Ashni Interview

1. What is your name and your profession(s)?

Ashni Dave

Ashni (artist name)

Singer, songwriter, pianist, composer

2. What is your ethnic background and what is your citizenship?

Indian (Gujarati)

US citizenship, I'm the first generation born in America.

3. Are either/both of your parents musicians or somehow involved in the music industry?

No. Both parents love music, my mom loves to sing. Neither are in the industry. 

4. Please tell us a little bit about your experience, either growing up as an AAPI in America, or as a person of Asian descent who immigrated to America, whichever applies.

Oh, I hope I can get better at answering this with time. Growing up in America as anything other than the "norm" of a white, Christian body can create a very segmented experience, and segmented identities. I had one reality in my home, one reality outside of my home, one reality in school, one reality with South Asian friends from temple/community. 

I feel extremely lucky to have had South Asian community growing up, to have grown up dancing Garba, learning Kathak, trying to learn Hindi from the Aunties who volunteered to teach us in the temple basement. Performing dances at every major religious holiday. I went to a majority white school, but I had spaces where I got to be with kids who were having the same experience as me. That was so powerful. My town had a temple, a gurdwara, and a mosque. I got to meet South Asians who were Muslim and Sikh at my school - though there were just a handful of us, it was important to have those cross sections. I'm grateful for the experiences I had. I also empathize with my younger self, trying to sort out a lot of different messaging. I think I've spent much of my early adulthood trying to find and reconcile the segmented pieces. Thank God for (good, effective) therapy. 

5. How connected do you feel to your heritage/culture(s)?

I feel, what I imagine is similar to how many diaspora members feel, a deep knowing of how my heritage and culture has shaped me and continues to shape me - in my consciousness and subconsciousness, and as part of my inherited patterns. I also feel a deep sadness around the ways I feel distant from my culture. I've felt this for as long as I can remember, as a child I would worry about how this would develop in my adulthood and what I could do to decrease the distance as I got older. I think so far.. I've made some strides towards that little girl's goals, but there is more to do.

6. 6a.) How did you get into music? Did you major in music in college? Where did you attend college/university (and grad school(s), if applicable) and in what subjects did you get your degree(s)?

I always loved music. I grew up learning piano, thanks to my mother who insisted we learn. As a teen, I would buy sheet music for my favorite singers - Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Adele - and learned to play and sing their music. I wrote my own songs, and dreamt of being a jazz/R&B-informed pop star.

I went to Brandeis University for undergrad, I majored in Biology and Health Policy and completed the pre-med track - to appease my parents. I took a few music classes in undergrad, whenever I could fit it in my schedule. Being right outside of Boston, I fantasized about what it was like to be at Berklee College of Music. 

6b.) When and how did you decide you were going to pursue music professionally? What were your parents’ reactions to you deciding to pursue music? Do they support your music career now?

I worked for one year after undergrad, as a consultant in Boston, was miserable, and decided to quit and move to New York and give the music thing a go. My parents were afraid and incredibly anxious. It was a difficult time between us. I remember not going home so much, because I felt they would further instill their panic and doubt into me - it wouldn't take much, it was already there and I'd done so much work to override it - and I would slide back into fear of pursuing the thing I love, the thing I feel called to. We moved through it eventually. They're supportive now! I still hold a deep child-of-immigrant guilt that I haven't done enough to make them proud. I think, "Why couldn't I hold an office job while pursuing music, why didn't I pursue more degrees?" Working on that within myself. And as I work on achieving more of my dreams, it would be a lovely side effect that my success would solve the "doing enough to make them proud" piece.

7. What are a few of your (music) projects of which you are the proudest? What were your roles on those projects? Beyond those projects, please feel free to name some of your other credits as well as any brands/companies you officially endorse.

I'm proud of my last EP, Who I Dreamed Of, produced with Almog Sharvit and Daniel Bloch. We worked on that throughout the pandemic and Almog and Daniel really dove in with me to reimagine and create the studio versions of these songs I'd been playing for a very long time. 

And I'm proud of the record I'm making now with Almog and some other collaborators. 

My role: I write and co-produce all the music, I sing and play piano/keys on everything.

I'd like to say, I'm proud of myself for making anything I've made. No matter how much I cringe at the thought of some of those early projects - I made something! Please don't look them up. 

8. What are some obstacles you have encountered (if any) being an AAPI in the music world? What are some obstacles you have encountered (if any) as an AAPI in general (non-music)? Conversely, has being an AAPI ever helped you in the music industry or in general?

We, like any diaspora or ethnic group outside of whiteness, face prejudice and tokenizing. I'm certain it's played a part in opportunities I didn't receive. Just as being a queer woman has. 

I've also been awarded grant funding, and participated in a wonderful program called Keychange US (where we met!), and I'm sure my AAPI identity played a role in those opportunities. I'm so grateful for the people creating pathways for folks who would otherwise have no access to music industry or arts funding resources. 

9. 9a.) Who are some AAPI musicians/composers/producers who have previously inspired and currently inspire you (if any)? Why?

So many incredible AAPI musicians! Arooj Aftab, Priya Darshini, Ganavya, Yukimi (Little Dragon), Mitski, Charlene Kaye - to name a few. 

9b.) What are your hopes for the AAPI music community and your hopes for AAPIs in general?

I hope for us to keep expanding and keep carving more paths in all arenas, including music, and keep lifting each other up. To keep resisting the idea that there is only room for one or a few of us. 

10. Name one or two non-music-related things/subjects about which you are also passionate.

I'm passionate about learning about the body. I've discovered a number of chronic health issues recently, and have continued to learn about my body, my neurodivergence, working on my strength and stamina, finding the right diet, and continuing to uncover how the interconnectedness of our bodies and brains and emotional/mental states shows up in my particular experience. 

I'm passionate about our planet. I think how we treat this planet is connected to how we treat our bodies. Of course there's so much any one individual can control in those realms, but I mean humanity as a whole.

The west has built their wealth at the expense of our planet and other humans, and the current American administration is enacting even more dangerous environmental policies, slashing so many protections. The dissonance of those who claim to care about children, who also support this administration, is devastating. What did you accomplish if you forced a corporation to stop using red dye in your kid's cereal, if their (our) air is filled with toxins from wildfires that will worsen as they open protected lands for logging, and their (our) water is laden with toxins as they cut regulations on fracking and microplastics?It's overwhelming. I'm trying to focus on one or two things I can do consistently in this fight. 

11. Any final thoughts? Alternatively, do you have any questions for me and/or the greater AAPI music community?

How long have you been doing this? I crafted the questions and reached out to my first interviewees in early 2021 (posting them during APAHM 2021) when I had only a few random gigs here and there thanks to the pandemic :) It was a passion project I'd thought about for many years prior and I finally had the time to get it off the ground. Thank you for doing this!!! So wonderful to be a part of this. Thank you, Ashni! I'm grateful to have amazing folks like yourself take the time to participate and give beautiful, thoughtful answers. I just love sharing perspectives and putting our stories out there for other (possibly younger) AAPIs to find and potentially be encouraged and inspired by... to give this next generation the representation that we lacked seeing in the industry growing up.

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Support Ashni online :)

Instagram - @AshniMusic 

YouTube - Ashni Music

Spotify - Ashni

Bandcamp - Ashni

Official Website - www.ashnimusic.com

Images courtesy of Ashni

Post sponsored by PickUp Music