New York native and Oberlin College graduate Bear Kittay is an engaging, versatile, and spirited composer, performer, and social activist. He has studied and played music in venues throughout the world, from clubs in Buenos Aires and Bolivia to the Buddhist monasteries of Ladakh in the Himalayas and evangelical churches in the rural Midwest. Bear is a natural storyteller in song, accompanying his sweet bluesy voice with guitar, sitar, banjo, bouzouki, and charango, often tuned in his own innovative tunings. Before embarking on a solo career, Bear played in many groups, including the popular bluegrass/world music ensemble The People's Republic of Gefiltestan. Bear spent several years studying classical Indian Gayaki-style improvisation with one of the world's great female sitarists, the honorable Guruji Hasu Patel. He is currently recording a solo EP at Columbia University Studios, which will be released in June. Wired magazine editor Steve Silberman calls Bear's music "an appealingly fresh synthesis of bluegrass and new-school folk, jazz influence, and world-music sensibilities. Bear's incisive and warmly humane lyrics articulate the hopes, humor, and perspectives of his generation." You can hear samples of Bear's music at www.bearkittay.com