Kiran Gandhi (born February 21, 1989), also known by her stage name Madame Gandhi, is an American electronic music producer, drummer, artist and activist. Gandhi's music career includes being a touring drummer for artists M.I.A.,

Thievery Corporation Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and Brazilian music, including bo ...

, and Kehlani. Her music and activism focuses on female empowerment and fourth-wave feminism. In 2015, Gandhi ran the London Marathon bleeding freely on her period to combat the menstrual stigma people face around the world, sparking a viral conversation about how menstruation is treated in various cultures. She has performed in music festivals such as Pitchfork, Lightning in a Bottle,

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

and

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

Life and career

Early life and education

Gandhi, born February 21, 1989, is the daughter of philanthropist

Meera Gandhi Meera Teresa Gandhi (born 28 January 1963) is the founder and CEO of The Giving Back Foundation. Early life and education Gandhi was born in Mumbai, India to an Irish mother and an Indian father. At the age of 16, she met Mother Teresa and work ...

and social entrepreneur Vikram Gandhi. Growing up, Gandhi spent time in both New York City and Bombay, India. In 2011, Gandhi received her undergraduate degree in mathematics, political science and women's studies from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. After graduating she began an internship as the first digital analyst at

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

based in Santa Monica, California. This position later became full-time. Gandhi used her mathematics skill to analyze patterns in Spotify streaming data and other digital media. In 2015 Gandhi received her MBA from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Early career

In 2012, Gandhi recorded live drums accompanying the M.I.A. track "Bad Girls." In February 2013, M.I.A. wrote to Gandhi praising the recording and asked her to play drums for the tour supporting the album ''

Matangi Matangi ( sa, मातङ्गी, ) is a Hindu goddess. She is one of the Mahavidyas, ten Tantric goddesses and an aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother. She is considered to be the Tantric form of Saraswati, the goddess of music and learning. ...

''. At the same time Gandhi accepted an offer to study at Harvard Business School. Gandhi left Interscope Records in 2013.

2016-2017: Voices

In 2016, her debut musical release ''Voices (EP)'' was published. In 2017, Gandhi collaborated with female-identifying producers to release ''Voices Remixed''. That year, she also ran the Vancouver Marathon and was the opening act for

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influe ...

's Rise Up Tour. Gandhi toured Europe and India and also spoke at Airbnb,

Pandora Radio Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indiv ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, and on college campuses.

2019: Visions

In 2019, Gandhi's second musical release ''Visions (EP)'' was published, beginning her new partnership with Sony Music Masterworks.

Public Image

In 2015, Gandhi ran the London Marathon bleeding-freely on her period as a symbolic act to combat the menstrual stigma that women, girls and trans people face around the world. She is openly queer.

Awards

Best Music Video jury award-winner 2021 at SXSW 2020 Ted Fellow Gandhi was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020. Gandhi was in Forbe
30 Under 30
class of 2019 2015 Harvard University Fitzie Foundation Prize Winner

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi, Kiran Electronica musicians Musicians from Boston Living people Harvard Business School alumni Georgetown College (Georgetown University) alumni 1989 births BBC 100 Women American LGBT singers American women singers American people of Indian descent American feminists American people of Irish descent 21st-century American women Queer singers Indian LGBT singers