Biography
Ashish Dha is a composer-performer, Hindustaanee raag music teacher, naad yog practitioner, and sound designer, based in Pune, India.
He grew up mostly in New Delhi, India, where he trained for 10 years in qhayaal gaayakee (Indian classical singing). After graduating with a BA in History from the prestigious St. Stephens College, University of Delhi in 2003, he worked for a few years in the electronic media, music and theater industries in New Delhi. Some of his theatrical highlights of the period include Smita Bharti's 'As The Sun Sets' (Rafi Peer Festival, Lahore), Lorca's 'Yerma' (Spanish Embassy, New Delhi), and a site-specific piece based on Beckett's 'Krapp's Last Tape' (British Council, New Delhi).
He next spent three-and-a-half years studying and working in the Greater Los Angeles area in California, USA, earning an MFA degree in Sound Design from the famous California Institute of the Arts in 2012. Landmark achievements during those years included films such as '38-39' (Sundance Film Festival), 'Homebody' (New Orleans International Film Festival), and 'El delirio del pez león' (Best National Animation, Puerto Rico International Short Film Festival); and theatrical productions such as 'Silken Veils' (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, UK), 'Piedra de Sol' (The Getty Villa, Los Angeles), and 'The Fairy Queen' (The MOD Theater, Valencia).
Ashish's creative specialties include subliminal and hyper-realistic sound design that integrates musical score, aural effects and sound art with the main narrative. He has a varied professional background in the field of sound and music, including working as a studio recording engineer, production sound recorder, sound editor, TV producer, A&R executive and musician-singer. He is trained in Digital Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound Mixing, and has advanced skills with Pro Tools HD, the industry standard software for post-production sound. He also is schooled in Hindustani classical music, which he uses as a base for many of his own music compositions. Aside from singing, playing and performing with various music ensembles and groups, he also composes and records his own pieces, and plans to release a music album.
Ashish also works as an actor and voice artiste: in 2011, 'The Road Home', a film in which he played Kuldeep the taxi-driver (second lead), was shortlisted in the Live Action Shorts category for the 84th Academy Awards. Another film he has acted in was screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner, 2007. His theater work has seen him perform in the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, USA; the Shaw Theater, London, UK; the Alhambra Complex, Lahore, Pakistan; and a lead role in an original musical at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India. His voice-over work has been heard in various animations, corporate and documentary films, Internet videos, historical sound-and-light shows, e-learning modules and other multimedia presentations.
