ABOUT SOUND DHABA
Sound Dhaba is a passion project by a nurse who found uplift, grounding and healing in live music while serving the most vulnerable people in Los Angeles for almost three decades while being part of the resistance movements to change that which creates the conditions for that vulnerability.
Sound Dhaba was born from a desire to celebrate music’s ability to nurture the soul and community.
Sound Dhaba began with a simple belief:
live music can help us return to ourselves— and to one another.
MUSIC HAS ALWAYS TRAVELED
We love the moment when a musical tradition recognizes something in another.
A rhythm travels.
A melody changes shape.
A musician hears something familiar inside something completely new.
Technology and migration now allow sounds to move across the world faster than ever before.
Artists can inherit traditions from their families,
encounter music from another continent,
collaborate across oceans and
create something that could not have existed a generation earlier.
Sound Dhaba celebrates this ongoing journey.
Not a melting pot where histories disappear—
but a conversation where each influence carries its own story.
Artists and Aficionados
are in Community
Community grows slowly. We are interested in relationships, not transactions.
Sound Dhaba understands that creative labor is labor. We know that independent musicians invest enormous amounts of time, training, travel, rehearsal, equipment and emotional energy into what they bring into a performance. Sound Dhaba is committed to finding ways to support the longevity of artists.
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Our model prioritizes meaningful artist compensation while working toward the long-term sustainability of the space itself. 80–100% of revenue generated through ticket sales and back-of-house contributions goes directly to the performing artists. Sound Dhaba is working toward sustainability—not enrichment. We believe transparency matters.
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We also understand that the people who may need beauty, community and live music the most are not always the people with the greatest financial resources.
Accessibility matters.
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We work to balance fair compensation for artists with accessibility to experience their amazing work. We attempt that balance with honesty, experimentation, transparency and care. We do always ask that those who can afford to pay it forward, do so, with confidence that their money will always go towards the goals of compensation, accessibility and sustainability, not enrichment.
FOOD + DRINK
Our food is as fresh as at any good Dhaba. The libations and snacks are intentionally a reflection of our global community
All ages
We're dedicated to cultivating creative, welcoming spaces for youth and elders to thrive together
GOOD VIBES
We stand for equity, liberation, and collective care. And against: capitalist, eco-murdering, settler colonialist, ablist, white supremacist, imperialist heterosexist patriarchy ;)
other things
Curiosity over categories
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History Matters
Courage & Resilience come from
together creating joyous freedom.