Alex Schein
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Alex Schein

New York City, New York, United States | SELF

New York City, New York, United States | SELF
Band R&B Singer/Songwriter

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"South Africa Visit Struck a Note"

by John W. Barry
October 17th, 2003

There, on the screen in front of Alex Schein, was one of South Africa’s most famous drummers, appearing in a documentary shot at one of that nation’s music festivals.

And there he was again, that drummer, seated two seats over, watching the same documentary, taking the same class that Schein had enrolled in at the University of Natal in Durban, South Africa, during a six-month overseas stint in 1998.

For Schein, whose pre-South African musical experience included singing in school plays and playing the violin before taking up the guitar and songwriting at 18, the experience offered a human dimension to the political changes that South Africa had at the time recently undergone during the fall of apartheid and election of Nelson Mandela as president.

‘‘I was in class with black South African musicians,’’ said Schein, a 25-year-old native of Philadelphia who attended college in Charlottesville, Va., and now lives in Rhinebeck. ‘‘This was their first opportunity to get a college education.’’

Striving for goal

Upon his arrival home to Virginia, Schein began writing songs like ‘‘Prisoner of War,’’ which were influenced directly by his experience in South Africa.

‘‘It shaped a lot of it,’’ Schein said of the influence of his overseas experience on his songwriting. ‘‘While in South Africa, I already had the dream of playing and performing, and writing music was something I definitely wanted to do.’’

Tonight, Schein will share those songs when he performs a show that starts at 9 at Legends in Woodstock, opening for headliners Actual Proof.

Neither Schein’s songwriting nor guitar playing seem extraordinarily complex. His tendency to straddle the line between spoken word and singing can come off as half-hearted at times and his overall approach to performing exudes a strong sense of enthusiasm that could put people off.

But he mines gold from simple rhythm, which he maintains with an impeccable sense of timing that erases the vulnerability of a solo performance and swaps it for the confidence of a full band.

‘‘More than anything, I was always into rhythm,’’ said Schein, who works for Camp Rising Sun in Rhinebeck and in 2000 played on the Bosnia Peace Project’s tour with the Dave Matthews Band. ‘‘That’s the biggest part of music and it remains the biggest part of music that draws me.

Schein strums his guitar as a drummer would bang on a trap set. He brings the vocal spirit of Michael Franti and Spearhead to a six-string sensibility reminiscent of Michael Hedges and wraps it in a package that acoustic guitar maestro Willy Porter would quickly throw his arms around.

But contemporary comparisons aside, that journey across the globe that Schein took to South Africa could have left the biggest mark on his music.

‘‘People are very, very direct,’’ Schein said of residents of South Africa. ‘‘People are very into living and loving life. I think a lot of my music is about that — it’s about being direct.’ - Poughkeepsie Journal


"Schein On and Rise Up"

Alex Schein is an amazingly talented musician. There is no doubt about that. Just visit his website, www.alexschein.com, go do it, right now, and you will see how captivating and soulful this man is. Schein sings for a purpose. He is not motivated by money or fame, but of living his dream of bringing people together to work out their differences and solve their problems with the best therapy in the world; that is, music; that is Alex Schein.

You are playing at the Apollo theatre this Saturday. How amazing is that? Are you living the dream?

It is definitely a great honor to play at such a famed building. I am performing with many other talented musicians, including Mos Def, in a concert to benefit IMAN which stands for the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. The organization is based in Chicago but working on establishing itself in New York as it works to expand it’s work for social justice and human dignity in urban communities. I’m happy to be playing at an event that is being driven by a purpose bigger than entertainment.
You see, we live in a world where art is entertainment, a way to escape; but in these times I feel people are in need of more. They need music and art for renewal, to inspire them; that’s what it’s all about. This time demands more from us as artists, as we have the ability inspire hope and healing through the power of music.

And what brought you to this way of thinking? Where did you grow up and where did you go to school?

I was born in Philadelphia, but I mostly grew up in Gettysburg, PA. In middle and high school I was involved with my Church community and even had thoughts about getting into the ministry. My musical journey really began as a senior in high school, when as the co-captain of the basketball team, I suffered a season ending knee injury, a torn ACL. For the nine months of rehab following the surgery, the thing that saved me was picking up a guitar. I had formal training on violin, but I taught my self the guitar. From the beginning I found that I really enjoyed song writing.

I went to school at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. I received my bachelors in Religion and Philosophy in 2000. In 1998, I studied abroad in South Africa, only four years after the end of Apartheid. My experience in South Africa really helped me to understand the power of music -- how it connects in ways that politics and religion cannot. Music allows us to experience our deepest core and to feel how at this level we are all connected as one people.

What brought you the area?

In 2003, I moved to Rhinebeck to work for Camp Rising Sun -- an international leadership camp that brings together teenagers from all over the world to focus on building community. I have been fortunate to work for numerous non-profit organizations over the years focusing on youth education. One of the most rewarding experiences was working with students at Rondout Valley High School, when I performed at the student organized, “Wake Up Week.” in 2003. When the war in Iraq first began, the students held a "school walk out" in protest of the war. Instead of punishing them, the administration said, “educate us.” The students organized “Wake Up Week.” One of the events in the program was my live musical performance. The students enjoyed it so much they wanted to buy my CDs. It didn’t feel right to charge them and instead I said that they could exchange some of their poems, art, or anything that captivated what they were all about for CDs. After the show, all these students jumped up on stage and started handing me pages of their work. I barely had enough CDs to go around. One student literally gave me the shirt off his back; a sweatshirt that I still have as well as all the other things I was given. Earlier, you asked me what the dream was, that’s the dream. That connection to those students, that’s what it’s all about. In fact, at the end of my first album, “Speed of Light,” one of my thank yous is to the students from Rondout.

It was that experience that also inspired the idea of trading Cds and collecting art, poetry and other writing from Native youth on the Ehecatl Tour (see gray box in calendar section). The Ehecatl Tour is making a stop in New Paltz next week for a special evening of acoustic music featuring native songs, acoustic soul, and spoken word from artists, 20 20 De Turtle Island of Los Angeles, CA, myself and presentation by elder Kaweah Red Elk of Colorado Springs, former senior attorney for the Center of Human Rights and American Indian Law of which she is the founder; at Mountain Laurel Waldorf School on Wednesday, Jan. 27 from 7pm-9pm.

The Ehectl Tour began last year. On the www.ehectltour.com site, you and 20 20 perform your song, “Rise Up.” How did you two meet and what inspired the tour?

20 20 and I met at the 2006 Youth Wellness conference at Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota which brings together hundreds of Native Youth from all over th - Blue Stone Press (Ulster County, NY)


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

Photos

Bio

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.

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.

In January of 2010, six songs off the album "Speed of Light" were featured in the independent film "Bilal's Stand" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the NEXT category.

Most recently, Alex Schein was invited to perform "RiseUp" at the world famous Apollo Theater as a benefit for the Chicago based non-profit organization IMAN. The event featured performances by Amir Sulaiman, Liza Garza