About
His music
“Music is my meditation, my refuge, the universe from which I love to share the nuances of my heart: from their deep subtleties to their powerful exaltations.”
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Uwe Neumann started his musical journey at young age in Germany where he studied classical guitar, formed the rock band “Charly Brown Group” and joined progressive rock-opera band “Macbeth”.
His travels then brought him to India, where he fell in love with the sitar, then to the drone of the didgeridoo in Australia and the charm of the sansa in Thailand.
In 1989, Uwe returned to India for 10 years, where he received a bachelors and master’s degree in Indian classical music with his sitar.
During these years Uwe also delved into learning the tabla as well as classical Indian singing at this university in Bengal state and at the same time met and played many full nights music with the folk musicians of the rich Baul culture with their instruments ektara/duggi, kortals, dubki and dotara.
These ancestral traditions have transmitted to him also his spiritual path, his sadhana. For more than thirty years now, through his performances, recordings, and his teachings Uwe has kept this music alive.
ADISC nomination for best world music album Ragleela ‘Deepchandi bleu’
His bio
Recipient of the Ravi Shankar Memorial Award, Uwe Neumann is a performer, teacher and lover of Indian Classical music and culture. Undergoing 10 years of full time training in the 90’s with sitar maestro Pandit Indranil Bhattacharya, Uwe received a Bachelors and Masters degree from the Indian University in Shantiniketan with a scholarship of ICCR and a Merit scholarship from the Indian Government. He has been receiving advanced training from Sri Partha Bose since 2009.
Since founding Ragleela in 1990, Uwe has performed at major classical and world-music events in India, Europe and the Americas.
On December 31st, 1999 he performed a Millennial concert on the shores of the river Ganges in Benares. Guests of honour included H.H. the Dalai Lama and now Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a live audience of over 10,000 spectators.
Uwe arrived in Canada in the year 2000 and has been sharing the treasures of this music at more than 500 concerts. Highlights include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Cultural Festival in Zacatecas, Mexico, International Theater Festival in Sibiu, Romania, Collingwood Music Festival, Sunfest and Summerfolk in Ontario, Festival des Traditions du Monde in Sherbrooke, with the Symphony Orchestra of World Musicians in Montreal, the Festival Musique Multi Montreal, Diversity, Starbelly, Vancouver Folk- and Artswells Festivals in BC…
Aside from his work with Ragleela, Uwe has also performed with his Indian classical group Sitaria, being accompanied by E. Shankar, Jagjit Singh, Shawn Mativetsky, Hindole Mazumder, Subir Dev, Subhen Chatterjee, Debasish Das, Subhajyoti Guha and Partha Sarathi Mukherjee on tablas.
