Meet Our Mentors

Sahej Bakshi

Sahej Bakshi is an artist, creative entrepreneur and educator who has spent over 15 years at the forefront of India’s electronic music landscape. Known professionally as Dualist Inquiry, he has built an enduring and respected career over the past 15 years. His work has earned him accolades such as Forbes India's 30 Under 30, the cover of Rolling Stone India and GQ's "50 Most Influential Young Indians", while his performances have taken him to major festivals such as Berlin Music Week, The Great Escape UK, Ultra Seoul, Wonderfruit Thailand, SXSW Sydney, Lollapalooza Mumbai, Magnetic Fields and many more. After starting his musical journey at the Doon School, Sahej graduated from the Thornton School of Music at USC in Los Angeles with dual degrees in Music Industry and Business Administration. He returned to India to pursue a career as an artist at the age of 22, and shortly thereafter released the landmark album Doppelganger (2013), which is now seen as a turning point not only for Sahej but also for the Indian Independent music landscape. Beyond his personal artistry, Bakshi’s has always been focused on creative education and fostering community. As co-founder of boxout.fm, one of India's leading independent online community radios, creative agency, artist management, record label and event promoter, Sahej has helped create essential infrastructure for emerging artists across the country since 2017. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Fieldworks, an education platform dedicated to educating and mentoring India’s next generation of creatives. By bridging the gap between technical mastery and artistic vision, Bakshi leverages his experience in music production, filmmaking, and industry to empower students. Whether through his work as an artist or through Fieldworks, his work now centers on building the educational frameworks to support the next generation of creatives.

Krishna Jhaveri

Krishna Jhaveri is an Indian sound artist, musician and mix engineer. His sonic journey has spanned progressive metal, experimental ambient soundscapes, film sound, and explorations in field recordings, acoustic ecology, and radio art. His background includes a Law Degree and an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College in Oakland, California. He has also toured the globe extensively with the metal band Skyharbor, acclaimed Indian hip hop artist Divine, and legendary Indian rock stalwarts – Indus Creed. The central tenet of his current artistic practice is activated listening – informed by soundscapes studies, interspecies communication, field work, mixing, and traditional meditation practices. His work is inspired by his interests in culture, climate, community building, and mentorship. In 2020, he co-founded Ears to the Ground with Sanaya Ardeshir – a transmedia project that seeks to investigate how our changing soundscapes reflect climate change through installation art, performance and community sharing. Alongside his passion for the potentialities of sound, Krishna's interests extend to pedagogy, and knowledge sharing as a means to build robust communities. Krishna’s passion isn't just for making music — it is for sharing knowledge and building community around the Arts. As cofounder, Fieldworks will be the container through which he will share his passion for teaching, guiding and facilitating young creative minds.

Sanaya Ardeshir

Music Production

Sanaya Ardeshir is a composer, producer, and sound artist from Mumbai/LA. Like her naturally occurring namesake, her sound is constantly evolving - ranging from experimental piano music, to cinematic art pop. Ardeshir’s work is inspired by themes of interdependence within ecosystems. She draws from cultural narratives, ancestry, and ecology while integrating the worlds of studio and stage, melding electronic music, orchestration and live performance.

Krish Makhija

Filmmaking

Krish Makhija is a 34-year-old Cinematographer and independent producer from Bombay, India. Formally educated in Economics, he picked up the camera when he was 18 years old to start documenting the chaotic world around him. His love for stills soon led him to being an Assistant Director on television commercials, branded content and feature films. He later began freelancing as a Director of Photography and assisting in the camera department until recently when he started a small independent production house, Mosambi Juice Productions in Bombay. Krish has just finished his Masters degree in Cinematography in Europe. The program was a partnership between three schools located in Lisbon, Tallinn and Edinburgh. It involved mobility between member schools over a two-year degree. Apart from the camera, Krish’s other passion is sailing and the ocean. He has been sailing since he was eight and this has definitely shaped him and made him the person that he is today. His eventual dream is to somehow combine his two passions and create meaningful work that can allow him to tell the stories that he wants to in a unique way. He also loves orcas.

Zainab Wani

Music Production

Born in Kashmir, raised in Chiangmai, Thailand, and currently based in New Delhi, Zainab is an electronic music producer, educator, DJ and all round lover of music. Producing and DJ’ing as Zequenx since 2018, she relies on her many cultural influences to accentuate her tastes and guide her through the expression of self as an artist and educator, sculpting a space for those who want to explore the sonic realm. Zainab played the violin classically in her youth, and today, carries her musical knowledge, creative energy and quest for learning into her lessons and performances. Her philosophy is to create a journey that allows the listener to step outside of their mind for a moment and traverse through dark, yet musical, psychedelic soundscapes. She has been a part of the Indian alternative music industry for over 6 years, working with record labels, online community radio and having co-founded collectives that empower and train women and queer individuals in music production, DJ’ing and other aspects of events and nightlife. Her productions have been released on a variety of renowned labels in India, and she’s working her way to release her music internationally in the coming year. Zequenx has a discernible sound, although it morphs to various genres such as electro, techno, acid, and experimental ambient. She has been working with students on a 1-on-1 basis to teach them the ropes of electronic music production on Ableton Live, as well as presented at Ableton User Group meet-ups. Her goal is to make music production accessible to everyone, and guide them to actualising their production dreams.

Shantam Khanna

Music Production

Shantam Khanna is a seasoned music producer and live performer whose meticulous and well-informed approach to sound has resonated across India's club and festival circuit. With performances across cities in India, and at notable festivals including Magnetic Fields, Echoes of Earth, Ziro, and NH7 weekender, his decade-long career showcases a thoughtful balance of technical skill and creative exploration. Shantam started his musical journey at The Doon School, Dehradun before studying music production at the Manchester MIDI School in the UK. Drawing from his experience teaching at institutions like HIGH Music Academy, Noida and long-running private instruction practice, he brings a wealth of practical and technical knowledge directly to aspiring producers. Shantam has also worked as a producer of ad jingles for companies such as Vodafone, Nothing, Google Pay, A23 Gaming, and has composed background scores for film projects —building a well-rounded portfolio that spans multiple facets of the music industry.

Darren Dsouza

Graphic Designer

Darren D’Souza is a Goa-based visual and graphic designer, musician, and music producer whose practice sits at the intersection of sound, space, and sensory experience. Growing up in Goa, and shaped early on by school and church choirs, his relationship with sound has been both intuitive and deeply rooted in place. As a member of the band Feathers in Space, and through his solo project Bérod, his music reflects an atmospheric and textured approach to composition. Alongside his music practice, he has spent the past four years working as a visual designer, creating immersive experiences that allow participants to realise and explore alternative realities through space, sound, and form. Darren’s work extends into sound installations that delve into the relationship between human interaction and ecology, an inquiry shaped by the evolving landscapes of his native Goa. Motivated by questions around our relationships with our environment and the resulting transformations, his multi-channel sound installation, “Present Sense”, echoed similar themes using responsive soundscapes. Largely self-taught in both music production and design, Darren later pursued a Masters Diploma in Creative Music Production from Catalyst Institute, Berlin, further refining his interdisciplinary approach. At the heart of his practice is a simple belief: that artistic expression is accessible to all, given the right tools, knowledge, and space to explore.

Pia Brar

DJ

Pia Brar is a Goa-based DJ with a background in art therapy and alternative education. She has been featured on Keep Hush, Boiler Room, DJ Mag, and MixMag Asia, tours internationally, and has played festivals including Glastonbury and Magnetic Fields. She is also the founder of Bass Wav, a femme-forward collective that connects artists on a global scale.