The members of Trio Benares (from left) Prashant Mishra, Deobrat Mishra and Roger Hanschel perform at a concert in Germany; (below) at a ghat in Varanasi

In October 2014, Stadtgarten, a city park that doubles up as a music venue in Cologne, Germany, came alive with sounds of the sitar, tabla and saxophone, as three artistes took to the stage. While Deobrat Mishra, belonging to the Benares Gharana, played the sitar, his nephew, Prashant Mishra joined in with the tabla. Completing the troika was German saxophonist Roger Hanschel. The concert led to the birth of Trio Benares, a group that presents a confluence of Hindustani classical music with Jazz. Tomorrow, they debut in Mumbai with an open-air concert organised by Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai.