Omar Akram is an Afghan-American producer, composer, and pianist. In 2013, he became the first
Afghan-American
Afghan Americans ( prs, آمریکاییهای افغانتبار ''Amrikāyi-hāye Afghān tabar'', ps, د امريکا افغانان ''Da Amrīka Afghanan'') are Americans of Afghan descent or Americans who originated from Afghanistan. ...
to win a
Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...
for his fourth studio album, ''Echoes of Love.'' He is also an inspirational writer who contributes to
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
.
Early life
Akram was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. He grew up traveling around the world as the son of a
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
diplomat living everywhere from
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
to
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. as well as his ancestral home of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. He notably met
Fidel Castro at the age of 14, who is said to have allowed him to sneak into the local Cuban
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
clubs, the sounds of which influenced his formative compositional style.
Career
In 1993, Akram moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
where he performed in various
Mainstream Top 40 bands while also writing his own music.
In 2002, he signed a recording deal with Real Music. His first commercial album release that same year, titled ''Opal Fire'', reached
''Billboard'''s New Age Top 15 Chart that same year.
His sophomore release ''Free As A Bird'' in 2004, produced and arranged by keyboardist
Gregg Karukas, featured world class violinist
Charlie Bisharat and Grammy Award-winning saxophonist
Eric Marienthal
Eric Marienthal (born December 19, 1957) is a Grammy Award-nominated Los Angeles-based contemporary saxophonist best known for his work in the jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz, and pop genres.
Early life
Eric Marienthal was born on December 19, 1 ...
. This album also reached ''Billboard''s New Age Top 15 Chart that same year. In 2007, ''Secret Journey'', produced, co-written and arranged by
Gregg Karukas, also critically acclaimed, featured
Ardeshir Farah. In 2012, Akram was nominated and won the
Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...
for his album ''Echoes of Love'', also produced, co-written and arranged by
Gregg Karukas. This album was followed by ''Daytime Dreamer'' in 2013 which featured six new recordings along with tracks previously released from ''Opal Fire'' and ''Free As A Bird.''
Akram's most recent album release "Destiny," co-produced with producer
Walter Afanasieff
Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter of Russian-Chinese descent. He was a collaborator with Mariah Carey on her first ...
, was independently released through his own company, Twinbrook Entertainment, on August 9, 2019. Afanasieff also contributes vocals to the first single release from the album, "Here I Am". An accompanying official music video was directed by
Erik White.
Shardad Rohani arranged and conducted the
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra on two tracks. The album was mixed by four-time
Grammy winner Dave Reitzas at Westlake Studios in Hollywood, CA.
Starting from the lockdown resulting from
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Omar Akram has been producing a docu-series titled "Omar's Music Chamber, where he performed a number of songs in his previous albums, as well as some newly written music. " From this collection, Omar Akram released a new album, The Light Will Come, on April 23, 2021.
Awards and honors
Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...
for ''Echoes of Love'' in 2014.
Personal life
Omar currently resides in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California with his wife, son and daughter.
Discography
Opal Fire
Real Music
(Album Release Date: September 3, 2002)
Free As A Bird
Real Music
(Album Release Date: April 27, 2004)
Secret Journey
Real Music
(Album Release Date: September 25, 2007). Secret Journey peaked at #12 on
''Billboard'''s New Age Chart.
Echoes Of Love
Real Music
(Album Release Date: June 5, 2012). Echoes Of Love was awarded a
Grammy for
Best New Age Album
The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several c ...
.
Daytime Dreamer
Real Music
(Album Release Date: September 24, 2013)
Destiny
Twinbrook Entertainment
(Album Release Date: August 9, 2019)
The Light Will Come
Twinbrook Entertainment
(Album Release Date: April 23, 2021)
The second track of the album, For George, is dedicated to the memory of
George Floyd.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akram, Omar
Living people
Afghan musicians
Grammy Award winners
1964 births