Paul Livingstone
Encyclopedia
Paul Livingstone is an American sitarist, composer
and multi-instrumentalist
. He is one of the few American disciples of Pt. Ravi Shankar
, also trained under Rajeev Taranath
and Amiya Dasgupta all of the Senia Maihar Gharana
.
players of India
and Nepal
including Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri
, Abhijit Banerjee (musician)
,Shashanka Bakshi and Hom Nath Upadhaya. Paul also performs on fretless guitar
and Requinto jarocho of his own design. As a composer and director he leads his own Arohi Ensemble plays 'raga
jazz
chamber music
' as well as composing for film, TV, theater and dance He has recorded and or toured with a number of popular artists such as Ozomatli
, Alanis Morissette
, Beck
, HopPo!
(Rubén Albarrán of Café Tacvba
), and Build an Ark.
Paul has also performed in several music festivals around the world such as the World Festival of Sacred Music and Cumbe Tajin in Mexico. Paul was on the music faculty for 5 years at the California Institute of the Arts
, founded the Sangeet School of World music
in Los Angeles
and has taught creative world music workshops in the US, Mexico Spain & India. Paul also published 'Sitar Talim' a workbook for learning sitar
.
Paul has taught Indian and creative music for 3 years inner city teenage youth through the Music LA program with support from the Disney corporation, the City of Los Angeles
, Cultural Affairs Department and Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa
's office.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
. He is one of the few American disciples of Pt. Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
, also trained under Rajeev Taranath
Rajeev Taranath
Rajeev Taranath is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Taranath is a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan.-Career:...
and Amiya Dasgupta all of the Senia Maihar Gharana
Maihar gharana
The Maihar gharana is a gharana or school of Hindustani or North Indian classical music formed principally by the versatile genius and sarod maestro Ustad Allaudin Khan in Maihar in the Madhya Pradesh state of India....
.
Career
Paul began his study of sitar and tabla at age 15 living in India. He has performed classical raga music with several of the leading tablaTabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
players of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
including Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri
Swapan Chaudhuri
Swapan Chaudhuri is an Indian tabla player, who has accompanied several musicians of Indian classical music, including, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Jasraj....
, Abhijit Banerjee (musician)
Abhijit Banerjee (musician)
Abhijit Banerjee is a leading tabla player in India. He started learning Tabla at the age of four.He received his first instruction from Tushar Kanti Bose and later from Manik Pal. He is a leading disciple of Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh, a doyen of Indian Classical Music...
,Shashanka Bakshi and Hom Nath Upadhaya. Paul also performs on fretless guitar
Fretless guitar
A fretless guitar is a guitar without frets. It operates in the same manner as most other stringed instruments and traditional guitars, but does not have any frets to act as the lower end point of the vibrating string...
and Requinto jarocho of his own design. As a composer and director he leads his own Arohi Ensemble plays 'raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
' as well as composing for film, TV, theater and dance He has recorded and or toured with a number of popular artists such as Ozomatli
Ozomatli
Ozomatli is a seven to ten piece band playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock music, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their wide array of musical styles - including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, rap, and others.In a 2007 NPR interview, band...
, Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
, Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, HopPo!
HopPo!
HopPo! is the name of Café Tacvba frontman Rubén Albarrán's side project. Albarrán formed this band while Café Tacvba was on break during 2010....
(Rubén Albarrán of Café Tacvba
Café Tacvba
Café Tacuba is a band from Naucalpan, Mexico. The group is widely credited with being a pioneering group of the Rock en Español movement, which gained popularity in the early 1990s...
), and Build an Ark.
Paul has also performed in several music festivals around the world such as the World Festival of Sacred Music and Cumbe Tajin in Mexico. Paul was on the music faculty for 5 years at the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
, founded the Sangeet School of World music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and has taught creative world music workshops in the US, Mexico Spain & India. Paul also published 'Sitar Talim' a workbook for learning sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
.
Paul has taught Indian and creative music for 3 years inner city teenage youth through the Music LA program with support from the Disney corporation, the City of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Cultural Affairs Department and Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
's office.
Albums
- Arohi CD (2003) - Paul Livingstone and Arohi are a dynamic ensemble blending Classical Indian, Brazilian and Middle Eastern disciplines with a Jazz sensibility, incorporating new & traditional instruments & authentic styles from over 10 different cultures.
- Salaam Suite CD (2006) - Combining diverse world music and accessible popular styles these songs pull together cutting edge youth culture and authentic music traditions for a message to call us into positive change for the world. This middle eastern creative world music, features members of American groups OzomatliOzomatliOzomatli is a seven to ten piece band playing primarily Latin, hip hop, and rock music, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and their wide array of musical styles - including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, rap, and others.In a 2007 NPR interview, band...
, QuetzalQuetzalQuetzals are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family . They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico...
& Kan Zaman and includes virtuoso artists from South East Asia performing whirling & humorous fresh protest songs, laments, unity anthems, while world Hip Hop grooves & improvisations of traditional Arabic music flow in and out of the album. - Vinaya CD (2007) - Evening ragas of North Indian classical tradition featuring Paul Livingstone on sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
& Vinayak Netke from MumbaiMumbaiMumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
on tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
. These traditional ragas are made fresh by improvisation and interactive play between the instruments. Features ragas Puriya Dhanashree, Kedar (raga)Kedar (raga)Kedar, also known as Kedara, is a Hindustani classical raga. Named after Lord Shiva, the raga is placed on a high pedastal in the realms of Indian classical music...
and Hemant. - Live Classical Raga (2009) - Paul teams up with Abhijit Banerjee one of the leading tabla players of Kolkata, India with a live concert recording featuring ragas, MarwaMarwaMarwa may refer to:* Marwa, raga of Hindustani Classical Music* Marwa, Lebanese singer* Marwa Hussein, Egyptian hammer throw athlete* Marwa El-Sherbini, Egyptian woman murdered in a courtroom in Dresden, Germany* Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, hills in Saudi Arabia...
, Vatchaspati & Anandi Kalyan. - Tilak Shyam (2010) - This new release by Los Angeles based ‘Arohi Ensemble’ was produced in celebration of Pandit Ravi Shankar's 90th birthday. Composed for an east/west Indian chamber ensemble, it features a dynamic collaboration of virtuoso artists from India and America. This new work is based on a composite raga which Raviji created in 1954 and features four of Ravi’s direct disciples, including sarodSarodThe sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
player Partho Sarothy, sitarist Paul Livingstone, bansuri player Pedro EustachePedro EustachePedro Eustache , is a creative solo flautist - "World Music" woodwinds-reeds-wind synthesizers and composer with extensive academic studies and more than 35 years of professional experience...
and cellist Barry PhillipsBarry PhillipsBarry Phillips is a musician, arranger and producer of many recordings of Celtic, world and American folk music on the Gourd Music label.Barry received a Masters of Music degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1990...
, along with two of the leading percussionists of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Abhijit Banerjee (musician)Abhijit Banerjee (musician)Abhijit Banerjee is a leading tabla player in India. He started learning Tabla at the age of four.He received his first instruction from Tushar Kanti Bose and later from Manik Pal. He is a leading disciple of Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh, a doyen of Indian Classical Music...
on tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and Somnath Roy on ghatamGhatamThe ghaṭam is a percussion instrument used in the Carnatic music of South India. Its analogue in Rajasthan is known as the madga and pani mataqa "water jug"....
. This recording is only presently available via digital download.
Composer
- Kavi (short) 2009
- Swaroop: Boving Bliss (TV movie) 2001
- Turbans (short) 2000
Awards and recognitions
- APPEX Fellowship in Ubud, Bali (from UCLA/CIP), 2004
- Los Angeles Music Week Award, 2005
- Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, played sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
Ozomatli’s ‘Street Signs”, Street Signs (album)Street Signs (album)Street Signs is an album by Ozomatli, released in 2004. Street Signs was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die....
2005