Close your eyes and let yourself float off on one of bansuri flute master Deepak Ram's haunting melodies, and you never know where he'll end up taking you. With the ancient roots of north Indian classical music as his point of embarkation, this phenomenal player sets his compositions loose to range over a vast terrain, weaving together traditional elements from Africa and India with modern Western influences to create a sound that is both deeply spiritual and cosmopolitan. Born in South Africa in 1960, Deepak Ram began his formal training in bansuri and tabla there before traveling to India to study flute; in 1981 he became the disciple of the world-renowned bansuri master, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. In addition to his accomplishments in traditional Indian music, Deepak Ram is well-known for his collaborations with musicians of other genres, including jazz pianist Darius Brubeck and the popular South African group Tananas, and for his vast experience as a composer of pieces ranging from jazz to choral works, ballets, and orchestral pieces. He has performed all over the world and has recorded numerous albums including Searching for Satyam, which won Best Instrumental Album in the 2000 South African Music Awards, and his most recent album, Ragas Bhupali and Kirwani (Golden Horn). At the Freight he will be accompanied by Debopriyo Sarkar on tabla.