Today we’d like to introduce you to Rajib Karmakar.
Rajib, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story started with my parents gifting me a Sitar on my first birthday. Music was not an outside activity but a part of life. My childhood days started with either listening to a concert or audio recordings of various maestros or to my father practicing Sitar.
I started my music training with my first Guru, my father Pandit Durgadas Karmakar, at the age of four and I had my first performance at the age of 6. My little hands could barely reach the end of the Sitar, so my father would tie it to a chair so that I could play on it. At the age of eight, I had my first grand public concert in front of 10,000 people. I was the opening act for my father’s 70-piece orchestra. That concert started my life as a musician. After that, I performed on All India Radio, the national radio of India, at the age of 10. I went on to win numerous competitions and was featured in many Radio and TV broadcasts across India during my teenage years.
At the age of 11, I started learning Indian classical singing with my Guru Ustad Ghulam Akbar Khan for eight years. During that period, I was trained in the nuances of the tradition that my Guru hailed from. At the age of 15, I decided to pursue Music as a career, and instead of going to college to study engineering, I enrolled in the music program at Banaras Hindu University. There I met my next Sitar Guru, Pandit Ram Dass Chakrabarty and I stayed with him under the Guru – Shishya tradition (an ancient tradition where the disciple goes to live and learn from his teacher). It was when I started learning deeper intricacies of Sitar playing. Life took a turn from there as it was all about sheer practice for 13- 14 hours a day for six years before going for my first International tour in Germany and France at the age of 21 years. Since then, I have been inspired by many stalwarts and legends from whom I have learned and got inspirations about life and music.
I came to know about other European cultures as I started touring more and started playing not only Indian Classical Music but other genres of music like Flamenco, Jazz, Rock, etc. It was such an incredible experience to travel to various places, and even though we had differences in language and culture, we bonded through Music. Those were the years that my eyes opened and I started seeing the possibilities of continuous learning from other cultures. I realized that my strong Indian classical music foundation is helping me to dive in deeper and experiment with other forms of music and create newer possibilities for collaborations. I kept on collaborating, and this experimentation led me to start working with various sound effects and ensemble formats and thus leading to the creation of my double-necked Electric Sitar “ Mayur-tantri.”
I never realized that this quest for learning about other cultures will lead me to the United States, and it was through my friend Mr. Curtis Bahn (pioneer in Interactive Performance at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) who realized that I should come to the US to pursue further studies and develop my work on World music and machine learning. I got a scholarship, moved to LA and started my Master at California Institute of the Arts ( CalArts).
While studying at CalArts I started learning other forms of Music like African, Persian, Balinese, etc. and also started coding and making various musical interfaces. I thought this would be great if I can have a place where everyone can grow in their own unique way and can be a community together. I slowly started organizing events and retreats where people got to know one another better as they were spending time together at rehearsals, potlucks, and events. People started making new friends, and it fills me with joy when they go out and spend time doing music practice, having coffee or working together as a community. This process of community building is still going on, and we are glad to be growing into a strong family.
The love, support, and respect from people are the biggest reward anyone can get. I have played and has been featured in various movies and T.V. shows for Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, A&E Network and others and also has been an artist in residence for various organizations, colleges and universities all over the world.
As goes the saying by Confucius ” Roads were made for journeys, not destinations,” for me it was the journey where along the way I made friends, followers, and well-wishers.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was never a smooth road. Establishing the academy from ground zero and not being born in Los Angeles was a huge hindrance as you are not into any community of people. The only community that I knew of was some of my friends from my college. As goes the saying by Confucius ” Roads were made for journeys not destinations”, for me it was the journey where along the way, I made friends, followers and well-wishers. On December 2014 I had an accident and my car got totaled and I was left with a huge debt as I had paid off the car a week before with the money I had saved. I was devastated as to what to do then but my friend Alex Hager came up to me and offered me his car to drive as at that time he was only using the car to drive to the college. So, I used to fill in gas and I would drive his car to places as I had no money to buy a car and I had a huge debt to pay off. That time I was working on building up the academy and this accident proved to be fatal but this help from my friend proved to work wonders as I started going to places and start on creating different bases for the academy.
After I came back from my Europe tour in May 2015, I got my own car and then I kept on doing the work that I had been doing and kept on building even further to areas outside Los Angeles. This was one of the first incidents during the starting of the academy. Now we have LAIMA FOUNDATION which is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization and its mission is to foster mutual understanding, equity, and community through music, cultural diversity, and education. It’s a way of giving back to the community which has helped us propel. Now, the academy has various locations in Los Angeles and we are starting to branch out in San Fransisco and San Diego.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Since its establishment in 2015, Los Angeles International Music and Arts Academy has been providing music education, and instruction in person and online through various workshops, seminars and performances about the traditional heritage of Indian classical art forms and other forms of Global Music.
Our mission statement is that of inclusion and exploration of rich cultures from across the globe. It is our hope to increase awareness and appreciation of our roots.
Students of all ages are taught the techniques, skills, and concepts to excel in their respective performing arts. Aside from individual, group and online lessons, students are encouraged to collaborate with one another, and each year are given the opportunity to perform in concerts hosted by the academy. The academy seeks to build a community of artists who will continue to grow and support one another in their life-long musical journey. We work not only as an academy to teach but we also organize various concerts and shows of various genres of music to encourage the cross-cultural collaboration and community building.
Contact Info:
- Website: laimacademy.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laimacademy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laimacademy/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/laimacademy/
