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Hand of Thought was written and produced by Sanaya Ardeshir.

Piano, Rhodes, Synthesizers - Sanaya Ardeshir

Flute, Alto Flute, Tenor Saxophone - Shirish Malhotra

Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone - Rhys Sebastian

Trumpet - Neil Waters

Electric Bass - Nathan Thomas

Drums/ Percussion/Tabla on Barefootsteps and Deccan Queen - Sarathy Korwar

Horns arranged by Neil Waters.

Mixed by Krishna Jhaveri
Mastered by Joshua Eustis

Hand Of Thought revealed itself to me as a way of tracing the threads that run through the women in my family —
The things we inherit that go beyond genetics.
This specific way of writing music - at the piano - has always felt linked to these ancestors.

The Hand of Thought is the hand extended across generations: weaving together a shared ownership of history, strength, tenderness, and a collective refusal to let the light of creation be extinguished.

Hand Of Thought - Between Dreams - Trains - Barefoot Steps - Deccan Queen - Spiral - Missing Links - Nora’s House

The album draws on the experiences of the Parsi women in my family, who grew up in mid-20th-century Bombay as part of a small community of fewer than 100,000, descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent in the 7th century. This is the first time my work is drawing from the culture of my community and family in a very direct sense. It was not uncommon for Parsi households in India to own pianos by the 50s and 60s, and in a way I’m using the piano as a lens to examine the specific experiences of the women in my family as Parsis living in Mumbai in a newly independent India.