Born of Indian parents, Prashant was raised in Bangladesh and moved to Canada when he was 19. Immersed in the music of the West since childhood, he plays Blues, Rock, Funk and Improvisational Jazz. He now mainly focuses on cross-cultural world music.

He has studied Indian flute, African Fula flute and the Baul music of Bengal.

Prashant has received nominations and awards from the American and Canadian Independent Music Awards, International Song Writing Competition and the Canadian Folk Music Awards, together with his two cross-cultural, worldmusic bands: Tandava and Lehera. His compositions, while influenced by the musics of the Indian sub-continent, combine the influences and instrumentation of a variety of genres and world cultures. They include songwriting in English with east-west sensibilities.

His Debut Album Tandava was CBC radio’s Roots & Wings 10 Best Albums Of 2006 (Internationally); #2 in the National Canadian Campus Radio ‘International’ charts in March 2006 and #1 at various Canadian stations for weeks including Calgary’s CJSW.

Some Selected past performances included Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Vancouver Island Music Festival, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest, Vancouver Jazz Festival, London’s Sunfest, Nova Scotia Multicultural Festival, North Country Fair (Alberta), Detroit Institute of Arts, Harrison Festival of the Arts. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples NY. National Music Centre, Arts Commons, JazzYYC.

Prashant uses ethnic flutes and acoustic and electric guitars, voice and percussion instruments – music without borders – an original and natural blending of genres and musical cultures sometimes using simple live looping and/or bed tracks. www.prashantmjohn.com prashantmichaeljohn.bandcamp.com

To suit the beautiful resonance of the Cathedral’s Gothic architecture, Prashant will perform his meditative compositions using bamboo flute and various blown and plucked and percussion instruments backed by hand-crafted sound textures and ambient percussion. This repertoire includes instances of vocal textures and harmonics, and vocalisation. He has chosen to perform these original compositions and improvisations as they are the perfect vehicles for his personal musical voice. He will also include his arrangements of music by the Turkish master Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan. -Prashant M John

This concert is the fourth in a series of four Distinctive Artists Concerts during 2024 generously sponsored by