Today we’d like to introduce you to Gaayatri Kaundinya.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
As a first-generation Indian-American, I grew up surrounded with both the music of my native culture, as well as the music from multi-cultural America. We are lucky to live in such a rich country with immigrants from so many corners of the world. I’d like to share the inspiration behind my music and how that led me to create my business.
My story starts with musical training began with traditional Indian classical voice training from one of the most renowned Gurus of the 20th century – Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. I became a professional Hindustani vocalist – touring for some years after high school in India and then becoming a session vocalist here in LA.
During the time of my training, I had the unique experience of partaking in the San Francisco World Music Festival. We were tasked with putting together pieces for orchestras of musicians from different musical traditions. Our first year, our ensemble featured musical groups from China, North and South India, Kyrgyzstan, Tibet, and an Orff ensemble. The following year, we added musicians from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Myanmar. As I grew into my work with the festival more deeply, I came to realize something.
Though we all may come with our own stories that carry our identities and our histories, we all carry a deep desire to share what is within us, to share who we are, and to learn about others. One powerful way we can do this is by bringing the music of different cultures together to create a new blend of identities fit for the global era of the 21st century. So I decided to study ethnomusicology at UCLA to further my knowledge of the world’s musical cultures and styles.
Music in this way has always made sense as a collection of stories. As I ruminated over what would be the best way to birth a new consciousness of interconnected stories, I realized the most natural way was to pair up new blends of music with media.
I later went on to work with composer AR Rahman – arguably the foremost composer with expertise in blending unlikely styles together to create rich new soundscapes for media. This was where I began my training in everything relating to media music production, as well as where I met my tribe of like-minded creatives. Realizing we all came from diverse cultures, countries, and identities, we loved learning about one another – and found that somehow, much of the content we worked on benefit from our help capturing this globalism in today’s media.
Thus, over a Chai break, Chai Time Studios was finally born. Today, I serve as the founder and CEO of Chai Time Studios with an intention to bring this new form of integrated global identity to the world of media music.
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?
My biggest challenge has been my inner struggle with my own identity. Perhaps my struggle to create integrated identities through music comes from my own struggle of bringing together two very diametrically opposed cultures as an Indian-American.
Growing up, my very Indian parents and relatives believed in a strong sense of Indian cultural identity. India certainly has its own pain points in recent history. My parents were the first to navigate a post-colonial, post-modern world. The trauma of colonialism however, hasn’t quite left the Indian psyche. After an entire culture is made to feel like it is not worth the same as Western culture, I have found that the Indian community has a very strong sense of traditionalism. There is a narrative of pain that ripples through generations – of feeling like white dominance will never allow Indians to be truly respected as individuals.
The trouble is, these narratives or dominance and superiority are well and alive in today’s media – be it with Indians, East Asians, or African Americans.
My biggest challenge has been to figure out how best to address these narratives and move forward rather than get stuck in past pain. I’m not sure I’ve fully figured this out yet – but I do think a step forward is perhaps to step out of this paradigm, step into another – where all people are truly seen by the content of their character. What would music in a truly free, truly equal, and truly global world sound like? Maybe if we work from there, we can find a way to shift from where we are.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Chai Time Studios story. Tell us more about the business.
Chai Time Studios is a media music production company. We offer end to end music services for a wide range of media content from film and television to interactive experiences. We offer everything from original music composition and songwriting to production services – from production and orchestration to mixing and mastering. We also have a music library featuring songs and soundtrack pieces for placement – all with our signature blend of global styles.
I think I am most proud of how we have been able to utilize talent from remote corners of the world and record musicians anywhere from Brazil to Punjab. Right now, our library carries about 100 tracks with eight different languages and many stylistic blends. We are a completely remote company with a creative talent network worldwide. We’ve so far worked on a number of international films, and most recently, were hired to do production work on a Disney Jr. show specially for our cultural expertise coupled with technical expertise.
If there is one thing we are known best for, it is the solutions we bring to the table to the entertainment music industry when it comes to representative media music. Western media markets have long struggled with accurate sonic representation, as well as diverse representation. It is often a challenge to find professionals of color who not only have great production expertise but also mainstream media music knowledge and experience in regional musical styles. These are three very broad fields with many subfields that go with them. We solve this problem with our global creative talent network with professionals in many specific styles as well as cross-trained experts. We can create the right blends for the right projects by putting the best experts in those fields together from anywhere around the world.
In the wake of COVID, given that we’ve always been set up to work remotely, we have not had to shut down. Our diversity has proven most practically that it is not only our greatest asset but also our greatest lifeline. I think it is a powerful metaphor into how we can rethink our global culture to include each other to built a more robust future.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck has certainly played a huge part in our business.
I certainly did not really know if a goal as eccentric as this would have any practical use or application in the world of media and entertainment. Furthermore, it is known to be quite a challenging field to break into. We are an underrepresented group of people, representing the music of other minority cultures. Stories that feature people like us are few, and those that need accurate sonic representation, a nuance. I wondered if there was truly a market or even a growing one for what we were trying to sell.
We have certainly been lucky to have picked up the interest of major production companies like Disney, DreamWorks, and others. We’ve had the good fortune to pitch on upcoming projects and have folks give interest to our sound. We are lucky to have found like-minded professionals in the entertainment industry who share our passion for furthering better representation for all in the media.
I don’t think anyone could get very far on their own without luck – but luck certainly seems to come around whenever you realize that it’s not about you – it’s meant to work through you. Whenever I get stuck, I remember that I’m probably not listening to what is trying to emerge and try my best to let go. That’s when luck always seems to show up with the next gig.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chaitimestudios.com
- Email: music@chaitimestudios.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/chaitimestudios
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chaitimestudios
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chaitimestudios
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/chaitimestudios
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