Avi Kisha Sarod player: Community and Innovation

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Avi Kishna is a Dutch sarod player based in Amsterdam, of Indo-Surinamese heritage. You’ll get to know the sarod as an instrument and hear Avi’s perspectives on Dutch society and his interesting collaborations. Among his mentors is his inspiring father, Ramdew Kishna, a multi-talented musician, director, and painter, who played a pivotal role in shaping Avi's musical journey along with his guru, Koustuv Ray. As a young man, Avi embarked on a successful career as in sales and marketing, but during this time he pushed music aside, and I found it deeply touching to hear how he was able to come back to music with the wisdom of having left such an important part of himself behind. You’ll hear about Avi’s project working with schools in Amsterdam to help provide music programs in underserved communities and this episode features some of his sarod music. Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel, and I’ve also linked the transcript here to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/avi-kishna

Can you buy this podcaster a coffee to support this series? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!

Here you'll find the links to Avi's projects like Raga Reflections, where to stream and buy his music, upcoming performances, including a video with dancer Shailesh Bahoran (which we talk about): https://www.sarodbyavi.com/

Link to Muziek Educatie Centrum Amsterdam: https://www.muziekeducatiecentrum.nl/jeugd-fonds-sport-cultuur-amsterdam

Follow me on Social Media: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman

Episode with sitar player Mohamed Assani: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mohamed-assani

Episode with bansuri player Milind Date:

https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/milind-date-bansuri-player

Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about

Newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(03:42) the sarod

(11:57) Indo-Surinamese heritage and history

(16:16) South Asian music in the Netherlands

(19:38) dancer Shailesh Bahoran

(25:00) excerpt from While She Sleeps

(28:06) bringing different music together, Soundscape Sessions

(38:01) please support this podcast!

(38:39) Ramdew Kishna, Avi’s father

(43:27) racism and inclusion

(50:53) sarod guru Gungun Kaustuv Ray

(56:14) learning from others

(57:56) Raga Reflections

(01:04:19) Darbari

(01:08:00) sales and marketing career, return to music

(01:13:05) giving back through music education