So Where Did Anaamaly Music Come From?

I’m not quite sure when or how it started, but I knew I liked music and the idea of creating sounds. I wouldn’t quite call what I was making music at that age, but it was intriguing. Maybe it was a random keyboard that started it all. Who knows?

But I do remember a karaoke machine. I don’t know if it was one of the first, but it was new to me. It had a cassette deck on the left side and another on the right, and you could connect a microphone to it. I’d have to look it up, but that’s how I recall it.

I would play something on the first tape and record it onto the second as I added music or tried to rap over it. Then I’d take the recorded tape, put that on the left side, hit play, hit record on the other tape, and add another layer. I just kept flipping the tapes back and forth and stacking the sounds.

Of course, it was all distorted and, as we would say in the audio world, clipping. But it was fun. It was really fun. I could sit there all day with my brothers, recording whatever we wanted, and adding as many layers as we wanted. The karaoke machine's limited features sparked a lot of creativity.

I wish I could find those tapes. Maybe I’ll get lucky one day and one will pop up.

Music at a Young Age

I remember this was the mid-80s because my mom passed in 1987, when I was 10 years old.

In an early interview around the time Urban Metta, Vol. 1 came out, I talked about turning to music as a way to heal and process losing my mom at such a young age.

I guess what I meant was that I turned to poetry and rhymes. I was already into music, but I remember writing a rhyme about her passing and my experience of it. The only phrase I remember is:

“It was a Monday, October 5 of ’87. I was only 10, but close to 11.”

And that’s it. I’m sure the rhyme is in a shoebox somewhere. I just haven’t discovered it.

Around that same time, I was just learning to play the trumpet, and that came naturally. This was fifth grade, and I found myself doing the solo for the school band. I remember someone saying, in a kind way, “When you become the next Miles Davis, don’t forget us.” Something like that. One of those moments that stays with you.

The trumpet led to learning to play the piano—or I should say, taking piano lessons. I never really mastered the piano.

I was still writing rhymes, and for a while, I thought that’s what I wanted to do. But I’m kind of glad that didn’t work out. I’m glad the pivot happened from thinking I wanted to rap to creating music.

Eventually, I picked up an ASR-X, and my cousin and I got into sampling and making beats.

From Making Beats to Making Rain

Music was a hobby for a long time. From the early 90s all the way to 2015—that’s a long time—but I started taking it more seriously in the early 2010s.

I attended Berklee College of Music, and that’s when I guess you could say the shift started happening. I was more focused, more intentional. At the time, I wanted to make music for TV and film, so I was trying to figure out what that was going to be.

Around that same time, I discovered trip-hop and that type of chill beat, along with related genres. Thievery Corporation and Bonobo, and that broader world of music that included artists like Massive Attack and Portishead. So I was somewhere between growing up on hip-hop and exploring those sounds.

I also listened to smooth jazz for a little while in my early 20's, but that faded quickly. I love jazz, but smooth jazz just got too repetitive for me as a listener.

Side note: Apparently, there's a reason for that: corporate radio consultants famously optimized the genre to function as audio wallpaper rather than a challenging art form.

The true shift happened in 2015, when I started writing music for my wife’s yoga classes. Just before that, I remember her asking me to create a rain CD.

A rain CD. That should give you an idea of the time frame. CDs were still a thing.

The idea of focusing on rain and nothing else was different. All this time, I’d been making music, making beats. I was like, “Wait a minute. There’s nothing on here. It’s just rain.”

Then I thought, “How can I make this interesting?”

I started layering different sounds on top of the rain. Maybe a spiritual poem or something. One thing led to another, and next thing you know, I’m writing the music that would eventually become Urban Metta, Vol. 1 and Urban Metta, Vol. 2.

Both were released before I discovered frequencies like 432 and 528 Hz, so both albums are in standard 440 Hz tuning. But the intention behind them was to bring some peaceful, healing music into the world. Something empowering, which is why I chose affirmations as the titles.

Where the Name Came From

The name Anaamaly comes from “anomaly”—a deviation from the norm.

It was a deviation for me, and I felt it was a deviation from a lot of what was out there. It was new age, ambient, meditative, but it wasn’t traditional new age. It was different to me, at least, and that’s the feedback I’ve received.

Then there’s the spelling I chose: ANAAMALY.

You’ll notice the NAAM, which, for me, is a reference to the inner light and sound from the spiritual traditions of the East. It was also a reminder of my spiritual path, and to always remember that the inner light and sound can be experienced through daily meditation.

I thought it would be great to have that subtle message in the details.

Ten Years Later

So here we are. The Anaamaly project turned 10 years old this year. During that time, I’ve released four albums and over 30 singles, and I can say I have truly found my calling.

That feels lucky, in a way. Some people never find their calling. Or maybe they weren’t meant to. Maybe their calling was the life they lived. But that’s another conversation.

There have been some really deep creative and spiritual moments, some true ups and true downs. It’s been a journey.

It’s been five years since I released an album, but in that time, I’ve released a few singles and shifted my energy to building Jaapi. And that’s been a good thing.

I wanted to make the music accessible for creators and others to use in their own work. The Jaapi project has made that possible while allowing me to retain ownership of the music, rather than signing it all away to a publishing company or third party.

That’s another conversation. So for now, we’ll stay the course. Jaapi is here, and I hope to continue to add new music and release the next Anaamaly album very soon.

Time will tell.

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