Roberto Riggio
I compose, play the violin (and oud) and make short films. My main focus is expressing my vision and interpretation of life through music or any other medium or combination of media that might be useful.
My greatest influences as a musician have been, first, my family, then, the great masters of music from all over the world. I feel lucky as a violinist to have toured with some great artists such as Fairouz, Kazem Al Saher, Youssou N'Dour, Fathy Salama, Eyvind Kang, and Atash. I have had the good fortune of also studying Eastern traditions and/or working with distinguished masters, including Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Aashish Khan, and Simon Shaheen.
I compose for and play regularly with a couple groups of my own, called Atash and Ashk, and work with a variety of other musicians and other projects in the various places around the globe I call "home." Those places include Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, New York, Spain and Italy. My home base is Austin, Texas, and my near-future plans include visiting the Middle East for the first time and spending more time in México, the country of my birth.
The impulse for my itinerant lifestyle is not only a search for different aesthetics to add to the palette of expression, but also a drive to see and connect with humanity in different settings. We live in troubled times, and I feel that artists must address these times, learn from others and work together to be catalysts for positive interaction, for positive change, for encouraging others to see the world in a different light. I believe that is one of our functions in society.