Don’t mistake Ajoy Chakraborty’s quiet dignity for snobbery. It’s actually the humility that comes from preserving a musical tradition that’s older than Christ. The -Calcutta-born singer, performing today at the Tagore Society of Houston, is perhaps the world’s leading exponent of Hindustani Classical Vocal, a tradition that traces its history back to the ancient Vedas. But Chakraborty, whose résumé is chock-full of apprenticeships and residencies with India’s top classical music performers and institutions, doesn’t just party like it’s 1999 B.C. He’s known for injecting lighter classical fare and modern pop-based sounds into his shows.

Sun., Aug. 19

This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2007.