Biography
2008 NACA Northeast Spotlight Artist -- Alex Schein
Born in Philadelphia, PA and raised all over the galaxy of experience, Alex Schein’s emergence as an artist began while rehabilitating a torn knee ligament suffered during his senior year of high school. The injury focused Schein's energy into learning the guitar and only 9 months later the self-taught singer/songwriter performed his first gig in the winter of 1996.
While earning a B.A. in Religion & Philosophy at Mary Washington College, Schein honed his songwriting and performing skills in the college town of Fredericksburg, VA. A study abroad program in the fall of 1998 gave him the opportunity to travel to Durban, South Africa where Schein lived, studied, and played music for almost 6 months.
In the time following his return from South Africa, Schein’s study of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) began to unlock a new writing style--drawing from the rich spiritual symbolism contained in the poems of Jalaluddin Rumi and Hafiz as well as in the works of Rainer Rilke and Khalil Gibran. Music thus became more than a personal outlet for expression but a way of articulating philosophical insight and spiritual experience.
Shortly after graduating from college, Schein was invited to manage the Bosnia Peace Project’s tour with the Dave Matthews Band in the summer of 2000. On this tour, Schein had the opportunity to share songs with some of largest audiences in the country as well as some of the most respected talents in the industry including Ben Harper, Ozomatli, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Schein later released his first self-produced album entitled “Cycles” in April 2001 and toured extensively that summer in the Midwest and Northeastern United States, sharing stages with Is What? (Cincinnati, OH), Still Black See (Chicago, IL), and Dexter Grove (Syracuse, NY).
After returning to Charlottesville, VA in the fall of 2001, Schein began working at the Music Resource Center—a non-profit music studio for middle and high school students. His work in youth education would continue for the next 5 years with organizations such as Camp Rising Sun (Rhinebeck, NY) and Building with Books (Philadelphia, PA). In 2005, he led a trek of students from the Bronx, NY into a village in Mali, West Africa to help with the construction of schoolhouse. The journey for Schein was a tremendous validation of the functional power of music to inspire and unite an entire community—without the need for celebrity status or lucrative record deals:
“Music is a powerful tool for personal reflection and spiritual renewal. The Industrial Culture has used it primarily for decoration and thus ignored its true potential as a healing power for the human psyche. The essence of music is vibration whose source is light. Out of that vibration comes human speech formed as language. Music is a way of communicating beyond the constraints of diction and can therefore help us to connect at deeper levels of understanding with ourselves and the world around us."
In May of 2006, Schein teamed up with Emmy Award Winning Filmmaker Josh Lowell of Big Up Productions to produce the video for “RiseUp” off Schein’s album “Speed of Light”. The video features emcee Deirdre Breeden (Charlottesville, VA) and members of Breaks Kru (Kings of NYC 2006) and Evolution out of Brooklyn, NY.
Known around the globe as the leading creator of high quality climbing and bouldering films, Josh Lowell’s films “Pilgrimage”, “Dosage III”, and “Dosage IV” have all featured songs by Alex Schein. In December of 2007, Schein’s song “the Drop” was featured in Lowell’s Emmy Award winning segment of Chris Sharma’s ascent of The Arch at Es Pontas as seen on NBC’s Jeep World of Adventure Sports.
As a member of Hip-Hop Congress, Schein has performed with such artists as K'NAAN, Amir Sulaiman (HBO’s Def Poetry), Proof of D-12 (RIP), Brother Ali, One Be Lo, Zion I, Percee P, Ursula Rucker, Quese IMC and Culture Shock Camp, Planet Asia and the Bedouin.
In July of 2007, Schein was invited to perform at the “Takin’ it to the Streets Celebration” featuring Lupe Fiasco, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (Tribe Called Quest), and Rocksteady Crew. Later that year, Schein performed at the “We Are Change 9-11 Benefit for First Responders” featuring Immortal Technique and M-1 from Dead Prez.
In June of 2008, Alex Schein was the New York Regional Finalist for the MAS Youth Voices for Change Talent Competition and was selected to be the opening act for Outlandish on their first U.S. Tour.
Voted by fans around the world as a finalist in the Art for Progress: "Clash of the Artists" Competition and placed 2nd in the overall competition in New York City (March 2009).
In July of 2009 was invited by the United States Consulate to perform at “Spraying Democracy” event in Leipzig, Germany with the Hip-Hop duo the ReMINDErs (Colorado). Invited as a lead lecturer for the discussion “Hip-Hop and the Obama Presidency” presented by the University of Leipzig.
Alex Schein’s past performance venues have also included: The Cutting Room (NYC), CBGB”s 313 Gallery (NYC), Makor (NYC), Pianos (NYC), and The Cotton Club (Chicago, IL) among others.
Instrumentation
Alex Schein: Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Loop Pedal
Discography
Speed of Light LP (April 2006)
Acoustic Four Song EP (2004)
"Fresh City" : 816 Mix by Abel Okugawa (2004)
Alex Schein on Vocals/Lyrics
Links
| http://www.alexschein.com |
| Alex Schein: MySpace |