Neel Agrawal

Neel Agrawal is a Los Angeles–based world percussionist, tabla virtuoso, composer, educator, archivist, and social justice advocate who skillfully blends Indian classical traditions with jazz, rock, electronic, hip‑hop, and film music. He’s performed alongside luminaries such as L. Shankar, Lord Huron, and Young the Giant—touring venues like Red Rocks, Beacon Theatre, and appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Neel earned notable honors including the City of L.A.’s COLA Individual Artist Fellowship (2021), designation as a Cultural Trailblazer (2018), and a mayoral certificate of recognition in 2022 for his contributions to South Asian arts and advocacy. He holds a Harvard Library Innovation Lab fellowship for pioneering research on African drumming laws, and in 2016 he joined the U.S. State Department’s “Celebrate the Connections” tour across India. A former section leader of Michigan State’s drumline and two-time national tenor drumming awardee, he now serves as Director of Percussion at LAIMA (Los Angeles International Music and Arts Academy), teaching tabla, world rhythms, drumset, and stick technique.