I am a diplomat and musician, currently on leave to study international policy at Stanford. Before Palo Alto, I lived and worked in Astana, Kazakhstan; Washington, DC; Karachi, Pakistan; and Moscow, Russia. Outside of my work, my chief love is music. I found local groups to play with in Pakistan and Russia and really enjoy playing with new people and learning new instruments.

Between college and joining the Foreign Service, I spent a year traveling the world studying traditional vocal music in various countries. I like learning people's stories and sharing mine.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have surfed through Russia, China, India, South Africa, and France, all great experiences.

Interests

Music: I play bluegrass fiddle, a little self-taught guitar and piano, and a few other traditional stringed instruments I've picked up during my travels. I also sing.

I'm a big news and politics junkie and will gladly talk about just about any topic under the sun.

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm going to use this to list music I like from places I travel to. In Tuva, check out: Huun-Huur-Tu, Chirgilchin, Alash, Tyva Kyzy, and Xogzhumchu.

For South Indian Carnatic classical music, the hot performers include Sanjay Subramanian, TM Krishna, Bombay Jayashree, Nithyashree Mahadevan, Aruna Sairam (and the list continues-- there really are lots). For a slightly more accessible flavor of Carnatic, see if you can get your hands on anything by the HeartBeat Ensemble, led by Ghatam Karthik.

In South Africa, commercially available traditional music is sorely limited. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is the most findable example of isicathamiya a cappella singing, but try to find others-- Uhlelo Olusha has a couple of CDs if you can find them. For maskandi (guitar + Zulu harmony singing) the late Mfaz' Omnyama is tops.

For beatbox, you're mostly going to be looking on youtube. Check out Beardyman (UK), Roxorloops (Belgium), L.O.S. or Ezra (France)... or just search for the BeatboxbattleTV channel.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Standing in the middle of a sold out (1100+ person) house at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. performing with the David Wax Museum.

Camping out in the Tuvan taiga for a week, 50km from the nearest signs of civilization.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can demonstrate & attempt to teach some basic throatsinging and beatboxing, as well as various other musical skills. I can talk at length about various sorts of music, from bluegrass to Tuvan, South Indian classical, or Zulu traditional.

I would love to meet anyone who can teach me about interesting musical styles or interesting languages, or interesting things in general. I also welcome ideas for helping people in Kazakhstan learn more about the United States.

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Pakistan, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Pakistan, Russian Federation, United States

• 

•