fellowship 2022: meet your winners!
2 min
And that’s a wrap 👏🏽! The first part of our inaugural ravi ray audio fellowship was a resounding success.
63 applicants, 10 project partners, 15 community partners, and 3 INCREDIBLE winners.
A HUGE ‘thank you’ to everyone involved, we’re so grateful for your support and can’t wait to continue in the years to come.
Learn more about the project partners and community partners here.
To be notified when apps open for fellowship 2023, sign up for our email list here.
If you’d like to get involved as either a 2023 sponsor, project partner, or community partner, please send me a note.
listening session with Abhi the Nomad
In August my team and I blinded the submissions, reviewed, and selected 10 applicants to advance to a song demo listening session with Abhi the Nomad. He’s an artist I’ve personally looked up to for both his music and persona since coming to know of him a few years ago. That hour was an absolute blast— we listened to some incredible music and came out on the other side with 3 outstanding winners. Here’s a snippet of the end of our call—
Abhi: “I am often very busy but at the same time I love doing stuff like this, I think it’s really important. I only had a couple of mentors coming up. One of them was Heems from Das Racist— great rapper. He helped me by giving me advice, but there was really nobody there to co-sign me or fund me or help me with production. Even though [music production] is so open and accessible to learn, I still think people, especially brown people, don’t have the same opportunities and paths that are so clear to those who aren’t of color. In creative fields, it’s often difficult for us to be taken seriously in the public eye. So I think this is important.”
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Without further ado, meet your 2022 winners:
Sowbarnika Kannan
3rd place
Sowbarnika (Sowby) is an independent artist based in the Bay area. Playful yet introspective, her melodic style reflects her love of modern Pop and R&B. She loves to connect with her audience through her raw storytelling style, and hopes to open up a space where listeners can resonate with her music.
Song Demo: Almost Us
Janaki Narayanan
2nd place
Janaki is an Indian-American singer-songwriter based in NYC. Her original music can be characterized as primarily R&B, with some Carnatic (traditional South Indian) influence. She released her debut single Tunnelin’ in 2022 with collaborators Woodah Three Times and Zco.
Song Demo: A Seat on the Ground
Priya Mani
1st place
Priya is an Indian singer-songwriter who aims to express stories and a range of emotional experiences through her music. Drawing influences from music of different cultures and genres, she creates an emotional and sonically unique experience for her listeners.
Song Demo: Starry Skies
see you in 2023 ✌🏽
The winners have already began on completing their records with the project team, and are planning to bring their music to all streaming platforms in early 2023! Stay tuned with ravi ray audio to be notified when their songs release and when apps open next year. If you’re interested in being a sponsor, project partner, or community partner in 2023, please reach out. Until next time~
Stay well, shine bright.
~Ravi
