Benjy Wertheimer is an award-winning songwriter, vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist (playing tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards). Benjy has toured and recorded with such artists as Krishna Das, Deva Premal & Miten, Jai Uttal, Walter Becker (Steely Dan), and virtuoso guitarist Michael Mandrell. He has opened for such artists as Carlos Santana, Paul Winter, and Narada Michael Walden. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed Ancient Future world fusion music ensemble, Benjy toured the U.S., Canada, and Japan with renowned bamboo flute master GS Sachdev. He studied Indian classical music for over 25 years with some of the greatest masters of that tradition (including Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan and Z. M. Dagar). Benjy’s CDs receive extensive airplay around the world, and his CD "Circle of Fire" went to #1 on the New Age radio charts in November 2002. "Sitting here on a peaceful morning listening to your CD ... I had to put it on again because the mood was so beautiful I did not want to leave it. The voices sound heavenly!Thanks for sharing this with me..." -Terry Riley, internationally renowned composer, singer and pianist "When I listen to Benjy play the esraj, it transports me beyond the beyond." -John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga “Voice of the Esraj is an endless stream of musical rasa that opens your whole being in a healing, spontaneous yoga. Highly recommended for all of creation!” --- Shiva Rea, Yogini