Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Meimand, a.k.a. Eskandar Alexander.
Alexander, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The short story is that when I became a young adult, I began listening to my heart. I learned that it will bring me and the world more happiness in hindsight. Even when it may have seemed there was no way through, I continued to dance to this beat, and trust myself.
The longer version of this story is this: Much of where I am today is a direct result of where I came from, mixed with how I blazed my own path of freedom of self-expression. As a first-generation American Persian, I did not always appreciate the riches of Persian food, culture, poetry, and music, not until I left the nest when I was 18. In fact, I strongly disliked Persian music, was ego-centered, and mostly listened to mainstream music on the radio (this was before music apps).
In college, a whole new world opened up to me. I began to explore eco-centric and Mettā points of view, spent more time being barefoot in nature, read Thich Nhat Hanh, discovered classic rock, bluegrass, all sorts of different genres and artists, and fell in love with Jimi Hendrix. I used classical (sonati) Persian music as a tool for studying and slowly fell in absolute Love.
Jimi became my focal obsession, and I found my very own Persian Hendrix. His name is Jalil Shahnaz (RIP). I listened for years, and never fathomed I would ever play such music. I’ve never even seen the instrument in person, but it spoke so loudly and clearly to my soul. It was a direct communication line for me to my inner world and to my connection to my being/avatar. In the meantime, I was studying Psychology and Holistic Studies, and living from the heart, searching for ways to serve the communities around me, and discovering that I loved to play music i.e. djembe’s at drum circles, didjeridoo’s, and picking up a roommates guitar and piano.
College passed and I stayed in the Bay, away from my hometown in Los Angeles, and decided to go to school again to better serve my permaculture community I was active in. I came to LA on a quick visit before my Masters in Organization Development began in Sonoma County and met an inspiring man through my parents. His name is Vahid Bayat. He had recently arrived from Iran (late 2008) and with him, he had a Persian Setar. I fell in love. A two week visit turned into two months. I lived and breathed this instrument by the grace of this Master who helped me feed my soul. Alas I had to depart to a 2-year intensive MA program.
My Masters passed and I began working full time for the USDA Forest Service as an Organization Development Specialist designing and facilitating meetings and being a badass agent of change for the organization at a national level. I got to travel all around the states doing this work and I LOVED it. After about a year of this work, I decided to request a change of duty station to be closer to Vahid and continue feeding my thirsty Persian soul. It was a clear calling, and I had no choice but to listen.
I moved to Venice Beach for a few years, shifted from the Persian Setar to the Persian Tar, and then wanted less distractions so I moved to Topanga Canyon. I lived and breathed this instrument. I had no choice. It even took over my regular yoga practice. I regularly stayed in just to have more time with this precious instrument. I couldn’t stop! It became my yoga. It was literally feeding my soul and there was nothing in the world I would have rather done than play this instrument.
In 2016, I began experiencing some burnout from my federal service and continued to push for a year while fantasizing about creating an even MORE awesome life. After seven beautiful years with the US Forest Service and being a hermit musician…
I decided to say goodbye to the predictable known world of 9-5 and supervisors… I quit in January of 2017 and took the dive into the mystery!
Fast forward to today: I’ve had the greatest pleasure of playing with talented musicians around the world, climbed the steep learning curve of Ableton, am wrapping up my first solo release (Violet Flame E.P. coming soon, which is a fusion of the Persian strings I love dearly mixed with contemporary electronic yum yum’s from the California music festival scene), launched an independent consulting practice, and am wrapping up a post-grad diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking.
A bit about the Tar:
The Tar is known as the “Shâh sâz”, “King Instrument” of Persian Music. It is a very adaptable instrument that can play in a variety of settings. I very much enjoy pushing the envelope on her abilities, I constantly find new sounds. She truly is a magical instrument.
A bit about my consulting:
My consulting practice is currently serving organizations of all ages. I most enjoy temporarily flattening organizations to surface collective wisdom directly sourced from groups of people. We use that raw and combined energy to innovate and produce amazing results. People have solutions for everything… I just create the right conditions for it to be powered by collective support and channeled in the right way to be successful.
I’ve learned a lot in my 34 years of life (35 at the end of this month), and I’d like to share the following few nuggets I’ve lived and can say are absolute truths (for me). Hopefully at least one of these will find a nice spot on your heart or memory and serve you in your life:
1. Practice is raw power accumulated drop by drop
2. Form is very useful but awareness liberates
3. Meditate
4. Do what you love EVERYDAY
5. Love ferociously
P.S. I want to give a shout out to our beautiful ensemble, The Chloe Pourmorady Ensemble. We just released our debut album called “Begin Majesty”. It is BEAUTIFUL. Check it out.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
During challenges: it’s rough, and you may not see a way out, but you must be patient. Alan Watts saved me year after year with this: “try treating yourself as a cloud, or a wave. They never do the wrong thing. There is never a poorly designed cloud or wave. They get away with doing entirely the wrong thing!”
In hindsight: after a while, one learns that everything works out one way or another, even when it doesn’t “work out how you wanted”. My heart never lied to me. I listen deeply.
To not be a doctor, lawyer or businessman was a big no-no with my family. I kind of had to blaze my way through that (special thanks to my sister for blazing many progressive and radical paths in the family before me). And then when I quit my job… HOLY MOLY. And when my folks found out I quit my job and I began receiving money for music… lord knows how much I dealt with. My parents are very good at convincing, and they are very smart people. They told me I was making a mistake every time we spoke, which is about once a week, for well over a year. I think it took a lot of determination and inner strength on my part to stay strong on my path.
There were times when I realized that I started playing music much later in the game and never went through formal training to have site reading abilities. It was tough holding my place in various ensembles and gigs but thankfully, I was able to trust my strong ear.
In regards to my work with the US Forest Service, there were quite a few struggles as well. Primarily, being so young and somewhat darker-skinned then the rest of the white baby boomer agency was a challenge. Going to middle America and being put in a position to tell white baby boomers what to do and how to think was not a comfortable position to be in, but I learned a lot and I came out a lot stronger.
As I look back at the past few decades of my life, I see that it was filled with discomfort, but that’s one way to grow and evolve.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
So, there are two avenues in which my life expresses itself. One is through my music, and the other is through my consulting practice.
I’ll start with the consulting: I design and facilitate ways for organizations to innovate. Innovations can occur in products, services, internal logistic practices, and internal social norms/culture. There is room for innovation in all facets of life, and with so many people living so much of their lives within that time frame of 9-5, they deserve to design for it and have a chance at more happiness and satisfaction. People are wise, they just need the right condition for it to surface, be shared, and acted upon. I am most proud of the deep listening and solid rapport/relations that occur with my clients.
In terms of music, I have something that is rare. Being born from a Persian (and Jewish) lineage, I have that lens. Being born in the US offers me another lens. Having spent years at festivals listening to lots of bass music gives me another lens. While I studied classical Persian music, my expression of it is unique. I have a foot in the old world, and a foot in the world yet to become realized. I am the expression of this bridge.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AlexanderMeimand.com
- Instagram: arkangelzander
Image Credit:
Eli Zaturanski, Shoshana Shoshanim, Nikki Anderson, Elyaou Bialobos (Ponshawl)
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