Ari started banging on his mother's piano at age nine, although his mother gave him the option to study piano formally, he
refused to, instead he kept banging away, eventually teaching himself.
In his pre-teen years, Ari was mostly influenced by the music of Parliament Funkadelic, The Beatles, Isaac Hayes, Cameo,
Electric Light Orchestra, folk and classical music. During his mid teens, Ari's musical tastes had expanded to include
punk, new wave, experimental music and psychedelic rock.
In the mid nineties, Ari joined an eclectic band with members from around the world; this band was formed to perform one
show at a festival, the music was a beautiful combination of sitar, bass, saxophone, keyboard, tabla and other exotic
instruments.
In the summer of 2001, Ari formed the band Cozmyk Embryo with a long time poetry reading acquaintance. The music was a
delicious hybrid of folk, rock, reggae and soul, which Ari dubbed "Soulternative" music; a play on the word, "Neo Soul" and
describing music that's "soul consciously centered." Although the band was sought out to perform in many local and out of
town venues, Cozmyk Embryo broke up less than two years later.
Over the past few years, Ari continued to add to his song catalog, including creating songs for a few mini documentaries.
With his song catalog at over 400 songs, Ari shows no signs of slowing down and is planning on starting another band in the
near future. Says Ari, "I'll be the first to admit that my best work is with other musicians and vocalists".
Ari's new cd, "Goddess", encompasses several themes, ranging from love ("Can't Stay Away", "Heart in Love", "SpeshulWon",
"Don't Be a Friend of Lonliness"); Woman empowerment ("Respect Ur Woman"); Social consciousness ("Black N White", "Waking
Up", "SoulDog", "Feed Ur Mind With a New Design"), overt sexuality ("What Do U Like?")and Earth-friendly consciousness
("SimpleGirl", and the dark,"Stop Killing Ur Momma").
One of the cd's strangest offerings is the experimental "The End of The Creative People", which examines the state of
mainstream black American music. "BrainFingerInstrumental" is the lone instrumental which combines rock and jazz, but it
doesn't feel like the jazz fusion of the past.
"Goddess" allows its rock songs to have a little soul and jazz and let its experimental tracks get a little poppy, what it
doesn't allow, is to categorize Ari's first cd as any one music genre. It's a genuine collection of songs straight out
Ari's heart and head, and in the words of Ari, "This music is about the soul and it's twisted journey while in the 3rd
dimension. It's about thought, not about the music having a 'tight' beat or being a big hit. The music seeks to get in your
head, allowing you to unclog the old, stagnating thoughts to make room for new, empowering and enlightening ones." Welcome
to Soulternative Music!
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