Deepak Ram

Deepak Ram is a South African flautist, composer, keyboard player and producer of Indian origin. He has contributed on Shango and Labyrinth albums by the trance group Juno Reactor, Dead Bees on a Cake album by Jazz artist David Sylvian among others.

Early life

Deepak Ram's grandparents were brought to South Africa to work on plantations. He was thus born in South Africa to second generation immigrants during the apartheid era in the 60s. A few weeks after his birth, the family home was bulldozed under Group Areas Act for effecting racial segregation. The family thereafter settled in Sophiatown, a racially mixed area. His earliest influences were the Jazz records his brothers listened to and the Bollywood and Indian music his parents listened to. His first flute was fashioned out of a drainpipe with six holes drilled arbitrarily on the sides.

Career

Deepak Ram first traveled to India at the age of 17 where he received training in classical Indian music under the tutelage renowned flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and the late Shri Suryakant Limaye. Before passing away, the latter bequeathed a collection of flutes to Ram.

Deepak

Deepak (दीपक) is a Hindi word meaning lamp from Sanskrit Deepa or diya, or source of light. It is mostly used to decorate houses during Tihar in Nepal and Dipawali in India. In the twentieth century, it became very popular as a first name for male Hindus. Names like Deepa (male-though used for females by many Indians now), Deepika (female), Deepthi (female), Deepan (male), Deepali (female) and many others are related to Deepak.

The names mentioned above are related to light or the holder of light - lamp,