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Indian-origin artists join Lowell Folk Festival
The annual event will feature more than 60 performances celebrating global folk traditions.
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Malvika Choudhary - Tue, 21, Jul 2026
- 17:32 EDT
- 36
Kunal Gunjal and Amit Kavthekar / Instagram/ Kunal Gunjal
Indian-origin musicians Kunal Gunjal and Amit Kavthekar are among the newly announced performers for the 39th Lowell Folk Festival, which will take place July 24-26 in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts.
The 39th edition of the free festival will feature more than 60 performances celebrating traditional music, dance, crafts, and cuisine from around the world.
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Gunjal and Kavthekar will present a Hindustani classical music performance featuring the santoor and tabla. The Boston-based duo has performed together for more than two decades, beginning in Mumbai while they were college students, and is known for blending melodic and rhythmic elements of the Indian classical tradition.
Originally from Pune, Gunjal is an award-winning santoor player and a disciple of the late Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, who is credited with bringing the Kashmiri folk instrument into the Indian classical tradition.
He has performed at major music festivals and venues in India, including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, and received the 2019 Global Music Award in the World Music category for an album that combined the santoor with Western film score music.
Kavthekar, an Indian-born tabla player based in the Boston area, is the last ordained disciple of the late Ustad Alla Rakha and also trained under the late tabla maestro Zakir Hussain.
He has collaborated with leading Indian classical musicians, including Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, Pandit Jasraj, and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, and has performed at the United Nations Day Concert. He is also a member of guitarist Al Di Meola's acoustic trio and teaches tabla in Massachusetts.
The event, held annually on the last full weekend of July, is recognized as one of the largest and longest-running free folk festivals in the United States, drawing more than 150,000 visitors each year.
Festival organizers said this year's lineup showcases artists rooted in North American traditions alongside performers from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, reflecting a wide range of global folk traditions.
The Lowell Folk Festival traces its roots to the National Folk Festival, which was hosted in Lowell from 1987 to 1989. Since launching as an independent event in 1990, it has become a signature cultural celebration presented by the Lowell Festival Foundation, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the City of Lowell, and other local partners.
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