Biography
ABOUT AMIE
Amie Maciszewski is a sitarist (who sings), teaching artist, and scholar who has spent more than half of her life studying and practicing the music of North India.
She spent a decade immersing herself in the music and culture, living in Santiniketan, India, studying under the late Prof. Suresh Misra others. She also completed degree programs at Viswa-Bharati University there, where she stood first in her B.Mus. batch and went on to earn the M.Mus. degree.
Disciple of Grammy-nominated sarode maestro Aashish Khan and Hindustani vocal diva Padmabhushan Girija Devi since the early 1990s, Amie has inspired audiences throughout North America, in India, Europe, and Japan, and has taught in North America since 1986. She has received awards and grants for her work as teaching artist, ensemble director, scholar, and documentary filmmaker.
A Ph.D. in ethnomusicology (University of Texas/Austin), she has served as visiting professor and teaching artist on the faculties of the Universities of Colorado, Alberta, Pittsburgh, and Texas. Other residencies have taken her to schools as well as cultural and special needs centers around North America.
In 2005, she performed to enthusiastic audiences at several venues in Kolkata, India, including the prestigious Sangeet Research Academy. In 2006 she served as Director of the Indian Music Ensemble, University of Alberta. She is a selected artist on the Texas Commission on the Arts Touring Roster and the Mid-America Arts Alliance Registry.
This City of Austin Cultural Contractor since 2000 has been hailed “mesmerizing” in Austin’s world music scene. Her soundtrack appears on Nobelity's award-winning 2009 documentary film "One Peace at a Time" and Cenozoic Studios’ critically acclaimed “Naan Wayne & Masala,” 2003 S X SW Festival Trailers.
She released two CDs in 2007: her solo classical “Light and Legacy” and, leading her Sangeet Millennium Ensemble, “Shimmering,” both available on CD Baby. The latter was selected for the Texas Top Ten in the Austin Chronicle Music Critics’ Poll 2007/08. She appears on her vocal guru Padmabhushan Girija Devi's 2008 CD "Lighting the Way - Padmabhushan Girija Devi Live on her 75th year Tour."
Also an activist scholar, she has published several articles in journals and books and produced three films documenting her research with courtesan musicians in India, which have screened at festivals and conferences in North America, India, and Europe.
ABOUT THE SANGEET MILLENNIUM ENSEMBLE
The Sangeet Millennium Ensemble is a project collective that fuses traditional Indian music with jazz and other world music. Amie founded the ensemble in 2006 and directs it.
In the ensemble’s first CD, “Shimmering,” (released in Oct. 2007) Maciszewski brings traditional Hindustani compositions, which she arranges and improvises in collaboration with two highly regarded jazz musicians, flautist-saxophonist Alex Coke and guitarist Bruce Saunders, in collaboration with tabla virtuoso Subrata Bhattacharya and enchanting vocalist Nagavalli Medicharla. The CD has been nominated “#1 in Texas” in the Austin Chronicle’s Music Critics’ Poll (2007/08).
Her current project is a trio consisting of herself, well-known jazz saxophonist-composer Paul Klemperer and tabla virtuoso Shiv Naimpally. (Watch an excerpt on Utube of a recent performance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYhJ6fQRJI – Sangeet Millennium Ensemble – “Jazzy Version of Raga Jog.”) Work on a new CD is in progress.
Instrumentation
Amie Maciszewski - sitar, voice, esraj, tanpura
Amie always has a tabla player accompanying her.
With the Sangeet Millennium Ensemble, Amie brings a New World Music sound that features arrangements of original and traditional tunes with Indian, jazz, and other world musicians collaborating. In addition to sitar and tabla, the configuration typically includes flute and/or sax, guitar, vocals, sarode or 'oud, and more.
Discography
Videos on Utube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYhJ6fQRJI – Sangeet Millennium Ensemble – “Jazzy Version of Raga Jog.”
http://www.nme.com/awards/video/id/XLYhJ6fQRJI/search/maciszewski
http://www.nme.com/awards/video/id/4uU_luSFhVE/search/maciszewski
CDs:
Boardworks KS4 Music - World Music (Oxford, UK, 2008) - commissioned recording of sitar performance with Shiv Naimpally on tabla as part of educational package
"Lighting the Way: Padmabhushan Girija Devi" (Hindustani vocal diva) backup vocalist on CD recorded live in concert in Austin, TX (Horizon Pvt. Ltd., 2008)
"Shimmering" - CD with the Sangeet Millennium Ensemble (2007) - available on CD Baby
"Light and Legacy" - solo CD with Rohan Singh Bhogal on tabla (2007) - available on CD Baby
"Naad Samudra" - solo CD with Ojas Joshi on tabla (2002)
audio samples on my website, www.sangeetmillennium.org, and www.Sonicbids.com/sangeetmillennium
Film soundtracks:
Soundtracks:
"One Peace at a Time" (documentary film by Nobelity - www.nobelity.org - 2009)- sitar track in soundtrack
S X SW trailers 2003 - samples on www.cenozoic.com/works
Links
| http://www.sangeetmillennium.org |