Water Lily Acoustics is a Grammy Award-winning record label which, for the past forty years, has striven to archive the great masters and virtuosos of both the East and the West.
Founded in 1984 by Kavichandran Alexander, this small, independent company has succeeded in preserving for posterity the artistry of numerous master musicians from around the globe, to great acclaim. The releases of Water Lily Acoustics are prized by connoisseurs for the verisimilitude with which they render the music.
Artists & Collaborators
Kavi Alexander has personally produced and recorded the following musicians on Water Lily Acoustics:
Indian Master Musicians
Padmavibhushan Ustad Dr. Ali Akbar Khan • Padmabushan Professor V.G. Jog • Padmavibhushan Pandit Jasraj •
Padmabushan Dr. N. Ramani • Ustad Imrat Khan • Ustad Zia Fariddudin Dagar • Padmashri Dr. L. Subramaniam •
Padmashri V. M. Bhatt • Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath • Padmashri Ustad Rashid Khan • Chitravina N. Ravikiran •
Swapan Chaudhuri • Guruvayur Dorai • T. H. Subashchandran
Younger Generation Luminaries
Dr. V. Balaji • Pandit Ronu Majumdar • Sukhvinder Singh Namdari • Abhijit Banerjee • Druba Ghosh •
J.G.R. Krishnan • Thiagarajan Ramani • Shweta Jhaveri • Viji Krishnan • Sangeetha Shankar
International Masters
Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Sharafat Ali Khan, Shafkat Ali Khan (Pakistan) • Dom Um Romão, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, Jose Neto (Brazil) •
Alex Blake (Panama) • Jie-Bing Chen, Wu Man (China) • Saug-Won Park (South Korea) • Drepung Loseling Monks (Tibet) •
Hamza El Din (Sudan) • Papa Bunka Susso (Gambia) • Simon Shaheen (Palestine) • Kim Sinh (Vietnam) •
Abdellattif Belharrat (Morocco) • Mevlevi Ensemble (Turkey) • Ustad Hossein Alizadeh, Arshad Tahmasebi, Madjid Khalaj, Haj Ghorban Soleimani (Iran) •
Jorge Strunz (Costa Rica)
Symphony Orchestras
- The Philadelphia Orchestra (Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch)
- The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Maestro Yuri Temirkanov)
- The Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra (Maestro Alexander Dmitriev)
- The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra (Maestro Zoltan Kocsis)
Prominent North American & European Musicians
Ruggiero Ricci • Brooks Smith • Grant Gershon • Gary Woodward • Roger Lebow • Emma Lou Diemer •
Jacky Terrasson • Chico Freeman • Ry Cooder • Taj Mahal • Béla Fleck • Jerry Douglas • Edgar Meyer •
Jon Hassell • David Hidalgo • Larry Coryell • James Newton • Martin Simpson • Teddy Teirup
Recognition & Legacy
Water Lily recordings have been nominated for the Grammy Award multiple times, with one win. Music from the catalog has also appeared in major Hollywood films including Dead Man Walking, Two Days in the Valley, Primary Colors, Angel Eyes, One Hour Photo, Meet the Fockers, and the Jon Bon Jovi documentary The Circle.
"Our goal has always been faithfulness to the original music source — capturing the living essence of the performance without processing or compromise."
— Kavichandran Alexander
Further Reading
Founded 1984 • Santa Barbara, California
Produced and recorded exclusively by Kavichandran Alexander