Akash Nandakumar is an Indian American music composer and performing multi-instrumentalist from St. Louis, Missouri. His art focuses on film/tv scoring and drumming for world music and classic/hard rock, with elements of fusion. Passionate about bridging cultural divides through his music, Akash firmly believes that the universal language of music can and should be used connect people from all walks of life.

 

Akash is currently a student at Berklee College of Music, studying film scoring, drum set performance, and the theory of jazz and popular song. During his time at Berklee, he is studying world music, playing with groups such as the South Asian Ensemble, Qantara Ensemble, Balkan Ensemble, and African Strings Ensembles, and is composing for student films.

 

Akash studied concert percussion and jazz drum set at Chaminade College Preparatory, playing with the jazz combo, jazz band, men’s chorus, contemporary music group, and pit orchestra, and was given the opportunity to co-compose the score for the Chaminade Drama Department’s production of Louis Sachar’s “Holes.”  He also learned drums, bass, guitar, piano, and singing at School of Rock, where he was also a volunteer teacher’s assistant. He was a vibraphonist in the Jazz St. Louis’s JazzU program. Additionally, he was the bassist for the band Beekman, and played bass and drums on the record “Primary Colors” with them.