iSound

Formed in 1978, Ancient Future is the world's first and longest running musical organization dedicated to the mission of creating world fusion music. Two of the founding members, Matthew Montfort and Benjy Wertheimer, were childhood friends in Boulder, Colorado, who came to Northern California in 1977 to study North Indian classical music at the Ali Akbar College of Music. There they met the members of the Diga Rhythm Band (an offshoot of the Grateful Dead featuring tabla master Zakir Hussain, Mickey Hart, and Jerry Garcia), and formed a new band including Diga Rhythm Band members. They rehearsed at the Grateful Dead studio and performed a number of concerts before splitting up into two groups: a Latin band, and the world fusion music group Ancient Future featuring Mindia Devi Klein and Phil Fong in addition to Montfort and Wertheimer. Ancient Future can therefore be thought of as having formed as an offshoot of an offshoot of an offshoot of the Grateful Dead. The original members...