Meet Zeshan B

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zeshan B. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zeshan below.

Zeshan , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Tbh, I get it mostly from the example of remarkable human beings — both past and present. Throughout the annals of time, I’m amazed at just how many people — known and unknown — have overcome incredible odds and accomplished amazing things. I’ll give you a few examples.

1.) My wife’s grandfather, John Roybal. This man served in the Marine Corps in some of the most gruesome battles of WW2. Signed up to serve his country the day after the Pearl Harbor attacks. Lost most of his friends in the war. Stayed true to his sweetheart (Grandma) throughout the war and came back home to start a family with her. And despite having served his country valiantly, he faced all kinds of racial discrimination throughout his life for being Latino. Apparently was the best Dad ever. And I saw with my own eyes how amazing a grandpa he was too.

But what struck me most was his humility. You wouldn’t have known about any of his accomplishments unless you asked him. Just a sweet, kind and loving man.

2.) My great Aunt, Amirbai Karnataki. A Bollywood singer and actress from the 1940s-60s, Amirbai was one of the golden voices of India’s early cinema (one of her songs was favorited by Mahatma Gandhi himself!). But sadly, her accolades were earned at such a cost . She was disowned by her brother (my great-grandfather) and although society seemed to value her films and songs on the suface, she faced intense ostracization. Why? Simply because she was a woman in show business. She bore deep scars from this ultimately met a sad fate.

But what strikes me is how much she persevered with her artistry — clearly she believed in its importance. She stuck with her music and her acting despite how much she stood to lose for it.

These are only 2 examples! But in times of difficulty, I think of individuals like Grandpa Roybal and Amirbai who have made such a positive mark on this world — despite all the forces that worked against them.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a singer, songwriter and bandleader. My music is a loveletter to classic R&B/Soul with a conscious message for our times. My music has been featured in pretty much all major media outlets including Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Variety and the Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert. I’ve peformed in venues all over the US — Lincoln Center, Bonnaroo, Kennedy Center, Sundance Festival, the Apollo and more. I’ve also performed for some pretty awesome situations — at the White House for President Obama, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Chicago Freedom March, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s landmark Vietnam War protest speech, and randomly once for President Jimmy Carter at an event in Detroit (where he then stated that he had never heard a more beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner than mine!).

I recently released “O Say, Can You See?” — an orchestral soul album that’s been lauded as a treatise on our current zeitgiest. Fun fact — this album was exec produced by my homie Preet Bharara (Former US Attorney for the Southern Dist of New York). The record’s available on vinyl (Amazon) + Spotify, Apple Music and other all those other major streaming platforms that exploit musicians like me.

Anyway, that’s just the sales-y resume stuff! At the end of the day, I’m just a dude who loves cats, knows how to speak in disparate languages and who — more than anything — believes it’s his life mission to write real music with real instruments played by real people and about real things

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1.) My love of history — ever since I can remember, I was obsessed with history. Like when.I was a kid, I knew all of the US presidents in order (including their places of birth!). I think that this curiosity with the past helped me to appreciate the aspects of it that were good. For example, by and large, all of the music that I really really dig was recorded before 1980. So we’re talking about music that was historically recorded live, with real instruments, played by real people. And with real human error too! Like whenever I talk with elder musicians from that era, they often tell me about the plethora of mistakes that were made on this record or that one. i.e. “Man, the bass player got lost in the middle of the tune” or “the background vocals were singing flat the whole time”. Now as the listener, this is stuff that we either don’t hear at all, or (if our ears are really good) we just don’t care about. Why? Because it had that feel. It had that mojo. Abd since I love history, I’ve been inspired by those great artists from the past and I seek to continue their tradition in my own way.

2.) My ear — it certainly helped that I went to a conservatory and studied classical music. Really helped me in my ability to interpret music. But moreover, I think that simply being exposed to ALL types of music in all different languages was super foundational for me. It helped me develop a large palate of sounds, styles and aesthetics when I started writing my own music. Plus, this massive exposure to eclectic music is the gift that keeps on giving in that it endears me to people all around the world who are otherwise very different from me. Which basically makes the music a point of connection with the world at large

Like when I was in once in this Turkish neighborhood in Berlin and I saw all these old Turkish men sitting outside a cafe smoking and playing some kind of checkers game. I couldn’t just keep walking — the scene was too fascinating. So I couldn’t help but peer over their shoulders. One of them noticed me and it got awkward for a second. But then, in my broken German I managed to tell them that I loved the music of this iconic Turkish singer named Orhan Gencebay. And I kid you not — ALL cultural barriers melted instantly. These dudes were like “woahhhh!!! how do you know about the great ORHAN BABA?!” They literally pulled up a chair, sat me down and whistled to the bartender inside to bring me a cup of tea on the house. The power of music!!

3.) Kind of goes hand in hand with item #2, but my love for languages — I would’ve never guessed that growing up in a bilingual household would equip me so well for my career in music. The fact that my grandparents didn’t speak any English force me to learn Urdu/Hindi. Which then strengthened my ear. Keep in mind that inging is like 90% imitation. It’s all about making (hopefully pleasant) sounds. So the more sounds you’re exposed to, the larger your sound inventory is. Which then strengthens your ear and allows you to sculpt your tone to sound more varied and musical. Which then creates this crazy loop wherein the music skills feed the language skills and vice versa — leading to an increased capacity for learning other languages. And then learning THOSE languages increase your musicality. It’s so awesome.

In my case, I am fluent in English (obv) Urdu/Hindi and Italian. And I can fake my way pretty good through Spanish and Punjabi. Which then means I can sing in all of the above. Which basically leads to more gigs!

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

“David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that book was basically a masterclass on how to hold up a mirror to the reader/audience and (artfully) force them to reckon with the ills and triumphs of society — without them even realizing it. In this case, (and in Dickens’ other books like “Oliver Twist”), we get a birds eye view of the horrors that plagued 1840s Victorian England. But like I said — you don’t realize it. As the reader, you’re just way too invested in David’s struggle and rooting for him that the ills of society fade into an omnipresent backdrop that threatens his existence and our own.

Of course, this is a literary masterpiece. But it’s also an analog. And the more I’ve grown as an artist, the more I see the world in analogs. Especially when it comes to other art forms. In other words, to me, “David Copperfield” is akin to John Coltrane’s “Love Supreme” as it is to De Sica’s film “The Bicycle Thief” and so on. These are all great works of art that pull us in and mesmerize us while teaching us something about ourselves and the world around us.

And I’ve always sought to write and sing music that does exactly the same.

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Photo Credit — Vince DeSantiago

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