Faculty Profile

Salil Sachdev

D.M.A. University of Miami
M.M. Ohio University
M.A. Northwestern University
B.A. Delhi University

Salil Sachdev has composed music for a variety of media including the orchestra, percussion, piano, theater, voice, and electronic music. His teaching areas include music theory, composition, and music of Africa.  He also directs Khakatay, the West African drumming ensemble at Bridgewater State College.

Salil is considerably involved with world music, particularly that of India and West Africa.  His interest and research in world music has taken him to various parts of India, Ireland and Africa.  He has studied West African (Djembe) drumming, hand percussion, and Solkattu - the rhythmic solfege language of South India.  Salil’s research interest lies in documenting the multitude of diverse folk music existing in India in an audio and video anthology. In 2006 he completed a documentary film on the music of the Sidis, an ethnic group of East African ancestry living in India since the last 800 - 900 years.

Currently Salil is completing a film on the traditional music of Mali, West Africa.  Salil plays the the Frame drum and the Djembe (West African drum).  He also continues to experiment with unconventional percussion "instruments" like metal bowls and non-traditional hand percussion.

Office: Maxwell Library 313A
Office Phone: (508) 531-2884
On Campus Extension: 2884

Excerpt from Music of the Sidis: An African Bridge to India, a film by Salil Sachdev.

Last Modified: February 22, 2010