Deepak Ram

Deepak Ram is a South African flautist, composer, keyboard player and producer of Indian origin. He has contributed on Shango and Labyrinth albums by the trance group Juno Reactor, Dead Bees on a Cake album by Jazz artist David Sylvian among others.^[1]

Early life

Deepak Ram's grandparents were brought to South Africa to work on plantations. He was thus born in South Africa to second generation immigrants during the apartheid era in the 60s. A few weeks after his birth, the family home was bulldozed under Group Areas Act for effecting racial segregation. The family thereafter settled in Sophiatown, a racially mixed area. His earliest influences were the Jazz records his brothers listened to and the Bollywood and Indian music his parents listened to. His first flute was fashioned out of a drainpipe with six holes drilled arbitrarily on the sides.^[2]

Career

Deepak Ram first traveled to India at the age of 17 where he received training in classical Indian music under the tutelage renowned flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and the late Shri Suryakant Limaye.^[3] Before passing away, the latter bequeathed a collection of flutes to Ram.^[2]

Discography

Solo albums

• Prasad (Blessing) with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
• Samvad (Conversation) with Ustad Tari Khan
• One Breath with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee
• Flute for Thought
• Searching for Satyam
• Steps

DVD

Live in California with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee (includes interviews with Deepak Ram and Pt. Anindo Chatterjee

Production

• 'Sun Zara', a debut album by Chinmayi on Worldwide Records label.^[4]

Contributions

• Buddha Bar I
• Buddha Bar III
• Shango
• Dead Bees on a Cake
• Labyrinth

References