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Ancient Scrolling: A Social Media Detox Soundtrack In a world moving at full-digital-speed-ahead, the intention for this record was crystal clear: to create music that can accompany someone during a ‘social media detox.’ And, in order to best reflect such an intention, that music was to be created whilst the musicians – ourselves – were undergoing a seven-day social media detox. It wasn’t known exactly what lessons would be learned, or what kind of music would emerge… But over only seven days, a plethora of experiences emerged to inform us musicians during the creative process: observations of a dichotomy between loneliness and peace-of-mind, the recognition of differences between authentic communication and staged conversation, and the discovery of opportunities to cultivate personal discipline and renewed relationships with social media, to name a few. And what was particularly fascinating for the three multi-instrumentalists (Johnny Butler, woodwinds; E Scott Lindner, guitar/bass/engineering; and myself, Adam Ahuja, keyboards/drums), was that musical communication itself became an ultimate prescription for human connection. The music was conversationally-driven, mainly improvisational, dynamically sensitive, and more often than not, spacious and ambient. The album is diverse in instrumentation, yet consistent in its feeling. The music was created over a two-day span.

The People 2020: 40 composers co-write and record album on the events of 2020 in a 14-day span 40 composers from the NYC music community and around the globe, seeking a way to deeply speak about the times, collaborated to write and record an album called “The People of 2020” over a 14-day period (a ‘quarantine length’ from 3/29/20 – 4/12/20).  Each musician had a 24-hour window to write and record their own part and pass it to the next musician.  The album’s songs and moods are based on the ‘social curve’ of 2020, entitled “The Climb,” “Flattening,” and “Slide Out.”   Our lives have all been transformed.  In so many ways.  No question.     As musicians, we document the times in our own way.  We use sound to express ideas, culture… and experiences.  But in a way, the events of this year have been so unreal, that it’s become almost too obvious or even easy to achieve the goals that artists usually toil upon to ultimately transmit to society.  Case in point: perhaps a simple springtime photograph of the streets of Manhattan is all that is required to catalog enough meaningful sentiment right now.  Looking back, maybe we will

“The Shaping of Harmony” A Brief History of Temperament in Western Civilization by Adam Ahuja   The modern quantum physicist finds himself in a moment of imperfection when studying particle physics. As soon as he comes to understand the position of a particle, he cannot measure its velocity. On the other hand, as soon as she measures the velocity, she knows not the particle’s position. It is a game of constant trickery.   Humanity’s relationship with harmony, in many ways, has been similar to the quantum quandary. There is an inherent complication when considering the tonal position in a passage of music and its related harmony. On one hand, harmonies and melodies can be understood as flowing forth as natural whole number ratios stemming from a single position, the key center. However, when the tonal center moves from one position to the next, the ratio of harmonies must then move to accommodate the new key, as we strive, on some level, to maintain mathematically purity from one key to the next. In theory, this doesn’t sound too complicated; we may just shift harmonies to accommodate their new tonal center. This does tend to be the case when performing music for

“Over the Rainbow (live-looping)” releases on Infinity Gritty / Ropeadope Records In the 80th year anniversary of its original publishing, Adam Ahuja gives us a re-imagined, chill-synth, indie-jazz take on the beautiful classic melody, “Over the Rainbow.” The remake is performed as a multi-instrumental live-loop, and features a slow-evolving 30-chord progression paired with a somewhat-mysterious, dimly-lit, alt-pop vocal. Ahuja draws out simplicity amidst complexity, and conjures up feelings of yearning and intrigue as he builds the performance instrument-by-instrument in a single studio take: layering stereo keys, electric bass and vocals, swaggy live drums, a baby-grand, and robotic live-looping effects, sending the listener off through the caverns of singularity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fgPSJAezfI

I had a blast playing at Relix Magazine, a live set filmed by Will Schwerd. And as usual, I brought up some audience members to make and produce a song together at the end (in this case, some chill Relix staff members). Had an awesome time. Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpmDbZXae4w

Hittin’ the road on a solo tour, and linking up some amazing artists along the way. To RSVP, go to the ‘tour’ page on this site!

Nord Keyboards “Artist of the Month” Thanks Nord Keyboards, for the Artist of the Month feature!  For the record, my favorite board is the Stage series :). Also a big thanks to Randy and Tanya at ArtistRelations.com, who keep everything running smooth for us artists and brands.     Here are my thoughts on Nord: “The sound quality is rich and dynamic amongst a variety of instrument types. It’s built tough and it looks great. To me, Nord Stage keyboards are not at all lifeless sample robots; they are true, unique instruments in their own right.“

The performance release of Adam Ahuja’s debut EP, ‘Balance’ is at ShapesShifter Lab in Brooklyn! The show will begin as a solo looping-style performance, and gradually add guest performers to form duos, trios, quartets and so on: evolving the music as the evening progresses. The EP itself is a solo endeavor, in which all instrument parts were recorded one track at a time. The 5-track collection is a mixture of composed tunes, a multi-track improvisation, a looping-style performance, and a solo piano piece. Adam Ahuja is an NYC-based musician (keyboards / vocals, guitar, drums) who combines jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop into a fluid style. Performing both as a soloist and with a group, Adam’s music is layered with reflective harmony, lyrical expression, funky grooves, live looping, and an improvisational spirit, building a distinctive mood and atmosphere from moment to moment. In NYC, Adam has recently shared his music at Blue Note Jazz Club (with The Flowdown). Adam Ahuja (keys, vocals, guitar, drums/percussion).  Featured performers at the show: Ebonie Little (dance), Alvaro Kapaz (guitar), Lavondo Thomas (bass), Diego Vasquez (drums), Ron Thaler (drums), Pablo Eluchans (drums), Srikalogy (percussion).

As I stand in the grocery line at 1:50 AM, I glance down at the bag of vegetable chips and the power-fu sandwich in my hand.   Perhaps I could half-consciously ask myself whether I could afford this, or tell myself it is simply too late to eat anything.  I could glance at an over-lit isle shelf, or wander lazily around the store.   I could find myself unable to make a simple choice due to a sneaky-crept up feeling of general overwhelm with life’s various insanities, only perceived as such because of a desperate trust-less feeling of a need to control everything. Thankfully, though, standing in that grocery line, I felt grounded.  I felt gratitude.  I had just come from a Tuesday night master class session, six hours of hardcore musical training near the Lincoln Center with Barry Harris.   At 81 years young, Barry wasn’t taking any punches.  Expectations were presented as perfection.  There was no room given for soft feelings and fear-drizzled pats-of-backs, those co-dependent illusionary partnerships almost automatically endorsed in politicized society. At the class, there was a song distributed to everyone to sing together, and then those who felt ready, could sing at the mic in front of

I’ve moved these from the i-phone notes section to a website blog screen.  Next step, brain.     1) Listen all the time.  Almost always.  And listen to music a lot.  Any music.  Don’t seek something specific from it; hear what it is.   2) Remember that music is a worthy path.  It is a beautiful and natural gift to share with others!   3) If you wish you could do more with your music, the answer is two part:   a) First: remember that music is primarily driven by one’s spiritual state / state-of-mind and the remainder is technical.  Let’s say for example you are feeling bad about something.  Rather than pushing away the uncomfort of that feeling, acknowledge it is there, that it has a source, and take the chance to grow from it by being present with that feeling through the music in that moment.     b) Second: practice, and love the practice as an expression forward.  Practice is your work.  You can form a routine and practice but practice will be much more effective as long as you are aware of what you are doing, then you have a chance to learn from any kind