Pakistani boy strums the right notes
Usman Riaz with Preston Reed
Usman Riaz’s fingers fly over the strings of a guitar at the speed of light. The slight teenager might be easy enough to overlook as just a student, but this Pakistani musician is a true whizkid, having composed an entire symphony by the age of 19. Usman plays the guitar, mandolin, harmonica and is a master of the body percussion method — all of which he learnt by watching YouTube videos.
In Mumbai recently, Usman played a few pieces of music as well as showcased a few video clips with his work and previous performances at a motivational forum. “My family has always been inclined towards the arts and my parents recognised that I had a certain musical aptitude early on,” said Usman, cradling his guitar. “They enrolled me for piano lessons. But the music that I learnt was all classical, whereas I wanted to experiment. In Pakistan, it was difficult to find teachers who were teaching anything other than classical music.”
So began Usman’s quest to learn the kind of music he wanted to play. Only there was no teacher in front of whom Usman would sit and imbibe musical instruction — there was just his computer, and the instrument of his choice. “I must have watched hundreds of videos online,” recounted Usman.
His musical talent was noticed, and Usman won a TED Fellowship last year. At the TEDGlobal event, held in Edinburgh, he performed for an appreciative audience — topping it off by playing alongside guitar legend Preston Reed.
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