Indie Week - Showcase Sid Vashi

If you are someone who loves Jazz then its possible that you like the old-school kind of music; the one that comes out of instruments and people and not particularly machines. A 25-year-old doctor-in-training and musician-on-the-side called Sid Vashi has had me confused since I heard him live. His hybrid stuff consisting of a medley of Jazz and electronic music has picked up popularity since his resolve to pick up the saxophone at age 11 – and it isn’t only because being genre- agnostic is fashionable right now. He first released an electronic album in 2012 called Motherland Tourism which was another crossover with its retro Bollywood vibes (think RD Burman, and AR Rahman). Vashi was born in Michigan and raised on his dad’s retro record collection and he believes that the different music that he produces is a way of building on his Indian roots. As he didn't belong to India or the US completely, his music influences reflect that. "Azuma Kazuma" His breakthrough point came with his latest LP Azuma Kazuma, which is a seven-song space saga, which- you guessed it- is a combination of jazz, rock, and R&B, featuring trumpets, synth, temple bells and other sounds blend well to create something eclectic, odd and yet so smooth; that it takes you away from a mundane day if you just put it on. Vashi is also an artist who stood out at the festival season for the cinematic experience that an illustrator Johnny Ganta created for his album. Vashi created a live band where on stage, he will wield a saxophone, and along with an orchestra of drums, keys, guitars, and vocals, the story of the space cadet in his album will unfold. The 26-year old indie electronica musician has a stronghold on his audience due to this kind of production as opposed to the much more popular techno and bass music as he has performed well-received sets at music festivals such as the NH7 Weekender and Magnetic Fields. The science geek in him is what makes his work so interesting because as he embraces his creative side, his scientific space-obsessed dreamy imagination takes him and us to places unknown.