Electronic Press Kit
Grassy Strings opening the first Kathmandu Bluegrass Fest in Nepal 2023
Grassy Strings is a duo string band from Kolkata, India, founded by the guitarist/vocalist Souvik Hazra and the mandolinist Subhankar Dhar. This acoustic duo has been attached with American folk music, swing music and Bluegrass music for last few years. This rarest project from the country has became a part of many other international music exchange activities since they have started.
In 2021 Grassy Strings played in the 50+ hours long virtual fund raising event for youth education called ‘Jam-a-thon' arranged by California Bluegrass Association (CBA). In 2020 Grassy Strings has featured in an interview taken by the amazing banjo player and one of the board of directors of IBMA Mr. Ben Wright for the Bluegrass Ambassadors in a series where he has featured some rarest Bluegrass scenes from the different corners of the globe called ‘Global-grass’. In 2019 the band was invited to play with the traveling American Bluegrass band, ‘The Bluegrass Journeymen’ in one of the nights during their India tour.
In June, 2022 Virginia based mandolinist, award winning musician and music educator Tara Linhardt paid a visit to Kolkata to meet Grassy Strings and to record their story for 'The Planetary Music Project' and to play bluegrass music with them.
The band has been interviewed by Caroline Wright- the author and founder of 'Bluegrass Hawa'i' for Bluegrass Today's weekly radio show called 'Bluegrass Today Weekly Top 20 Countdown'. On the Christmas Day of 2022 a new single has been played in the segment 'Pickin' Around the World' along with their interview in that radio show.
On January 6, 2023 Jos van der Lelie interviewed the band for 'The Bluegrass Jamboree' radio show and spinned their song on the air.
Grassy Strings was invited to play in the largest Bluegrass festival of Europe- ‘Bluegrass in La Roche’ in August, 2023. They played in two venues at the street festival as well as on the Lunch time stage of the festival. They shared time and picked tunes with two times Grammy Award winning American musician the Tim O'Brien and Henhouse Prwolers (the band which has nominated New Artist of the Year of IBMA 2023), and many more in that tour.
at La Roche street fest
"Dream of Fairies" is an original tune co-written and recorded by the two musicians of Grassy Strings. This instrumental song tries to catch the feelings of a dream, a dream of some strange new place where the fairies live. A place filled with mysteries, happiness, dance, music, tales, love and illusions.
" To us writing and playing this tune is more like celebrating the sound of acoustic string instruments. The tune took it's shape within thirty minutes in between a practice session. Arranging a tune in the context of a duo setup is always challenging and fascinating for us especially when it comes to an original work, and so we didn't want to stretch the track and tried to keep the essence of minds intact in the craft." - Souvik Hazra
Grassy Strings is so honored to get the chance to present some Bengali songs in front of hundreds of European and American listeners in the international stage of Bluegrass in La Roche, 2023.
At Kathmandu Bluegrass Fest, 2023
Mr. Ben Wright introduced Grassy Strings for the first time to the international audience in France.
Picking with the great Tim O'Brien in France.