Rupa is an Indian woman who grew up in the Bay Area, France and India and who has been creating a sound that draws upon different genres from these cultural spaces, mixing American folk with French chansons, tango and subtle tones borrowing from Indian scales. What is created is a living music and lively performance which gives voice to the fluidity of experience moving between different places, a sonic examination of being at the edge of different cultural identities. Stretching her expressive range in different realms, she plays solo and with her vibrant band, Rupa & the April Fishes.

Rupa's music is a whimsical magic carpet ride through time and place, mixing sounds from the Far East, Europe, Latin America & the US. The band gives an unforgettable multilingual performance -with songs in French, Spanish, English, Hindi and Romani that range from raucous to romantic. Rupa works as a physician at UCSF and her experiences moving between cultures and being close to people at varied stages of life and death bring a unique flavor to her music and a depth to her voice which is both celebratory and poignant.

With songs written during her time as a physician in training, Rupa's music tells tales of love in the face of uncertainty, stories of people in motion finding common ground and hope for a world with dissolving borders. Bringing together different musical languages using cello, accordion, trumpet, bass, drums, voice and guitar, the band is a living and moving entity, inviting people from diverse backgrounds to get together and groove.

The band includes top-notch musicians from several musical cultures. Ed Baskerville plays cello and has trained extensively in the classical tradition. Marcus Cohen, who grew up in St Louis, plays trumpet and has been steeped in jazz. On accordion is Isabel Douglass, an accomplished musician who has trained in Romania and is versed in French Musette, Klezmer and Roma music. Aaron Kierbel plays drums and uses his keen melodic sensibilities to create richly textured imagery on drums and found objects such as typewriters and eggbeaters. On bass is classically and jazz trained upright bassist Tom Edler. Tango accordionist Adrian Jost has recorded bayan and bandoneon with the group and plays on selected performances. The interaction between the players with the pulsing heart of the music is what makes this band's live performance leave an indelible mark.

Rupa is based San Francisco. In the past year, she and her band have headlined at several of San Francisco's top venues, selling out the Independent and playing venues such as The Great American Music Hall, Slims and SF City Hall. They have opened for Michael Franti and Spearhead, Aterciopelados, Susana Baca, Rodrigo y Gabriela and played the 2006 Power to the Peaceful Festival. They have worked with jazz master Marcus Shelby who appears on their debut CD "Extraordinary Rendition." The band has toured successfully in Europe where they played to capacity crowds in Switzerland and France and also in Mexico where they were raising awareness about the harmful implications of the US-Mexico border.

Rupa's band was recently awarded the 2007 MASTERMIND grant to artists who are changing the cultural landscape of San Francisco. She is currently engaged in raising awareness about the harmful health impacts of the FRONTERA, working as a physician on faculty at UCSF and writing music to play with all sorts of people in all sorts of places. Imagining a more fluid world.