People might be talented in a particular field, only to leave it for a moment, broaden his horizon and gain life experience. Experience can be painful at times, but also very beneficial.
Unfortunate situations opened Avi’s creative spirit and unleashed his musical talents once again.
He came across a wide range of different music styles, genres and identities, from which he evolved as a solo classical sarod player and developed his music production skill, creating musical art like he was destined to do.
Avi didn’t really have to “learn” the art. Deriving from a multitalented and creative family, it was no surprise he picked up musical skill in his preteen years.
His dad took him under his wing and he learned keyboards and piano, following with lessons in western classical music playing the Cello. This allowed him to perform alongside a Chamber Ensemble and Youth Orchestra.
There was a lot of room to play with for young Avi.
He got acquainted with Indian classical music, not in the last place due to his Indian origin.
Inspiration came from his cousin Siddharth Kishna, a well-known sitar artist. But it was the renowned Guru Koustuv Ray who gave him lessons and became Avi’s musical guide, inspirator, teacher and friend.
At 16 Avi was invited by his Guru to join the Rotterdam Conservatorium. A new faculty opened up which was right up his alley: Indian Classical Music.
He passed the admitting exam, while being the youngest student at the time.
Recognizing his talent, Avi was asked to be the music director and producer for his father’s epic play, Ramlila. It was the first time ever Avi got familiar with producing. And he was proud beyond limits, because his Guru took part and sang to the music.
During this period, Avi performed as a sarod player at different stages, was interviewed for national TV (Ohm TV), played live on national radio (Radio 1) and acted in Hindustani folk theater plays.
At 22, Avi decided to leave music behind and pursue a career in business.
This literally didn’t go unrewarded. In a decade the entrepreneur grew to be a successful businessman, winning many awards like Owner of the Year Award in 2008.
In 2005 Avi briefly returned to music. As part of an ensemble, he performed (next to Siddharth) at former Dutch queen Beatrix’ 25th anniversary.
In 2010, when confronted with drastic change in (personal) life he unfortunately had to close down his business.
But this made way for music once again. He emerged as part of a new breed of music producers.
While developing music producing skills, he was able to release his first Desi track online, featuring Sharmili. Soon after: his first collaboration in Hiphop, on a (re-)mixtape by MC DRT in 2012.
And it was only a matter of time for his first public sarod performance, after being absent for 7 years.
That year he also landed an assignment, producing for a mega Bollywood event in Amsterdam.
Ambitious as Avi is, he got his first assignment for national TV (Ohm TV, Holi-festival 2013, Amsterdam).
As if coincidence exists, just after launching Imperceptible Art as a platform together with Mitch, they came across Henna Renfurm & Saskia Vredeveld (Peacefield Film). The two directors were about to film a documentary on Ms Ela Gandhi and asked Imperceptible Art to do the soundtrack for that. Ergo, they landed their first official project for National TV under the banner of Imperceptible Art.
As his skill, enthusiasm and professionalism didn’t remain unnoticed, more and more renowned artists got familiar with Avi and are eager to collaborate.
Believing like many other major global artist say: “There will eventually be only one genre, as the world becomes smaller, more influences will cross each other and will be an example of how the world should be”. Therefore Avi is music and music is his World…
Ps As if he’s not busy enough, Avi also founded a voluntary community coaching concept (YOUth Coach) in 2012, practicing in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.