We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Oliver Rajamani a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Oliver , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

There are many things that my parents did right that has shaped the life i live today. I carry an older traditional manner of looking at life mixed in with a modern openness and acceptance.

Amongst the many things, one was the spiritual lifestyle i grew up with.

Everything in life revolved around spirituality while growing up. Spiritual practise came first for my family. I grew up praying in the morning and night with family before venturing of for the day and before going to sleep. This was a must in my family and my father made sure we followed this practise daily. I hated this as a child but in my adulthood it has been the crucial foundation for discipline and clear thinking.

My father also raised me with the firm belief that one must have joy in whatever job one does in life and one must not look down on it. He thus believed in looking at a person’s character. As a result he was always appreciative of the American approach to giving opportunity to all hard working people and not devaluing a person due to his/her job.

My parents also never forced me to do anything. Rather than enforcing extreme rigid discipline, my parents encouraged me in my life by creating inspirational challenges. My family never forced me to excel unnaturally in anything including music, Though they gently pushed me, it was never aggresive while they encouraged me to live a simple life filled with prayer. They wanted me to love and enjoy everything i did while excelling in the manner and pace that was healthy and fit for me.

The music that i grew up listening to from my father’s lp collection were wide ranging artists including Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, James Last ect including music of India and other cultural forms of music.

Part of this worldly upbringing i had within the family originates back from the late 1800’s when my great grandmother who was a British missionary and doctor in India raised my grandmother in the Indian and Western ways. This in turn influenced the following generations to come.

My father told me as a teenager that he saw my talent in music and that he would support me if i was willing to use it to lead people to know and experience the love of the divine. He said he could not support my life in music if I was going to go down the wrong path. I did not always fullfill his desire in the way he may have wanted me to do so, but through my music and my life as a teacher offstage, I have conducted leadership skills workshops and helped many youth and adults to change their life positively in helping them make better decisions in their life. I have gone to juvenile detention centers, state hospitals for the mentally challenged, centers for the physically challenged as well as other physchological therapy centers. I wake up early to do my morning physical exercises and prayers as I was raised to do so into my adult life. Thus many of the common problems that plague most musicians have not been a part of my life though I have always been surrounded by them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

In public as an onstage musician, I am known for the creation of a hybrid musical sound of my own that brings together the historic cultural threads of Gypsy/folk India, Romani (Gyspsy) and Texas Americana cultures, music and people while bringing recognition to the historic Indian origins of the Romani people. I compose and sing in various languages including English, Spanish, Romani and languages of India.

I am an Austin, Texas World Music award winner, a nominee of the 2008 US Artist Award and the 2014 nominee of the prestigious German music award “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Oliver Rajamani “BESTENLISTE-Vierteljahrespreis 1/2014 Weltmusik. I have toured internationally and have recorded/performed with poets and artists wide-ranging in style including Jeronimo Maya, Gypsy Kings, Willie Nelson, Edie Brickell, L. Shanker, Eric Johnson, Roby Lakatos, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Ustad Aashish Khan, Glen Velez, Paravai Munniamma, Tomasa La Macanita, Dotschy Reinhardt, Diane Schuur, Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, Paul Maar including performing for the Maharaja of Jodhpur, India, Gaj Singh II. I have also been a featured artist on the NPR BBC radio, Klru PBS amongst numerous other radio, TV stations and magazines including the Tedx platform.

Ofstage I am a teacher and have served as leadership skills provider for incarcerated youth and adults helping individuals to create inspirational pathways utelising therapeutic tools in music, cultural and spiritual awareness, meditation programs……

Please visit www.oliverrajamani.com
Please visit www.flamencoindia.com
Flamenco India is an innovative musical journey into the historic Indian roots of Spain’s Romani (Gypsy) Flamenco.
Flamenco India coined and incepted in 1995.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I am simply happy creating music and being inspired by life and its beauty. I have never really been a goal oriented person though I have always had strong wishes of wanting to perform music in beautiful concert halls around the world. But don’t get me wrong when i say “i am not goal oriented person”, cause I have always had a clear mental visual of where i want to be and i am daily inspired in life to wake up and be busy practising my music scales and other musical and business aspects of my life. I am quite disciplined, but this disciple is geared with a heartfelt inspiration to life rather than a goal driven approach to be perfect and excel. i try to stay focused on being inspired in the simple joy of life that serve as the guide for me while i carry out my regimented life of attaining worldly success.

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I am not a big social media person though I have had to learn to be one since it seems like this is what people do these days. It has taken me years to be interactive on social media and I am still very particular about all things social media. It feels like one has to keep creating some sort of hype to keep people engaged and involved in this modern world today. So, What ever i post i try to keep it simple and focused with few explanations.
I really do not do anything special to have a social media following. Those that follow me on social media are just individuals who truly connect with me for my work that I do musically and culturally, while some connect simply for who i am as a person. Somehow these individuals have been able to find me and follow me and I feel very honored to share a side of me with them. But, I really have not done alot to create any sort of following on social media (atleast that is what i think) other than the usual publishing of concerts, advertising my videos and sending out monthly newsletters to stay in touch with my followers.

I grew up as a musician in the pre-computer age when people actually sat and spent time listening to music (actually listened to a whole song rather then a few seconds ) and read the lyrics of a song ect. and there was a feeling of some sort of real spiritual organic interaction, appreciation and connection between audiences and the artists. Today social media has made people restless and though it has given the opportunity to connect more easily, it has also taken away a certain mystique and grace in the quality of life. There are so many platforms out there poping up constantly where people can post and interact that it seems overwhelming and too fast and challenging to keep up with. I simply do as much as i can to stay active on some basic social media platforms. I do not post constantly and i am very particular on what i post, keeping my posts to pretty much music with a few rare exceptions that speak to my heart such as environmental issues.
It has become a different world where most things seem to happen on the screen of a computer or cell phone. In some level this is very useful since it makes certain elements in life easier, But, I do believe there is a side to this way of life that also cheapens the quality of a real human experience and interaction.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.oliverrajamani.com
• Instagram: oliverrajamani
• Facebook: oliver rajamani
• Twitter: flamenco India
• Youtube: oliver rajamani, Flamenco India

Image Credits
Michelle Laviolette – Emerald Photo Studio Srivas Venkatesh