Today we’d like to introduce you to Abhishek Raj Sinha.
Hi Abhishek Raj, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
So I grew up in New Delhi, India, where my musical journey started with an Indian percussion instrument called the tabla. My family is a musical one, with my older sister and mother both being very talented vocalists. My older sister pushed me to pursue music more seriously and suggested that I should started learning the drums. This was back when I was around 10 years old, and I’ve been playing since.
I moved to the States in 2019 for college. Initially, I was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying Computer Science and Chemical Engineering. But a couple of years into that, I realized that my true calling is in music, and decided to move to Nashville. I ended up transferring schools and attending Belmont University, majoring in Audio Engineering with a minor in Music Business.
Belmont is where I met a vast majority of my musical friends, and I ended up playing with a lot of folks at school at local house shows and jams. I joined a friend’s country band and performed at the prestigious Belmont Country Music Showcase, where we ended up nabbing first place, and went on to perform at Belmont’s Best of the Best Music Showcase in 2024.
I also focused on making a lot of content on Instagram, working on my drum recording skills and getting my work out there so that more people would want to work with me to make music, and that’s exactly what happened! Due to my social media presence as well as my connections and network at Belmont, I was able to work with many amazing artists such as Venus and the Flytraps, Benjamin Joseph, MALINDA, Joiner, June Rosewell, yej, AJ Huang, KC Bruner, and many more. These are all amazing representations of the diverse music scene that Nashville has to offer, and it’s much more than just country.
I am currently working as an assistant engineer at Broken Door Studios, with my good friend John Lawrie who is an amazing keyboard player and engineer. I work with artists to help bring their musical visions to life, by engineering and recording drums on their music. I could not be happier with where I am!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Initially it was hard to find people here who I could feel comfortable around, as being an Indian international student in a place like Nashville is definitely challenging. I also had trouble adjusting culturally, since there weren’t as many Indians here as I was used to back in Illinois.
It was also hard for me to feel confident in such a saturated and talented musical market, and I felt very nervous every time I tried playing at the local jam sessions in town since I felt like some of the best players in town were in attendance. It’s also a huge leap of faith to take, switching careers completely from a STEM degree to something as unpredictable and scary as music, but once I found my crowd and started steadily becoming part of the scene here, it really felt natural to me.
I’m incredibly grateful to everyone I’ve had the pleasure of working with for making me feel more at home in this environment.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So I’m a session drummer, producer and audio engineer. I’m known for having a somewhat unconventional approach to my drumming and music, since I’ve never actually received formal music education in the form of a bachelor’s degree or diploma. But I’ve grown up playing a vastly diverse range of genres, and been exposed to very unique Indian fusion music as well as Indian classical music that gives me a perspective that is uniquely mine. Having grown up playing the tabla, and regularly attending and participating in the jazz scene in New Delhi, I feel that my musical background is unique and is the reason why I can provide a different kind of sound to people’s music.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m looking forward to getting to play in town more. I haven’t been able to accept any paying drumming gigs since I am on a student visa, but I’m working on getting an artist visa this year, which will enable me to work in town as a drummer a lot more than I have been. I’ve been working on a lot of cool music with many different artists and bands, and I’m excited to finally show everyone what we’ve been working on!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rajondrums
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@raajondrums
