The Chicago-based musician will also perform in Long Island, New York City and Baltimore.
Chicago-based singer and songwriter Subhi, who released her debut Hindi pop jazz album Shaitaan Dil last fall, will perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on August 19.
The Millennium Stage performance is part of the musician’s four-city Northeastern tour, which includes stops in Long Island, NY; New York City and Baltimore.
“I am thrilled to perform at Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage,” said Subhi, whose full name is Subhi Khanna Rangnekar, but uses only the first name in her artistic life. “This will be my first performance there. I will be performing some of my original compositions from my debut album. I will also be doing a few classic Bollywood jazz covers.”
Subhi told the American Bazaar that, as part of the performance, she will share a few stories about her musical journey from Mumbai to Chicago, and “how the songs were created.”
READ: Chicago-based musician Subhi debuts in Bollywood with ‘Take it Easy’ (January 1, 2015)
Subhi’s upcoming performances and venues
August 16, 2018 | Mint Lounge, Long Island, NY |
August 17, 2018 | Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 2, New York City |
August 18, 2018 | An Die Musik, Baltimore |
August 19, 2018 | Kennedy Center: Millennium Stage, Washington, DC |
Subhi moved to New York from Delhi when she was 15. Her first musical venture was working as a music assistant to Indian American filmmaker Mira Nair, on Monsoon Wedding: Musical, a Broadway show.
After working as a songwriter, lyricist and vocalist for an independent feature film, in June 2013, she returned to India — this time to Mumbai — to compose music for the Bollywood film Take it Easy.
Subhi and the New York-based reggae singer StyleBhai also composed the promo song of the film Kaun Kitne Paane Mein, directed by Nila Madhab Pandav, a national award-winning filmmaker.
Subhi, whose real name is Subhi Khanna, moved to Chicago after her marriage to education technology entrepreneur Ashish Rangnekar, who is the founder of BenchPrep.
The singer, whose music reflects a blend of her Indian roots and the Jazz culture of Chicago, said the songs in Shaitaan Dil were composed during her travels between Mumbai and Chicago. The album release was hosted by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, as part of Jazz Club Tour 2017.
As the Bazaar reported in 2015, “East meets West” is the theme of most of Subhi’s music and she is influenced by a diverse set of artists, including the Beatles, R.D. Burman, Amit Trivedi, Gulzar and Adele. She is a musician who loves to “fool around with different genres.”
The various venues and festivals she has performed include the 2018 SXSW festival at the legendary Jazz venue Elephant Room (Austin, TX), C.S.P.S. Hall (Cedar Rapids), Dakota Jazz Club (Minneapolis), Lotus World Music & Arts Festival (Indiana), Red Poppy Art House (San Francisco), Brooklyn Raga Massive (New York City) and Navy Pier Miller Lite Beer Garden Stage (Chicago).
In November 2017, two months after the release of Shaitaan Dil, Subhi spoke and performed at the TEDx Naperville 2017 annual conference.
Subhi has a master’s degree in film and media studies from The New School in New York.
(This post has been updated.)