Student
gains exposure by mixing world music
By Christine G. Adamo
On-line Forty-Niner
 Nothing
is common about Kaveh Karandish, simply
known as Kaveh.
At age10, he began pursuing music as a hobby
at the urging of his father — an amateur
pianist who was a physician by trade. He
lived in Shiraz, Iran with his three siblings
and two parents. He had alternately lived
there and in the United States.
“I went to medical school for a while before
getting really serious about music,” the
keyboardist said of his first foray into
composition at the age of 19.
Now a 26-year-old graduating music composition
major at Cal State Long Beach, he seeks
to break new ground and chose CSULB’s music
program for its ability to expose him to
different kinds of music.
“[The department was] active in world music,”
Karandish said. “That’s what I was looking
for.”
Kaveh Karandish’s brother, Makan Karandish,
is a film student at CSULB. Kaveh composed
musical accompaniment for one of his brother’s
short films, something he said he would
continue doing after graduation.
The CSULB film and music departments provided
students like Kaveh with the opportunity
to create soundtracks for student films
and marry their musical and computer talents
through exposure to MIDI technology.
MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface,
is a process which gives musicians the ability
to record and deliver musical strokes in
an easy-to-edit format that allows them
to create a highly-polished end product.
Part of this process was captured in the
2002 film “Drumline.”
“I’ve been [using MIDI] for almost six years
now,” Kaveh said of his experience with
the technology. “Most of the pieces you
hear, I’ve done with MIDI.”
But Kaveh is not just adept at mixing music.
On the track “Shadow Dance,” from the mp3.com
CD “Best of Kaveh,” he demonstrates a penchant
for mixing genres. The song carries listeners
through Greek, Indian and Persian territory
in a jazz-inspired journey for the ears.
“I enjoy mixing Middle Eastern style with
the elegance of symphony; unifying elements
like the Indian sitar with an African drum
beat,” he said. “Used properly, [instrumental
music] can evoke certain emotional responses
and express subtle, emotional messages that
are sometimes impossible to use vocal music.”
“Shadow Dance” marks the first appearance
of fellow CSULB student-musicians Brad Colton,
on percussion, and Ted Zhi, on guitar, in
Kaveh’s music. Rob Lira, also of CSULB,
and former Irvine Valley College classmate
Pourya Khademi joined them in forming the
band Kaveh six months ago. They appear most
Friday and Saturday nights from 7 to 9 p.m.
at Darya, a Persian restaurant in Santa
Ana.
“They are all very ambitious about music,”
Kaveh said of his band mates. “They like
my music and we are looking forward to doing
more.”
Though the commercial success of “Shadow
Dance” and other tracks would be appreciated,
Kaveh ultimately said his focus is on something
greater.
“My goal is to come up with music that is
entertaining for musicians and non-musicians,”
he said. “I want it to be easy to understand
but I also want there to be some musical
point that’s intriguing for performers.The
key is just to keep working, and this is
what I love.”
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