Category Archives: NY Musicians

Interview: Sarah Rayani And The Band – Jazz, Lounge vocals delivered in a soulful manner, meets an old school Hip Hop and Funk band.

Text and interview by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

The Brooklyn Independent Music Fest took place at Littlefield’s in Brooklyn from September 16th to 18th. For three days over 60 bands took to the two stages to perform music which ranged from Alternative Rock to Pop, Blues, Soul and Rap. I checked out the festival on the 16th. Listening to about 10 bands Sarah Rayani And The Band, a Jazz/Soul band, was the one which impressed me most. When I talked to Sarah after her performance I found out that almost all her songs were written by her. She told me how much she was into Jazz and Motown backing vocals. She also occasionally uses Indian tonality with heavy Hip-Hop samples and synthesized pop elements. But what makes her different from all the other singers of this festival is her laid back, sexy and cool voice.

About Sarah Rayani

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NY Street Musician – A Cowboy Plays Bach?!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Yesterday, when I changed trains at 14th Street on my way back home from my rehearsal in Williamsburg, I saw a guy in a cowboy outfit playing classical music on a keyboard which was kind of funny. Instantly I took out my iPhone from my pocket and thought this could be something for the “Musicians In New York” page. Before shooting him I gave him some money. He said “Thank you” with a big smile and started playing. I don’t know what he was playing, maybe Bach? After a couple of minutes I tried to start a conversation with him and asked for a short interview which he for personal reasons rejected. But I felt that he didn’t like to do an interview. So I just stopped shooting him and rushed to my C train.

Enjoy the video below!

Video feature: Anders Nilsson’s “Breakfast Boogie/Nightmare Ballad”

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I have played a couple of times with Swedish guitarist and a film, dance and theatre composer Anders Nilsson who moved from his native Sweden to New York in 2000. I like his guitar playing a lot. He is a unique and very versatile guitarist. In his playing I can hear that he cares about space, sound colors and dynamics. He’s also a very good listener and can respond to other musician’s playing instantly. His characteristic guitar playing can often be heard with singer Fay Victor. He has performed or recorded with artists such as William Parker, Sabir Mateen, Paquito D’Rivera, Eugene Chadbourne, Calvin Weston, Hamid Drake, George Schuller, John Sinclair, Angelblood and has composed music for film, dance and theatre.

His  solo album “Night Guitar” is coming out on the SoundatOne label by the end of this year. His friend Arrien Zinghini made a video to the track from the album “Breakfast Boogie/Nightmare Ballad” (watch above video). It was shot entirely on a Long Island beach after sunset on a series of cold April nights.

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Exhibition & live performance by The Tehran-Dakar Brothers: Arboretum

November 2 – November 26, 2011

Reception: Thursday, November 3 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm with live performance by The Tehran-Dakar Brothers (Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi on sax and Sinan Gundogdu on oud from 7pm -7:30pm)

BROOKLYN, NY November 2011– A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Barbara Siegel’s exhibition entitled Arboretum, featuring wall installations and sculpture made between 2009 and 2011. The exhibition will be on view from November 2 to November 26, 2011, with a reception on Thursday, November 3 from 6pm to 9pm.

Dr. Waxman's Arboretum mixed media wall installation 2011 72

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Have you heard of NJ’s dälek – complex underground hip-hop from NJ?!

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Recently during a rehearsal my music buddy Ravish Momin mentioned dälek when we talked about electronics and Hip Hop in general. So I checked this hip-hop crew out!

dälek (pronounced ‘Die-a-leck’) is an American experimental hip hop duo from Newark, New Jersey. The group is composed of MC dälek (vocals & co-producer) and the Oktopus (production). They have often toured with artists from radically different genres, such as Godflesh, Isis, Prince Paul, The Melvins, Tool, De La Soul, RJD2, and Lovage.

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