Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Today I would like to announce my endorsement of Alejandro Castellano’s fundraiser campaign, who is a dear music colleague and friend of mine. I met him at a Bedford music club in Williamsburg in 2009 when his band INDRA opened up for a friend’s band. I loved his guitar sound and invited him to join my band SoSaLa. His guitar playing and guitar sounds are captured on four tracks of my CD SoSaLa Nu World Trash.
Please listen to “Ja-Jou-Ka” below which will tell you why his guitar sound is so special to me.
Photo courtesy of Alejandro Castellano
Text by Alejandro Castellano
My name is Alejandro Castellano. I was born in Cali, Colombia and moved to
the US in 1987. I grew up in a family that had lived in poverty, both my
parents not having had education past the 2nd grade. Despite this, I have
had a love of music and art since a very young age and dreamed that one day
I would be a successful musician.
I began playing rock guitar at age 14, teaching myself songs from the
radio and soon formed my own band with a few close friends. Thanks to my
friend and drummer Ivan, I was exposed to music from the around the world
which brought a new a musical curiosity and growth in my life. I still
remember the day I heard Andres Segovia playing “Recuerdos de Alhambra” on
Ivan’s radio. I was captivated by the sound of one guitar sounding like
three. I discovered I needed to study this style of music to progress on
my path.
Although I had dropped out of High School at age 17, I got my GED at age
20 and put myself in a community college to study classical guitar. There I
studied under one of the best educators and players on the instrument. My
motivation for going to college had not been to get a degree but rather to
study and to learn. This meant 10 hour practice sessions and little time
for “other school stuff”. After a few years, I decided to go to the Aaron
Copland School of Music where along with a few other guitarists, we helped
create a guitar department which didn’t have for a number of years. That
department is still there and now has 2 guitar teachers, including the one
I studied with in the previous school.
During my time at both schools I was out of my parent’s home and working
full time in addition to studying full time. I was a waiter, a barbeque
mechanic, a stock person, and began to teach guitar privately and at a
different locations.
I discovered my love for teaching and that there was a method of teaching
guitar developing within me. My students have ranged from 3 years old to
retired adults. I have been teaching rock, classical, bossa nova, pop, and
Jazz (which I have taught myself over the years). Now after more than 14
years teaching, I teach at 3 music centers and have my own private
students. I have written different methods for guitar (not yet published)
as well exercise manuals for other instruments.
In the last 5 years I picked up 2 new instruments which I discovered are
my “teachers” in this life (as the guitar is) which help to refine and
focus the music that l create.
All this being said, I am now at the point where I am ready to complete
my education, to finish my degree, and to solidify who I am musically. This
year I was accepted to Berklee College of Music which is one of the finest
music schools in the world. Not only is this one of the best schools but
one of the greatest living musicians of our time will be my teacher.
Berklee has the resources to nurture a musician so they can fulfill their
vision. Having state of the art studios available for students, a radio
station, record label, etc…, the school is a musicians dream, my dream.
I intend to graduate, to attain the qualifications to teach at a
University, to become the best musician I can be, and to bring my musical
vision into this world through my group *Indra*…
Read more here: #sthash.a4lXVKB8.dpuf" target="_blank">https://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/invest-in-my-dream#sthash.a4lXVKB8.dpuf
