents, and got his musical start early in life. He was first bitten by the jazz bug in high school and began to develop his unique way of thinking about music under the guidance of an excellent school music program. In college Satish concentrated on biology, but had the opportunity to study at length with the world-renowned ethnomusicologist David Locke, whose specialties include South Indian, West African, and Balinese music. Satish's musical success in Madison and Chicago persuaded him to leave academics and plunge into the musical field, and New York City, in 1993 after accepting a Master's degree in molecular biology.

Satish says: "Don't talk to me before my first coffee."

Get personal with Satish in his personal section of Indofunk City!
Walter


Walter Fishbacher is from Vienna, Austria, and is known to lead his own jazz bands and pop groups in New York. He has lightning fast solo chops, and has groove in his heart.

Walter's other projects:
Tera ... pop band
Lofish Productions ... CD duplication services
All the rest of Walter's projects
Harry


Harry Ganglberger is another Viennese, and his soft-spoken demeanor belies his fiery drumming. He can keep a groove at any tempo, and when he starts to solo, look out! He thrills audiences every time!
Bryon


Bryon Hankins is the funkiest bass player alive. Or at least the funkiest bass player in Indofunk. And he just bought some new effects pedals which make him so funky you wanna cry. Banker by day, bass player by night, he plays with the Holland Tunnel Project, and a host of other bands, in addition to Indofunk.
Bill


Bill Buchen plays tablas on the Hindustani classical circut in New York, also plays a mean drumset, and is heavily into Tower of Power! The perfect candidate for Indofunk's tabla chair!

What Bill does in his spare time:
Sonic Architecture


Akbar the Great says: "The world is a bridge. Cross it, but build no house upon it. The world endures for but an hour, spend it in devotion. The rest is unseen.
Lee


Lee Boice plays guitar 8 nights a week with every single band in New York City. What makes his performances with Indofunk special is his sitar with which he starts out every night.

Lee's website
Additional members
Murali


Murali Balachandran is a well-respected mridhangam player in New York. In true Indian style, he is the son of a mridhangam player and started his training at a very young age. His forte is Indian classical music (he provides rhythmic accompaniment for Bharatanatyam dancers almost 52 weekends a year), but due to the improvised nature of South Indian classical music, he is able to fit naturally into Indofunk's grooves and jazzy soloing.

Murali says: "Finger that beat!"
Sandhya


Sandhya Sanjana is an Indian princess in exile. Disowned by her family for being a rock and roller, she fled to Europe with a gypsy minstrel. There she won the hearts of thousands of caviar eating bourgeous tourists from the United States. While seeking salvation in Dharamsala, she bumped into Satish, who lured her to sit in with Indofunk in the sinful, crime infested city of New York using his drug-laced masala dosas.

She is currently back in Europe undergoing rehab for masala-addiction.

Sandhya's website
Steve


Steve James is one of the most amazing musicians we've played with. A longtime student of Ravi Shankar (and one of Shankarji's only 2 white students), Steve plays violin, sarod, and is pictured here with a guitar. Steve has sat in with Indofunk whenever he's in town, and we are very pleased that he can substitute for Lee during Lee's absence.

Shivalik, a.k.a. "Chevy who wrecked his Dad's Chevy"





Chevy is firey-hot tabla player in New Jersey. Possessed by the exuberance of youth, he brings a heavy dose of adreniline to every Indofunk performance he's on. A classical player by training, he's also a close personal buddy of Zakir Hussain, the king of the tablas.

How "Chevy" got his nickname...
The first gig Chevy played with us was at the 55 Bar. It was getting late and he wasn't there yet ... but it was time to start, and the show had to go on! So we got started.
Halfway through the second set, a very harried Chevy walks through the door, followed closely by his father.
"What happenned, man??" we all wanted to know. Apparently, on his way to Manhattan from New Jersey, he got into a big accident and wrecked his father's Chevy truck. His dad then came and picked him up from the accident and was going to drive him to the hospital, but Chevy, the true musician he is, said "No, Dad! I have a gig! To the 55 Bar!!"

We love you, Chevy.
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