Born into a musical family, Jake Charkey started playing cello at the age of 7. After completing his conservatory training at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Texas he began to study Hindustani music, a journey which has led him from Toronto, L.A., Montreal, and finally Mumbai. He lives in Mumbai where he continues his studies in the Gayaaki Ang violin style under the legendary violinist Padmabhushan Dr. N. Rajam. He has appeared as a featured artist on Josco Indian Voice, Super Singer, and season 2 of Coke Studio at MTV with Clinton Cerejo and Master Saleem and performs across India and abroad. He holds a M.A. in Hindustani music from the California Institute of the Arts and is a former Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship awardee. He is an endorsed artist with NS Design Instruments, and when he isn't playing his acoustic instrument performs as an electric cellist/bassist on an NS design CR5 electric cello.