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Date: 2/22/2011
Location: Brooklyn (NY)
Text and interview by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Since coming to New York, I have become aware of Indian-American musicians, such as saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and pianist Vijay Iyer, who don’t really play Indian classical music but Jazz or Western contemporary music. And it seems the number of this kind of Indian-American musicians is growing.
Another good example is Ravish Momin, a drummer, composer and music educator, born in India, educated in this country, who currently lives in Brooklyn. Going into his well done and comprehensive homepage, you’ll find out in the About section that:
Ravish Momin started writing poetry when he was 8 years old. His love for the sciences simultaneously led him to obtain a B.Sc in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in the US. He has studied drumset with master-drummers Andrew Cyrille, Bob Moses, and Ian Froman. He has also studied North Indian Classical percussion with Misha Masud, a disciple of Pandit Taranth Rao…Even though his ideas are fundamentally seated in the Indian musical traditions, he ultimately hopes to be able to seamlessly combine all those musical ideas to create a sound/identity that is totally unique..
Interesting guy, isn’t he – a student of engineering who gave up the opportunity for a bourgeois life for that of a touring musician? If you think yes, watch and enjoy the videos below and find out yourself what this man is about, and try to see him live.
My impression of Momin was that he’s a muscian who isn’t only passionate about his music and music in general, but also aware about the business side of the industry. He sounded very honest and straight-forward, and could be a good example for musicians trying to survive in this business. He is independent and likes the do-it-yourself way of managing himself and not depending on any body else, or crying about the hardship of being a working musician.
Video P.1: Ravish speaks about being a musician in NY.
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Videp P.2: Ravish speaks about his personal and musical background, and what his music is about.
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Video P.3: Ravish speaks about engineering vs music, his band Tarana, his tours, etc.
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* Ravish solo and Tarana upcoming concerts
* Other DooBeeDoo posts of interest: Dawn of Midi (interview) and Satish (short feature)
Another video clip: recorded LIVE at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Part of the Global Transfer Afterglow Series, curated by Jason Finkelman) on January 22, 2011. Featuring Trina Basu on Violin, and Ravish Momin on drums, laptop, voice. The top video clip and this one gives you an idea of what Ravish is trying to accomplish in his music in terms of sound and execution of ideas.
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