Profile

After years of selling instruments out of his apartment, East Village native Keshav opened this eponymous Eastern instrument shop in 2002, offering an impressive collection of Mukta Das’s tablas (Indian drums) and schruti boxes, one-chord accordions popular for Shabbat services. Originally trained in guitar, Keshav began playing the harmonium and sitar as a teenager, and spent the nineties touring with Krishna Das, a noted vocalist of Indian devotional music. The shop is frequented by Eastern music enthusiasts and professionals seeking repairs, new instruments, or vintage sitars from the sixties and seventies. The décor mimics the merchandise’s Zen-like vibe, with a carpeted couch, deep blue linoleum floors, and yellow walls adorned with portraits of Hindu deities Krishna and Ganesh. — Ross Kenneth Urken