Have you ever heard of Ghani Gautama (exclusive interview included) - humanfankind.com

I recently came across the sound of Ghani Gautama and am surprised that it took me so long hear about him!

A short bio:

Ghani Gautama got his start in music as the front man for Pure Irate Souls, a rap/rock outfit active in Myrtle Beach SC in the early 90′s. He relocated to Atlanta, GA in 2000 and shortly emerged on the cities blossoming independent hip hop scene as a founding member of Street Temple Emcees After a brief hiatus from music, Ghani Gautama reunited with former Street Temple Emcees DJ and producer, Metrognome and resurfaced as a solo act. The creative team of Gautama and Metrognome released two albums, “Give ‘Em Enough Hope” in 2008 and “Few Against Many” in 2010. During that time he also linked up with fellow Atlanta indie veterans, Quanstar and Evaready R.A.W. and with Metrognome on DJ duties, began playing nationally under the banner of United Underworld.

Ghani just released his latest album “Strong Medicine” in November titled “Strong Medicine” which is receiving positive feedback.

After listening to the music on his Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/ghanigautama) I quickly fell in love with his sound. “What am I waiting for” is extremely catchy (listen below), so make sure that you have time on your hands and room on your ipod before you listen to it once. The rest of the songs continue his catchy rhythm and toe tapping beats. Give it a listen, you wont regret it!

A brief interview with Ghani:

What inspires you to wake up and record?

“It’s more like what doesn’t inspire me.  I try to let the world be my muse and find inspiration everywhere but at those moments when I really start to doubt the merits of this path I always think about the people who have supported me for all these years.  Folks who watched me awkwardly attempt to perform 15 years ago who still root for me today, I feel a sense of personal responsibility to them to keep making music and hopefully get better at it.”

What do you consider success?

“Not riding the bus to a day job that I hate.  I strive for the day when I record when inspiration strikes, I tour when I feel like traveling and I subsist off of more than Ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches all off of the merits of my music.”

 What are your thoughts on HumanFankind and fans giving back for piracy / funding artists dreams?

“I don’t necessarily believe that fans are obligated to “give back for piracy.”  Sure I’d love to get paid for every time someone acquires my music but I feel like when you’re doing it the right way it doesn’t matter how people get a hold of your recordings.  If you are making music that’s worthwhile the people who enjoy it will compensate you in some way at some point.  I do, however, believe that it’s important to develop systems other than retail sales and tour proceeds to compensate artists.  I don’t hold it against someone for not being able to pay 5 or 10 dollars for an album, but if they’ve got a dollar to spare I think it’s imperative for there to be a mechanism in place for that person to deliver that dollar to the artist.  So I think HumanFankind is doing important work towards shifting the paradigm and empowering fans and artists to work together to ensure that the music can go on as long as both parties see fit to have it do so.”

You can also find Ghani at http://ghanigautmama.bandcamp.com . He allows you to download some of his music for free, so if you do enjoy it, please give some back through HumanFankind.