Sonic Safari: Tribal Music of India with Chuck Jonkey

Adventurers’ Club member Chuck Jonkey (#1026) travels the world recording and documenting tribal music and rituals. He has assembled a vast collection of musical instruments  from his travels and also creates his own “outside the box” instruments to produce never before heard sounds. For this presentation, he will focus on the tribal music traditions of India.

Drawing from these recordings and experiences, Chuck will present  a Sonic Safari into the tribal sounds of India that evoke the mysterious depth of interstellar space. During the evening, he will share footage from his travels and bring several instruments for a live sonic demonstration.


Chuck Jonkey is an adventurer/ composer/ musician/ filmmaker who translates his wild experiences into captivating sound, music, and film. As an “ethnomusicianthropologist,” Chuck captures and records native music worldwide. He has ventured into the Amazon, Thai rainforests, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and spent months exploring Java, Bali, and the Gili Islands. Through his Sonic Safari record label, Chuck Jonkey has released more than 150 albums of rare and exotic music from around the globe. He also regularly gives live performances in movie theaters with Interstellar Sound Immersion, science-fiction inspired sound baths. His work has been featured in films like the “Avatar” franchise and “Rambo 4,” as well as TV shows like “Travel Channel” and “Animal Planet,” where his extraordinary animal footage is showcased. Chuck also composes several hundred musical pieces for MICROSOFT’s software products. Notably, he crafted 4 hours of music and 46 songs for Disneyland Shanghai’s captivating “Adventure Isle.” Recent expeditions have taken him to destinations such as India, Thailand, Ukraine, Morocco, and picturesque Caribbean islands.

This program was organized by Reymundo Perez #1219.