Born in the East and educated in the West, it is hard to describe what Premjee is all about, in his own words, his aim in life is to serve “art music to the masses, thinly veiled and disguised as commercial music”. Abbas graduated with a Masters degree in Classical Guitar from SMU in 1993, and therefore the sounds of the guitar pervade most of his compositions. Premjee, who thinks of himself more as a composer than a performer, cannot identify himself with any one particular style of music. In his words "Eastern music (and ragas) offer a spirituality that just cannot be found in Western music." As a result, his style of music is very diverse and ranges from typical and traditional to the bizarre and ubiquitous. His Western training coupled with Eastern sensibilities and heritage result in a style and sound that is truly unique.

Bio

Abbas was born in Karachi, Pakistan and he lived there until he graduated from High School in 1985. Abbas started in music at the age of 10 by playing the guitar. Karachi was not the best environment for music during these years and Abbas remained largely self taught. Following this, he went to the US and spent the next eight years in various universities.. He completed his Bachelors degree in Music theory and composition from Loyola Marymount University in 1990 alongwith a degree in Mechanical Engineering and then in 1993, completed his Masters degree in Classical Guitar from Southern Methodist University in Dallas TX studying under Robert Guthrie. Soon after, Abbas returned to Pakistan and started diversifying his musical interests by investing in a home studio and learning the art of music production. Music production has since become a cornerstone of his musical interests. Abbas firmly believes that in this age a composer cannot separate himself from the craft of production. Musically, Abbas has explored many genres of music. Starting with rock in his initial years, he played lead guitar with a band called “Stonewheat” and frequented bars and other small live venues in LA and then moved on to playing jazz with the LMU Buddy Collette jazz ensemble. He eventually moved on to playing Classical Guitar and has performed in masterclasses by Manuel Barrueco and Pepe Romero. Recently, Abbas has developed an interest in the Classical music of his native land, a genre which he had largely ignored all his life. The music of the Indian subcontinent appealed to him largely because he found it much richer in emotional and spiritual depth. In order to fully understand and pursue this new direction in music, Abbas took up the Mohan Veena, an instrument which like himself is a hybrid of distant cultures. It was this interest which led to his first solo project called “Elements” which ventures into a world where many styles and genres are freely combined. The world of Western Classical and jazz guitar meets the world of Ragas and drones with elements of Sufi poetry and Pakistani folk mixed with a bit of a lounge flavor. Abbas feels that there is a great market for this music in the West and it just has to be presented in the right way. For Abbas, music is perhaps the best way for a true meeting of both mind and culture.