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Common Threads between Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Sheila E, The Crusaders and Enjoying Fresh Strawberries with Benny Rietveld

Born to immigrant parents in the Netherlands before migrating to the US as an infant, Benny Rietveld left his native home of Hawaii in early adulthood be 'raised again in San Francisco and New York, (currently residing in Los Angeles)'. During which he went on to build a career possibly unparalleled in the manner it acts as a common thread between artists as iconic and diverse as Miles Davis, Carlos Santana (with whom he's been MD for over a decade), Sheila E, The Crusaders, amidst many others.
In this long-form, vulnerable conversation, the 8 x Grammy Award winner shares humbling insights into the bigger picture behind playing music, his education on the job, the future of online education, and keeping the true fire of it all alive amidst the ever-changing landscape of the music industry.
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Music by: www.everynowheremusic.com
Text: www.tlwrites.com
Produced by T.L. Mazumdar
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu     
Connect with Benny:
https://linktr.ee/bennyrietveld
Connect with T.L.
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 
 

Damascus to Berlin, Surviving War as an Artist, and Effortlessness in Everyday Art with Ali Moraly

Damascus-born, Berlin-based violinist, composer, educator, and writer Ali Moraly belongs to the first generation of home-grown Syrian musicians formally trained in European Classical music.
 
An internationally active career before the unrest in his ancestral home eventually saw him migrate to Germany via Turkey where artist commissions, theater engagements, and the graduating a Masters degree saw him nestle amidst the hopeful strains of Berlin's metropolitan welcome.
 
We catch up to try and summarise a journey that personifies an inspiring story of hope, resilience, and contemplative reflection on the role of an artist 10 years after the 'Arab Spring' protests and the ongoing Syrian civil war.
 
Connect With Ali:
 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alimoraly
 
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/AliMoralyMusic
 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Music by: www.everynowheremusic.com
Text: www.tlwrites.com
Produced by T.L. Mazumdar
 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu     
Connect with T.L.
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 
 
 
 

Understanding Aspergers Syndrome, Transforming Piano Abuse to Healing and Healthy Productivity Hacks with Amirah

Multiple Award-winning singer-songwriter Amirah transformed her journey with Aspergers Syndrome, trauma from abusive piano lessons, and the challenges of being a bi-racial Malaysian in an era of cultural turmoil into a healing process she aptly calls 'a mission to unite'.
 
The Kuala-Lumpur-born and raised LA native has been twice a finalist for the John Lennon Songwriting Contest amidst a plethora of many others with jury members the likes of Timbaland, Rihanna, and Peter Gabriel.
 
Currently working on her debut album with Grammy award-winning producer Jeff Bova, her signature sound meshes Gamelan, Chinese and Indian influences with zeitgeist-relevant production ethics that are an apt representation of her journey amidst geographical and inner worlds which embrace the risk of appearing complex to the mainstream, and only natural to the global citizen.
 
In this frank and vulnerable conversation, we talk about the pains of dealing with abuse at the piano, understanding the nuances of Aspergers Syndrome and discuss healthy productivity hacks for the 21st century artist.
 
Connect with Amirah:
 
Inspiring Unity®
Latest music: www.linktr.ee/amirah360
Website: www.amirah360.com
Youtube: @amirah360 
Facebook: @amirah360
Instagram: @amirah360
Twitter: @amirah360
Tiktok: @amirah_360
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Music by: www.everynowheremusic.com
Text: www.tlwrites.com
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu     
Connect with T.L.
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 

Berlin to LA, Spiritual vs Musical Practices and Staying Curious with Robert Koch

Berlin-bred, LA-based German Music Composers Award winner Robert Koch's music has been described as ''..artificial intelligence discovering religion.'' (Bobby Friction -BBC).
 
A signature deep, cinematic sound that entices crowds to dance at festivals and events like Coachella, Sonar, Mutek, and Boiler Room as effortlessly as it acts as a backdrop for multiple Television, Film, and Ad campaigns even as we speak, his music meets at the intriguing intersection of technology and nature in a manner increasingly relevant to the current zeitgeist. 
 
Koch's collaborative and projects have sold out in planetariums hosting immersive art experiences even while gaining gold and platinum status as a producer for indie artists. A testimony to the seamless, unconventional, complex, and deep thinker who refers to his craft as a 'spiritual practice'. Even while his ever-growing relationship with Meditation and Yoga ground him to make more space for the same.
 
I catch up with my friend and ex-collaborator for the first time in 7 years after our workshop/festival tour in India in 2013.
 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Music by: www.everynowheremusic.com
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu     
 
Connect with Robert:
https://www.instagram.com/robotkoch
 

Healing with Music, the Role of a Mentor and the Future of Online Education with Claus Hessler

With nominations on international polls in magazines like MODERN DRUMMER MAGAZINE and testimonials from the likes DAVID GARIBALDI, STEVE SMITH, ALEX ACUNA, Claus Hessler has established himself to be one of the most influential drummers and music educators to emerge from Germany.
 
With a workshop and concert tour-plan that spans continents, his mastery of the Moeller technique and open-handed drumming has set new standards in the global drumming community. One that has attracted some of the most credible names in the same as both students and collaborators.
 
We caught up recently with the associate professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, The University of Popular Music, Mannheim and chairman of Percussion Creativ, to trace his earliest roots in music, his awareness at a very young age of the healing qualities of music after he used singing to heal from the shock of an accident that left him with speech difficulties, and the future of online music education.
 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu     
Connect with Claus:
www.claushessler.com
Instagram
Twitter
Open Minded Drumming 
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well-being for Artists and Making Music with Chocolate with Vivienne Aerts

 
The gentle and compassionate demeanor of Vivienne Aerts will leave you hard-pressed to guess the mammoth stature of her artistic endeavors in the past decade.
 
A practicing clinical psychologist in Europe before she went on to be a Fulbright scholar and Suma Cum Laude Berklee graduate, her collaborators since have included some of the most iconic names in the world of jazz.
 
The NYC-based, Dutch Singer-Songwriter composer's encounter with Kenny Werner while still a student eventually led to a unique synergy that has gone on to integrate itself as a core component of the Effortless Mastery Institute.
 
In this long-form conversation we address some of the core issues artists and educators alike have been grappling with unnoticed for generations: mental health, well-being, and the hamster-wheel effect the neglect of the same threatens to have on the arts eco-system.
 
With side-notes of entrepreneurship for the artist, Disparities between European and North American attitudes towards education, and chocolate.
 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu    
 
 
Connect with Vivienne: 
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 

Pop Stardom, Bombay, Berklee, and 20 Years In Music Business with Vasuda Sharma

Where others would be happy resting on the wreath of pop stardom at 18, Singer-Songwriter/Composer Vasuda Sharma decided to accept a scholarship to Berklee instead.
 
Following which she went on to crowdfund an international, large-ensemble, live debut album in Boston. Before she returned to Mumbai, where she went on to establish herself as one of India's first solo electronic acts, produce a Bollywood soundtrack, and make it to Rolling Stone magazine's cover as one of the country's pioneering women in Independent music.
 
All the while working on a game plan for a long-term, sustainable career as a full-time artist navigating the ever-changing patterns of one of the world's largest music industries.
 
In this long-form conversation, I catch up with my friend and collaborator on a frank discussion on the journey that's been, the fleeting era of the Indian Independent Renaissance, and how music continues to be her most preferred form of therapy.
 
Connect with Vasuda:
Spotify
Instagram
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 

Spearheading Nepal's Jazz-Scene, Imposter Syndrome and Balancing European and South-Asian Work Ethics with Abhisek Bhadra

Kathmandu-bred composer/arranger Abhisek Bhadra left a budding career in what has been looked upon as Central Europe's capital for 'World Music', Rotterdam, to return to Nepal where the call of the heart led him to lead the very Conservatory of Music his musical journey began in. 
This conversation traces back that journey to its earliest phase as a keyboardist grappling with 10hr plus electricity-cuts, imposter syndrome, visa battles to the European sensibilities and work ethic that challenged him on multiple levels even while resulting in immense growth as an artist, as he gently contemplates the future of Nepalese Jazz Education in the post-pandemic era.
 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu    
 
Connect with Abhisek:
https://linktr.ee/abhisekbhadra
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 
 

Frankfurt, Boston, Classical vs Jazz and Understanding Communication Skills with Benno Sattler

With an international touring career that spans 3 continents and 19 countries and a list of collaborators which leaves no room for skepticism over his expertise, Frankfurt-based Benno Sattler has been a strikingly positive musical force in Germany's first World-Metropolitan in the past decade and more.
Behind the morpher of machinesque dexterity and warm organic beats though, lies the mind of an introspective, acutely observant, and intelligent human being who builds quirky, portable drum-kits and rides a bicycle passionately in his spare time.
In our first catch-up since the Pandemic, we talk about the dualities of straddling musical worlds, the struggle it is to shed baggage and transform mindsets, and the disparities that still crop up in this day and age between institutionalized education and ground realities of a musicians life.
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu    
Connect with Benno:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/bennosattler
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bennosattler/
Coaching: http://www.videodrumlessons.tv
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar 
 

Calcutta Bags, Bombay Journey and Hanging Up Boxing Gloves with Isheeta Chakrvarty

Behind the voice that graces title soundtracks for Bollywood and Amazon blockbusters like Sultan and Mirzapur alike (to name a few), lies the soul of a vulnerable, fragile, bold, and provocative seeker, looking to heal wounds through the power of song. 
Singer-Songwriter, TED speaker, and contemporary Indian Vocalist Isheeta Chakrvarty trained in Hindusthani Classical music before chance encounters with first-generation Indian jazz icons like Carlton Kitto and Louis Banks resulted in the birth of a hybrid seed that promises to bloom into one of the most innovative and creative voices in the Indian contemporary musical landscape. One firmly backed by the fearless and unapologetic musical explorations her recent independent releases stand testimony to. 
In this no-holds-barred conversation on the eve of her first homecoming concert in Calcutta in 6 years, we dive deep into the paradox of trauma, the subjective definition of 'privilege' and the process of reclaiming one's feminine power in what has come to be labeled as one of the worlds most misogynistic countries in recent times. 
This episode is brought to you by: 
www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Recorded on a Zoom L8 mixer kindly sponsored by:
https://www.sound-service.eu    
Connect with Isheeta:
Website: https://www.isheetachakrvarty.com
YouTube 
Spotify
Instagram
Facebook
Connect with T.L.:
Artist Website: www.everynowheremusic.com
Coaching: www.holisticpianoacademy.com 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everynowheremusic/
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39S0dP5
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tlmusician
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tlmazumdar