Raaginder

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Raginder Singh Momi (/ɹɔɚɡdɝ/; Punjabi: ਰਗਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਮਣੀ; born November 27, 1992) better known by his stage name raaginder is a Union City, California based violinist, music producer and songwriter of Indian descent. His professional music career began in 2011 when he released his first mixtape Take One... on December 11, 2011, following up with his debut studio album Beach Chair on October 29, 2014^[1] and later his first EP, escape released December 28, 2017.^[2]

Early life and career

Born into a musical family, Raaginder's father being a professional sitar player and his mother being a vocalist,^[3] Raaginder was exposed to different types of music.^[4] He first started playing violin when he was 11 years old after distancing himself from the trumpet. Later in 2004, he became a disciple of a renowned Indian classical artist, Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury after his father found an ad of her in India Currents Magazine and discovered she was teaching in Fremont, California, becoming Chowdhury's pupil, Raaginder has been under her guidance ever since. Being exposed to different types of music, Raaginder has experimented and tried playing different genres of music such as Hip-Hop, Punjabi, Indian classical and more. After high school, Raaginder began producing beats and infusing genres to create his sound. Doing covers, he would post his covers to download sites like mediafire until encouraged to post on YouTube. He cites YouTube as helping to jump start his career.^[5]

Raaginder has also played the United States national anthem for the LA Clippers^[6][7][8] and played at the White House on numerous occasions.^[9][10][11] In the wake of the 2016 elections, Raaginder also stated his opinion on the outcome.^[12]

Music

Sound and Image

In an interview with NBC News^[13] Asia, Raaginder stated about his musical sound, "Music can be interpreted in any way. I try to make music that's universal to every aspect ...the one obvious message is my identity. I want my identity to be known with my music. This turban and beard, I feel like, is a big part of why I am where I am today. So even though I'll do a 'Hotline Bling' cover, the fact that there's aspects of the music that are foreign and even the aspects of me — the way I look — I think that makes a difference because it's something people haven't seen, and it's something people need to see."

Personal life

In 2014 Raaginder's mother passed away from cancer. He sites her as his main inspiration for actively pursuing music.^[14] The song "Raindrops" from his studio album Beach Chair was dedicated in her honor. Raaginder is also the eldest of two children.

Raaginder also studied at the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) where he received his bachelors of fine arts in world music performance.^[15]

Discography

See also

• List of Indian musicians
• List of people from California

References

External links

• www.raaginder.com