Kavichandran Alexander (born 3 May 1949) is an

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. He is the founder of the American record label,

Water Lily Acoustics Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label in Santa Barbara, California founded in 1985 by Kavichandran Alexander, a Tamil from Sri Lanka. Alexander is a record producer and audio engineer. He named the label after his mother, Lily. The la ...

. Alexander was the producer and engineer for the 1993 album ''

A Meeting by the River ''A Meeting by the River'' is an album recorded by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; it was recorded in September 1992 and released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. This improvised, collaborative album features Coode ...

'', featuring

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

and

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, known professionally as V. M. Bhatt, is an Indian Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who invented and plays a modified slide guitar that is widely called the Mohan veena. Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajastha ...

, which won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best World Music Album.

Early life

Alexander was educated at

S. Thomas' Preparatory School S. Thomas' Preparatory School (abbreviated as STPS) is a private, Anglican, multi-ethnic, primary and secondary day school for boys aged 5 to 16 years, located in Kollupitiya in the Colombo District of the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The sch ...

and S. Thomas College Mount Lavinia in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 1968, he moved to Paris, and at the age of 18, played in the French production of

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

by Shakespeare & Co. He then moved to Brussels to study at the Mudra School of Dance started by

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French dancer, choreographer and Theatre director, opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, tac ...

. After a tour of the East, he created a new

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, Indian Shellac Company. After getting married, he moved to Sweden.

Water Lily Acoustics

In 1984, Alexander started the

based in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. He named the company in honour of his mother, Lily. Recordings released by Water Lily Acoustics have been nominated twice for Grammy Awards. Alexander was the producer and engineer for the 1993 album ''

'', featuring

and

, which won a

for Best World Music Album. Water Lily Acoustics has also recorded Indian musicians, including

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

, V. G. Jog,

Pandit Jasraj Pandit Jasraj (28 January 1930 – 17 August 2020) was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the ''Mewati gharana'' (musical apprenticeship lineage). His musical career spanned 75 years resulting in national and international fame, ...

N. Ramani Natesan Ramani (15 October 1934 – 9 October 2015), commonly known as N. Ramani or N. Flute Ramani, was an Indian Carnatic flautist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1996. Ramani is also credited with introducing ...

Imrat Khan Imrat Khan (17 November 1935 – 22 November 2018) was an Indian sitar and surbahar player and composer. He was the younger brother of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.Farrell, Gerry (2001)"Khan, Imrat" ''Grove Music Online''. (subscriptio ...

, Zia Fariddudin Dagar, L. Subramaniam, V. M. Bhatt,

Kadri Gopalnath Kadri Gopalnath (6 December 1949 – 11 October 2019) was an Indian alto saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music for that instrument. Early life Born in a Tulu speaking Jogi community of Sajeepa Mooda village in Bantwal taluk ...

Ustad Rashid Khan Ustad Rashid Khan (1 July 1968 – 9 January 2024) was an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani tradition. He belonged to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana and was the great-grandson of gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan. He was awarded t ...

, Chitravina N. Ravikiran,

Swapan Chaudhuri Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri (born 30 March 1945), is an Indian tabla player. He has accompanied several musicians of Indian classical music, including, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jas ...

, and

Guruvayur Dorai Guruvayur Dorai (born 2 July 1935) is an Indian percussionist. He is one of the most senior exponents of the South Indian classical percussion instrument, the mridangam. He had his initial training under Palghat Subba Iyer and E.P. Narayana P ...

. South American, Asian, and African master musicians recorded by Water Lily Acoustics include

Flora Purim Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with ...

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a membe ...

, and Jose Neto. Symphony orchestras recorded by Water Lily Acoustics to date include the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...

(

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

), the

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a symphony orchestra based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Their home venue is the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia. History The roots of th ...

(

Yuri Temirkanov Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov (; ; 10 December 1938 – 2 November 2023) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, named a People's Artist of the USSR. Early life Born in 1938 in the North Caucasus city of Nalchik, Temirkanov attended the Saint Petersburg ...

), the

Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra The Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra (in ), founded in 1931, is one of the two symphony orchestras belonging to the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia society, the other being the more famous Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, founded i ...

(

Aleksandr Dmitriyev Aleksandr Sergeyevich Dmitriyev (; born in Leningrad on 19 January 1935), PAU, is a Russian conductor of orchestral and choral music and opera. He has been director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Karel Autonomous Republic, and Principal Condu ...

), and the

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra (; formerly, the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, ) is one of symphony orchestras in Hungary. Based in the Music of Budapest, capital city of Budapest, it has stood as one of the pillars of the coun ...

(

Zoltán Kocsis Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conducting, conductor and composer. Biography Studies Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conser ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Kavichandran Living people 1952 births Place of birth missing (living people) Sri Lankan Tamil musicians Sri Lankan Tamil people Audio production engineers