ALBUM in STUDIO Progress.

© 2021 Raishma

Raishma J. Mohan-Ram is a multifaceted performing artist, distinguished by her exceptional vocal talent and versatility as a singer, dancer, and actress. Born and raised in New York, with a brief sojourn in Switzerland, Raishma's artistic journey has been shaped by her diverse cultural experiences. As a singer, Raishma possesses a remarkable gift for languages, able to sing in seven different tongues with ease and expression. Her musical expertise spans a broad spectrum of Western genres, including soul, gospel, ballads, theater musicals, and opera. This impressive range is a testament to her rigorous training and innate talent.

In addition to her vocal prowess, Raishma is an accomplished dancer, having undergone extensive training in various styles such as hip-hop, ballet, gymnastics, tango, flamenco, and classical Indian dancing. Her mastery of these diverse forms enables her to bring a unique fusion of styles to her performances. Raishma's artistic lineage is rooted in a family legacy of scholars who have nurtured her talent from an early age. This rich cultural heritage has instilled in her a deep appreciation for the importance of artistic expression and a commitment to honing her craft.

Through her performances, Raishma J. Mohan-Ram embodies the perfect blend of technical skill, creative passion, and cultural diversity. As she continues to evolve as an artist, she remains dedicated to sharing her gifts with audiences worldwide.

"Raishma is drawn towards the creative aspect of life which is an inherent visual perspective of life she views and experiences.  Having this appreciation for all elements of life has provided Raishma with a deep value system of creativity."

Age Three

At the expressive age of three, she was dubbed “renaissance woman” by her school teachers. Raishma held her first performance singing “I’ll Fly Away,” in a Mennonite Christian church.  The congregation were in tears when they expressed to her parents of how deeply moved they were by her voice.  They were in shock at the "powerful voice that resonated from a little girl.”  Word spread across New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.  Raishma had a long future developing her vocal talent while touring in churches, Catholic cathedrals and Hindu temples. That was the moment when her mother knew she must nurture Raishma's gifts.  Raishma's mother reached out to the founder of the Gold Coast Arts Center (Great Neck, NY), Regina Gil.  The first class of the K-12 school was held where children painted in watercolor on the pillows that they learned to sew. Raishma was accepted into the Fine Arts Program and her thrilling journey began. Demonstrating a prodigious aptitude for learning, Raishma's academic trajectory was marked by exceptional progress, as she flourished in Montessori school and attained a remarkable 3rd-grade level of proficiency by the tender age of 4, concurrently honing her artistic talents through enrollment in the specialized Arts program.

"It quickly became apparent that she was an unusually talented child and she took advantage of multi-arts programs by studying art, music, dance, drama and other courses related to these art forms. She has performed from a very early age at Festivals of the Arts before large audiences, and did so with great stage presence and poise. Raishma is known to be creative, hardworking and eager to fulfill her dream of succeeding in the music world." -Regina Gil, Gold Coast Arts Center Director

Inspirations/Roots

Raishma's maternal grandfather, Gobin/Govind Ram, is her strongest link to music. He is renowned as an international legend, a scholar of Sanskrit and of Bengali Brahmin origin, who served as the Minister of Culture in Guyana. Notably, he was one of the first men of color, possibly the first, to have his own show on BBC International Radio, "Radio Demerara: Indian Hour," during the time of British colonization in British Guyana. He hosted jam sessions with Indian singers who were both visitors and friends, including Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey, and Hemant Kumar, who would travel to South America and the Caribbean from Eastern continents to seek him out. Musicians from surrounding nations would often reference him when blending Bollywood and reggae sounds. Gobin Ram trained Raishma's mother, Theresa, in traditional East Indian music, passing on the traditions of Bengali music alongside Caribbean music to future generations. Raishma's mother, possessing the art of classical Indian dance, is known to have "danced into the heart" of Queen Elizabeth and her audience in 1966 during Guyanese Independence from Britain, serving as a national symbol of independence.

Raishma's grandparents, Gobin Ram and Violet Singh (of Rajput origin), met at BBC Radio in British Guyana, where they sang a duet on "The Indian Hour" and communicated in Sanskrit. They blended Indian sounds with South American and Caribbean roots, including reggae, samba, and soca. Gobin Ram stayed near the Amazon rainforest until his death, while Violet moved to New York City's Hell's Kitchen in 1969, becoming a self-made millionaire trading precious stones. Her daughter Theresa was influenced by the 1970s Studio 54 soundscapes, which in turn inspired Raishma's music.

Musicians who inspire Raishma include: Aaliyah, Billie Holiday, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Dr. Dre, Hans Zimmer, Jeff Buckley, Kendrick Lamar, Mariah Carey, Muslimgauze, Sade, Sanjay Lee Bhansali, Rihanna, Selena, Whitney Houston.

Raishma’s father, an architect, engineer, formerly a financier, shares legacy through Arya Samaj & Brahmo Samaj - societies established by her family that are known historically for fighting solidarity between all religions over past four centuries, possibly thousands of years. Her grandparents created mantras chanted internationally today. Raishma’s maternal & paternal ancestors share a strong global presence in the vast expansion and development of the Ancient and New World.

Accomplishments & Hard Decisions

Raishma, is an alumna of the Gold Coast Arts Center School of the Arts. She extended her knowledge of the arts in college courses at the age of 15 through the competitive "College Now" program, excelling in Media Studies, Music Production, and Television Production at Queenborough Community College and Borough of Manhattan Community College. She graduated with perfect scores and "Top Student Project" Awards. As a junior lifeguard and athlete, Raishma dedicated herself to rigorous training, waking up at 5:00 AM every Sunday to train in the Atlantic Ocean, while also serving in a national peer-to-peer Leadership Athletic Program throughout high school and participating in the Jones Beach Junior Lifeguard program for several years as she prepared for U.S. Olympic Team tryouts.

Despite being rejected from college music programs in due to her non-traditional training, Raishma persevered after taking an opera course at the City University of New York. Following her grandmother's passing, who had encouraged her to never give up on education, Raishma switched her major from Music, prompting her to forge a new career path.

With the guidance of many supporters, she decided to take a break from college to travel the world and to “learn more in a trip than she could ever learn in a college class.”  Many anticipated to see how she would develop as an artist.  Her open-mindedness about the world lead her to unfounded corners of the Earth: the Amazon Basin, the Palazzos of Venezia, and the Northern Lights of the North Pole—all to pursue her passions.  She made an endeavor to Venice, Italy after writing, composing and performing her first acclaimed song,  "Sentio Lux Lucis" (Latin-Italian hybrid for 'I can feel the light').  It is an opera piece that is dedicated to the Venetian Carnival.  She performed "Sentio Lux Lucis" at numerous Masquerade Balls for years.  In 2018, she started her career as a recording artist and built a professional music production studio, bringing together a strong team of masterful composers, Grammy award-winning producers, and numerous sponsors.  She continues to collaborate with other artists of many genres.  She has employed musicians for her first album: from thereminists to organists of ancient cathedral organs, and underground synth-makers of Brooklyn, where she taught herself to compose the music for Raishma and her artists to play on her album “Atlantic City.”

Academic Career

Not only is Raishma an academic beast in the fine arts, she is one in the sciences as well.  Back on the academic winning streak, Raishma followed her family's legacy of humanism.  While continuing her B.A. in International Relations at the City University (4.0 GPA), she skyrocketed in the Hunter College Model United Nations program, winning the “Amelia Ottinger Award for Excellence in the Art of Debate” scholarship and the “Distinguished Delegate Award,” issued by the U.N. Secretary General. She currently volunteers her free time in research initiatives in preservation of Earth's rain forests through scientific innovation.  Photographs shown on this site were taken by Raishma on an anthropological research project in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador.

Following a research trip in Ecuador, Raishma was in a car accident that left her immobile for months during a historically frigid New York winter. Raishma developed vertigo due to the car accident’s impact on the fluid in her ears through a broken jaw, temporarily impairing her mobility and directly affected her singing. In her successful recovery from her car accident, Raishma's doctors prescribed her with a dose of physical and mental challenges in order to become active without pain.  Their challenge was for her to do something that seemed to be impossible in her free time—to take advantage of physical vulnerabilities by strengthening her mind more than ever before. She used this entirely sedentary time to hone in her deep interest in the sciences, mathematics, to ultimately achieve stellar knowledge of astrophysics through online courses at ASU, Boulder, and the University of Toyko. She is now studying in pursuit of a Masters of Science in Astrophysics.

Opening this part of her mind made her suddenly learn how to compose music—something that used to be near-impossible for her. Her team were willing to pay thousands of dollars to create the music for her album—but the music was no longer absent. Raishma could create the entire production from the top to bottom to accompany her voice. Her neurologists discovered that her injury triggered the ability to compose music.

Raishma continues to explore all of her passions relentlessly.

The Music

Raishma has kept her drive in music.  Her first album will be released in 2025.