Agneya Chikte

Agneya Chikte is an award-winning Indo-Canadian percussionist and composer whose debut album AGNEYA (2026) blends South Asian rhythmic cycles with contemporary improvisation, cinematic textures, and global grooves. His music reflects his diasporic identity and belief in rhythm as a shared language, inviting audiences into a sound world that is groove-driven, meditative, and expansive.

Born and raised in Western India, Agneya grew up at the intersection of tradition and modernity. His mornings were steeped in the intricacies of Hindustani music and tabla compositions, while his evenings were soundtracked by early 2000s rock and hip-hop on MTV. This juxtaposition of ancient rhythmic systems and global pop culture became the foundation of his artistic perspective: rhythm not as a fixed category, but as an endlessly flexible, living force.

Now stepping forward as a bandleader, AGNEYA is the culmination of this journey - a body of original music that places rhythm at the centre, not as technical display, but as an invitation into layered experience. Performed with a collective of collaborators who bring their own cultural and musical languages into the work, the album creates a sound world where tradition and modernity coexist in all their complexity. It resists easy categorisation, instead inviting audiences to feel connected through groove, movement, and shared presence.

With his debut release, Agneya is committed to building music that is both grounded and expansive - rooted in tradition yet open to transformation. His vision is to create space for underrepresented voices in Canada’s arts scene, and to use rhythm as a way of transcending boundaries, sparking dialogue, and connecting communities across the world.

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