Grammy-Winner Wouter Kellerman: Bridging cultures through calming tunes

When I meet Wouter Kellerman in Dubai, just ahead of his performance at the Global Fusion event, the South African flautist speaks with the quiet clarity of someone who has learned to trust stillness. His sentences unfold gently, shaped, as his music is, by breath, silence and an unwavering belief in connection.

Wouter, a multiple Grammy-winning musician whose flute has wandered effortlessly across genres and geographies, is one third of Triveni, the deeply meditative album he co-created with Chandrika Tandon and Eru Matsumoto. The confluence of Indian classical ideas, jazz inflections and global improvisation feels seamless on record, but for Wouter, the pull was emotional long before it was musical. “I’ve always been interested in roots music from all over the world,” he says. “I feel that all different cultures connect with an invisible line going thousands of years back into our past. We connect to a common past.”

That sense of shared origin made the collaboration feel natural, even inevitable. Despite coming from “very, very different backgrounds,” Wouter says he and Chandrika found common ground with surprising ease. “Music is a universal language,” he says, “and it builds bridges across cultures.” For the amazing flautist, whose work has always leaned towards spreading positive energy, Triveni felt like a continuation of a lifelong philosophy. “My music is kind of the opposite of something bad about to happen,” he smiles. “Even when it’s sad or melancholic, there’s optimism in it. It lifts you.”

The idea of creating a healing album, however, was also a response to the times we live in. “We all need healing energy,” he says simply. “We live in times of frenzy. People need peace.” More pointedly, he adds, “We’re living in an age of nationalism, and the danger is the drop in tolerance. If people understand each other’s music, they begin to understand each other.”

Working with Chandrika was not without its challenges. She thinks instinctively in ragas; Wouter approaches music through melody and harmony. “There was a period where we just couldn’t find each other,” he admits. Yet that creative friction proved transformative. “That’s the amazing thing about collaboration,” he says. “It takes you to a place you would never have gone to. If she hadn’t challenged me, I wouldn’t have gone there.”

Healing through sound is not new terrain for the flautist. As early as 2006, he was conducting intimate sound journeys, guiding small groups through yoga, stillness and immersive soundscapes. “This album has been coming for 20 years,” he says. “We just managed to make it now.”

When Triveni won a Grammy, the recognition felt deeply affirming. “You make music sitting in a room, not knowing if it will communicate what you intend,” he says. “To have your peers — musicians, producers, engineers — say, ‘We get what you’re trying to say,’ is incredible. It tells you you’re on the right path.”