We recently connected with Mehtab Kirtan and have shared our conversation below.

Mehtab, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Recording projects are always the most meaningful to me. I’m a 90’s kid who grew up with CDs. Having the physical product, including album art/lyric booklets were always the coolest things ever. I still have a CD booklet from A Perfect Circle’s “Thirteenth Step” hanging in my office area: to keep me inspired to package and complete my own music as they’ve done.

Listening to full-length albums “cover-to-cover” is my favorite: Especially during long drives. I want to engage with artists’ full-length stories while I’m listening: Whether I know anything about their music or not. The sounds, effort, and care always comes through, and I feel pulled into the studio or the mixing room with artists as I listen.

The “blood and guts” that go into the writing, producing, tracking, editing, post-producing, mixing, mastering, and releasing albums is what I want to experience from creatives; and is 100% what I want to do with my life.

The albums I’ve done as a collaborator (with Gramps The Vamp, Bassel & The Supernaturals, and Abud: A Band) have always been remarkable investments in my self, creative sensibilities, and cooperative capacities. The projects I’ve produced – Cold Seasons (solo piano), Presence (my original jazz music released with my project Here & Now), and The Fool’s Journey (which was a free-jazz concept piece turned into a spoken-word, choir & string-ridden gypsy opera-odyssey) – were all major milestones!

Though my projects haven’t received jaw-dropping acclaim, grammy-nominations, or worldwide recognition YET, I’m committed to producing and releasing potent projects, and making each one better than the last.

Mehtab, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My mission is to reunite people with their higher selves through music.

I work hard and diligently on my art, while always maintaining the detachment necessary to remember that God/Source/Love/Force is always making the magic happen. I give music my all, and I share it with the hopes of connecting people back to their greatest versions, and/or their concept of God.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

We need to uproot the streaming services.

I find it ridiculous that we (musicians) pay Spotify to host our music on their service, and listeners pay Spotify to listen to our music. With ten-thousandths of a cent being paid to us per stream, making any kind of bank back from the thousands of dollars we put into making albums are NEVER going to be paid back from the current currency of listening to music: the streaming services.

I’m not sure what the solution is: and I’m aware that I’m perpetuating the very problem I’m griping about by continuing to listen to music on Spotify. Not to mention that I will continue releasing my “blood and guts” for free on all platforms.

My vision of a thriving creative ecosystem involves listeners not asking, “Is your stuff on Spotify?”, but rather, “How can we ACTUALLY support you? What do you need to stay alive, and make more art?

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is hearing how my art has helped people. We (artists) make stuff because we have to: not for “money,” but for our comprehensive wellness. Entering flow states while playing and practicing music provide me the mental health and clarity for a happy, sustainable life. What’s 1,000x better than playing and practicing is when others share that my art has transformed them, brought them to tears, or totally cleared their head for the first time in months. Experiencing personalized applauses like this keeps me faithful that I’m supposed to be here: Making music and sharing it on planet Earth.

Contact Info:

• Website: mehtabkirtan.net
• Instagram: @MehtabKirtan
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mehtabkirtan/
• Youtube: @MehtabKirtan

Image Credits
Brittany Harthan, Zack Sievers, Grace Pisula, Eric Formato, Liina Raud, Jodh Dyson, Ryan Barayuga, Steve Valentor