Iasonas Psarakis is a multi-award-winning Greek-born composer, filmmaker, and multi-instrumentalist specializing in North Indian Classical and world music, with a practice that also extends into experimental dance music cinema and hybrids films. A soloist on the sitar, esraj, and other instruments, his work moves across European Classical, Middle Eastern, and Hindustani Classical traditions. He is a GRAMMY® Voting Member of the Recording Academy (NARAS) and participated as a session musician on the GRAMMY®-nominated album The Colors in My Mind (Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album, 2026). His cinematic work explores the visceral intersection of complex North Indian rhythmic structures with contemporary & classical movement and dance film aesthetics.
Psarakis studied under esteemed teachers including Ameena Perera (daughter of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan), Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee, Amie Maciszawski, and Sabyasachida Sarkhel. He graduated from Sangit Bhavan at Visva-Bharati University with a B.Mus. in Hindustani Classical Music (Sitar), supported by multiple scholarships, including support from ICCR (India).
In 2016, he released his debut album, Clay. Since then, his music has appeared in theatres, concert halls, collectives, films, opera houses, radio broadcasts, international festivals, street performances, and site-specific settings, including archaeological and historically significant venues. His work has been presented across Greece, India, Egypt, Italy, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey, and beyond. In 2019, Bibliotheca Alexandrina organized his first solo concert in Egypt, and he has also performed in venues such as the Apollon Theatre (Ermoupolis) and the Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts & Music in Greece, among others.
As founder, composer, and arranger of the Iasi Ensemble, Psarakis released the ensemble’s debut album, Astris, in December 2023—a large-scale world-fusion work shaped by collaborations with musicians from India, the Middle East, and Greece. Astris received six Silver Medals at the Global Music Awards (California, USA), won Best World Music at the Clouzine International Music Awards, charted prominently on Ethnocloud (Canada) and One World Music Radio (UK), and was included on the first-round ballot for the GRAMMY® Awards in the category Best Global Music Album.
Alongside music, Psarakis has developed an expanding body of work in film and visual storytelling, particularly within experimental formats that merge live performance with animated worlds, music with dance, contemporary with ancients art forms. His creations in film and music have received several prizes from festivals and institutions including the Thomas Edison Film Festival (USA) and Jaipur International Film Festival (India), among others.
He actively collaborates with international artists across multiple disciplines, including Kehua Li (Lico Dance), Suhaee Abro, Nikolas Gkinis, Kostantinos Koukoulis, Chris Redding, Antonio Vergara, Takis Loukatos, and many others.
Links / Selected pages
IMDb: www.imdb.com/name/nm12460758/
Spotify (Astris): https://open.spotify.com/album/1LS4GJOuksV07qlbxbLq7b
Instagram: www.instagram.com/iasonas_psarakis/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/IasiEnsembleIasonasPsarakis
Facebook: www.facebook.com/IasonasPsarakis1/
www.facebook.com/iasonaspsarakis
