Ninu Nina Artist Interviews

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MUSICIAN LEONARDO PRAKASH

Leonardo Prakash was born in San Luis Potosi Mexico a result of two cultures and two worlds- Mexico and France.

I started with music ever since I can remember, in fact I spent my first years singing before I was able to speak. At 10 years old, I began classical guitar until I discovered heavy metal and switched to the electric. It was then I knew I would become a musician.

 Tell us more about your musical journey Leonardo

As a teenager I went to boarding school in India where I discovered the Sitar. I wasn’t immediately hooked, but when I found my guitar broken I realized in order to continue my musical training I’d have to learn with the Sitar so I took that path.

After graduating I moved to the Mexican Caribbean where I met Bogdan Djukic and Jesus Mejia. We started Bole Música and played together for almost a decade touring all over Europe and North America . When my daughter was born, I finally had the courage to go deep into my purpose and create the music I had dreamed about since I was very young, so with the help of the Mexican government (FONCA) National Fund for Culture and Arts, I was able to develop “Leonardo Prakash”. 

Tell us about your creative process

 My creative process is all over the place really, not sure it can be called a “ process” hahahaha. Sometimes I am playing my sitar or any instrument I find myself with, and I start playing a song as if I already knew it, and that’s it. It is a very clear and concrete thing. After I just shape the edges, but that takes more time. Time to get to know the vibe of the song and try to filter or distill more and more to get the essence of the message.  

I spent some time feeling a creative block, and a few months ago suddenly traveling in Europe it came back to me! From one moment to the other I was able to hear the music I will do In the upcoming months. Just like that, in less than a second the information or access is right here. And it is as real as the chair I’m sitting in now.

How did the pandemic affect your creativity?

Well like many other artists I was supposed to have a great year ahead of me, but of course the pandemic was unexpected and destabilizing. I got to digest the reality fast, plus my daughter was leaving the country to start a life in London, so I was really focused on us. I got to record my album Humanidad, an album that I am really proud of. I didn’t plan a thing, it was just pure emotion, every song happened in the studio. Crystalizing into music life at that moment, socially and internally. The departure of my daughter was one, but many changes at the same time, and thanks to life the album just helped me to channelize and transform all of this.

I have been traveling all my life, and during Covid this didn’t stop. After my daughter left, I kept moving and witnessing the change in humans in different parts of the globe. I think this is the best thing that could have happened to us. Before everything was ambiguous and lines where not clear. Now we have this really amazing new and fresh energy.

Icons of our time in your opinion?

Uff, this is really hard question for me, there are so many. I guess what comes to my mind immediately are comedians, icons such as George Carlin, Louis CK, Bill Hicks… They speak truths nobody wants to think about, and they make you laugh, which is really an art!  Musically, Led Zeppelin, Paco de Lucia, Metallica, Michael Jackson, and on and on….. I could spend days answering this.  

What does well being mean to you? 

Well-being to me is an act of honesty with yourself. To be very aware and listen what is going on in you, your body, your mind. And by doing this you actually become aware of the inner balance. Then you just try to keep this balance, almost like game. I don’t believe that you need a technique that you repeat every day. In my opinion this creates rigid structure and not organic one. You cannot dive in to the deepness of your being with a solid structure, it becomes life vest, making you float all the time.

I love tea ceremonies, but unfortunately I can’t travel with the kit, so when I’m around I deeply love it.

Anything else you would like to share with us Leonardo?

Be in nature, listen to the plants and be faithful to yourself.

www.leonardoprakash.com