Liberate Elemental Forces

Liberate Elemental Forces (L.E.F.) is an Indian classical experimental raga band from Los Angeles. Instrumentation is varied but centered on the sitar, tabla and synthesizer while incorporating slide guitar, electric guitar, tanpura, flute, chanting and swarmandal to create their sound. The music is based on the fundamental architecture of Indian classical ragas and rhythm cycles but also fuses aspects of spiritual jazz and krautrock. The core of the group has trained in both LA and Kolkata with their music guru Pandit Shashanka Bakshi - a tabla master who played with greats like Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee. The members of L.E.F. have toured the world as musicians in various incarnations and have come together in their mutual love of devotional music and the philosophy of Sufi mystic Hazrat Khan. Their name comes from the Sufi concept of bringing to light sounds from the unseen world. The band has performed extensively in and around LA at some of its most beloved venues such as The Masonic Lodge, The Belasco , a month long residency at Zebulon, The Esoteric library of Manly P Hall, Bronson Canyon, Meditation Mount in Ojai, the Levitt Pavilion and in the homes of notable visionaries such as gallerist Jeffrey Deitch. Most recently, LEF was selected as 2024 contributing artists by The Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles’ legendary center of free thought.