World Music Institute Will Host 40th Anniversary Celebration

World Music Institute turns 40! Join WMI on October 16, 2025, to celebrate 40 years of presenting world music and dance in NYC; honoring those whose artistic vision and long-standing financial and Board service support have most significantly contributed to WMI's success.

Enjoy food and drinks, along with live music from Yacouba Sissoko and Arun Ramamurthy, Merhnam Rastegari with Roshni Samlal and Camila Celin, and DJ Nickodemus. All proceeds to benefit the next 40 years of bringing you the very best in music and dance from around the world.

WMI Honorees:

Robert Browning has promoted world music concerts in New York City since 1976. He co-founded the Alternative Center for International Arts in 1975, providing a platform for under-represented artists. By 1985, growing interest in world music led Browning and his wife, Helene, to establish the World Music Institute (WMI), which, under their leadership, organized more than 1,500 concerts over 25 years. Browning retired from WMI in 2011 but he and Helene continue their legacy through Robert Browning Associates, remaining committed to high-quality traditional music and community collaboration.

Kamala Cesar and Thomas Buckner have been long-time supporters as well as substantial artistic contributors to WMI over the past 40 years. Kamala Cesar, a disciple of T. Balasaraswati in Bharata Natyam, is of Native American (Mohawk) and Filipino descent, born in Brooklyn, NY. She has participated in various arts programs and received the National Endowment for the Arts Folk Art Apprenticeship in 1986. In 1994, WMI presented her Indian Dance performance during the Navaratri Festival. As the Founder and Artistic Director of Lotus Music & Dance, she promotes multicultural understanding and traditional arts. She has produced several cross-cultural productions and since 2002 has organized Drums Along the Hudson, A Native American Festival and Multicultural Celebration, Manhattan's only open-air Pow Wow celebrating Native American heritage along with world cultures and their traditional dance and drumming.

Thomas Buckner has championed avant-garde music for five decades as a singer, producer, and promoter and WMI is proud to have teamed up with him as early as 1990 in introducing innovative programs showcasing contemporary music by American composers and performers. Trained by Metropolitan Opera baritone Martial Singher, Buckner specializes in experimental music and has collaborated with numerous composers. He has performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall and the Edinburgh Festival, presenting over 100 compositions written for him. He founded 1750 Arch Concerts and the Arch Ensemble in Berkeley, California, which showcased experimental music. He has toured extensively and recorded over 50 albums, including seven solo albums. Bruckner also produces concerts and founded the Interpretations series in New York, promoting new music and over 300 premieres. He created the Mutable Music label to support contemporary artists and historic recordings.

Daisy Paradis has served on WMI's Board of Directors since 1991 and between 2018 and 2024 co-chaired the Board with Andrew Faulkner. She is an accomplished musician and teacher and was a disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan since 1966. She studied sitar with Krishna Bhatt and attended workshops with Pdt. Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee. Her vocal studies were with Maestro Khan and Prof. A.T. Kanan of Calcutta. She is a co-founder of the Ali Akbar College of Music in California with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and performed extensively on both the East and West Coasts as well as in India, with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, Steve Gorn, and Pandit Samir Chatterjee, among others. She has also worked in a variety of fusion collaborations from Western classical to jazz to hip hop.

Daisy's husband David Paradis is a writer and an amateur jazz drummer. He graduated from Boston College and has a master's degree from The University of Iowa, where he was in the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He founded and for ten years published and edited the literary journal Pequod. He has published one novel, titled Flew Away, which is available on Amazon. He is currently at work on a second novel, and frequently gets together with musician-friends to jam.

Rajika Puri is a distinguished performer in the Indian classical dance forms of Bharata Natyam and Odissi, having gracefully exhibited her artistry throughout Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and India during her illustrious career, which includes a command performance for the President of Mexico. Since childhood, Rajika has been trained in classical Indian dance and music, and has also studied Western music, American Modern Dance (studying at the Graham and Cunningham studios in New York), and flamenco. She earned an MA in the Anthropology of Human Movement from NYU, contributing her writings to both academic journals and dance publications.

Rajika is the visionary behind WMI's critically acclaimed Festival of Indian Dance: Dancing The Gods, which she expertly curated over 14 seasons, receiving accolades from The New York Times for its ability to attract "some truly god-like dancers".

The late Anupam "Tino" Puri, aside from being a successful and respected business leader, mentor, and philanthropist, was a true connoisseur and lover of the arts. He was the first Indian American hired by McKinsey & Company and founded McKinsey's India practice in 1990. From 1996 onwards, he was an elected member of McKinsey's Board of Directors, and from 1998 onwards oversaw all of McKinsey's Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American practices.

Tino held an M.Phil. in Economics from Nuffield College, Oxford; an M.A. with Distinction in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford, and a B.A. in Economics from Delhi University. His wisdom, humility, and generosity are missed by all who have known him.

Tino passed away in 2025 at the age of 79.

Javier Limón is a renowned composer, music producer, and guitarist specializing in flamenco, jazz, and world music. Educated at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, he has collaborated with over 1,000 musicians, including notable artists including Paco de Lucía, Caetano Veloso, Mariza, and Anoushka Shankar, among others. A Grammy and 10 Latin Grammy Award winner, Limón has also garnered over 20 gold and platinum records. Currently, he is the artistic director of Berklee Latino and Berklee Mediterranean Music Institute, runs his own record label Casa Limón, and continues his work in humanitarian and social causes. He has been a representative of the UN Women campaign "He For She" andhis project "Refugio del Sonido" in collaboration with NGO Doctors without Borders, aimed to raise awareness on the refugee crisis.

Farah Siraj, named Jordan's Musical Ambassadress, has an extensive international career performing at prestigious venues like the United Nations, Carnegie Hall, and MTV. She advocates for humanitarian issues, including women's rights and refugee rights, and has performed at the UN Humanitarian Awards. Farah uses music as a medium for peace, having toured globally with her album NOMAD, which blends various musical styles. Her project, The Arabian Jazz Project, gained acclaim, leading to her recognition as one of New York's "Summer Stars of Jazz." In 2014, she released her album Dunya, meaning "world", and now leads an ethnically diverse quintet of world-class musicians from the Middle East, Europe, the United States and South America, including music from all four regions. Farah and her band have toured the Middle East, India, Europe and the United States and South America with sold-out concerts in all four regions.