Album Notes

Steve Oda is a sarode player, composer and teacher of the classical music of North India.

A Canadian of Japanese ancestry, Steve Oda, began his musical education at the age of seven, learning to play slide guitar and then jazz guitar. His love of creativity through musical expression led him to the classic music of North India and the sarode. His classical training started in 1971 under the guidance of Ustad Aashish Khan, and from 1973 onwards under Aashish's father, the world-renowned maestro, Dr. Ali Akbar Khan.

In 1996, Steve received a Canada Council Artists Grant to pursue intensive studies at and advanced level with Ali Akbar Khan and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998. There he served for two years as Executive Director of the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California.

Among the many performances Steven has given include special invitations from the Ali Akbar College of Music, the Asian Art Museum, the Ragmala Association of Canada, the University of Toronto, and the Spirit of India Festival.
He has performed with such notable artists as Pandit Sharda Sahai, Bob Becker (Nexus), Anubrata Chatterjee, Vineet Vyas, Ravi Naimpally (TASA), Ty Burhoe, Stephen Bacchu and Betty Moon. Also on stage, Steven has been honored to accompany artists including Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Aashish Khan and Pandit Anindo Chatterjee.
Steve has performed at his teachers college in California as well as numerous Canadian cities from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia. The demand for his playing, continues to increase in places like Chicago, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Spain, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and now in Japan.

He currently resides in San Rafael, California, actively teaching and performing the beautiful music of North India.[1][2]

"Steve Oda was a student of the legendary Maestro Ali Akbar Khan for more than 35 years before his guru's passing last year. Khan and Ravi Shankar were the men primarily responsible for bringing India's rich musical traditions from East to West. Oda plays the sarode, a 25-string instrument that is arguably the most beautiful lute in the world. In Persian, the word sarode translates to beautiful sound. The deeply emotive and highly expressive sounds of the sarode make it among the most pleasant instruments to listen to, even if you know nothing about Indian music. It is considered one of the most challenging instruments to master, but in the hands of a musician like Oda, the sarode is capable of transporting the listener to a higher place."[3]