Tapasya Loading
Tapasya Loading is hosted by Indian-German Musician / Educator and founder of the Holistic Musician Academy, T.L.Mazumdar.
This podcast is a safe space to attempt honest, raw, and authentic conversation in homage to the act of stoking a sacred fire. Through open conversations and exchanges with fellow artists and thought-leaders, it pays proverbial homage to the ancient ritual of burning fear away with love and joy.
(Disclaimer: the views and opinions of the guests are not necessarily reflective of the show).
New to Tapasya Loading?
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Feb. 7, 2022
Studying Traditions authentically and Navigating Multiple Musical Modalities in a Contemporary Context with Pete Lockett
Pete Lockett speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
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Jan. 3, 2023
Blurring Lines Between Performing and Teaching, Common Causes of Piano Injury, Unpacking Jazz Piano Pedagogy in 2023 and Mistakes to Avoid in Audience Building w/ Noah Kellman
Noah Kellman talks to T.L. Mazumdar
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Nov. 18, 2021
Common Threads between Miles Davis, Carlos Santana, Sheila E, The Crusaders and Enjoying Fresh Strawberries with Benny Rietveld
Bassist with Miles Davis and Carlos Santana speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
Feb. 15, 2021
Multiple Lifetimes In One With Kai Eckhardt (Pt 1)
T.L. Mazumdar talks to legendary Liberian-German Jazz-Fusion Bassist Kai-Eckhardt.
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March 21, 2023
Demystifying PR for the Post-Pandemic, Hyphenated, Independent Artist w/ Ariel Hyatt
NYC-based Founder of Cyber PR and Bestselling Author Ariel Hyatt Speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
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June 13, 2023
Creating Great Art and Taking Care of Your Fans w/ Emily White
Amazon #1 best-selling author and podcaster Emily White speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
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Jan. 10, 2022
'Effortless Mastery' to 'Becoming the Instrument' with Kenny Werner
Iconic Pianist/Composer and Author of 'Effortless Mastery' Kenny Werner speaks to T.L. Mazumdar.
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Aug. 8, 2023
’Good’, Bad’ and ’Perfect’ Music w/ Jake Sherman
Brooklyn-based Pianist/Singer-Songwriter/Producer/Multi-instrumentalist Jake Sherman speaks to T.L. Mazumdar.
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Aug. 22, 2023
Revisiting the Birth of ’World Music’ and Unpacking its Relevance in 2023 w/ Sheila Chandra
Iconic British-Asian Singer/Author/Coach Sheila Chandra speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
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March 7, 2024
Theoretical Physics and the Internal Integrity of Music w/ John Matthias
Dr. John Matthias Speaks to T.L. Mazumdar
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Aug. 26, 2025
Redefining Rockstar w/ Graham Cochrane
(Rec. 5th March 2025) Some revolutions begin in the mind of someone who never set out to be the loudest in the room. Graham Cochrane’s story is a reminder that the word “rockstar” doesn’t always mean what we were taught it does. When his bandmates in school abandoned the dream for law firms and investment banking, he chose the harder road, ignoring his counselor's insistence on focusing on that 'real job' in college applications. The result? A near-miss record deal in Nashville, the weight of a
132
Oct. 7, 2025
Otherness, Art, and the The Myth of the ‘Professional Musician’ w/ Soumik Datta
Composer, sarodist, and cultural shapeshifter Soumik Datta joins T.L. Mazumdar for a conversation that goes far beyond the usual talk of craft and career. Born in Mumbai and raised in London, Soumik grew up between cultures, mentored by Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta in Kolkata and later trained in composition at Trinity Laban. Today, he stands as one of the rare contemporary artists bridging heritage and innovation with equal devotion. His work spans collaborations with Beyoncé , Anoushka Shankar ,
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Nov. 4, 2025
Surrender, Mortality and why Sound Remains w/ Rez Abbasi
In his third appearance on Tapasya Loading, guitarist, composer, and educator Rez Abbasi joins T.L. Mazumdar for a conversation that begins with music but doesn’t end there. Born in Karachi and raised in California, NYC-based guitarist Rez has long been a bridge between worlds: jazz, South Asian and urban traditions, intellect and instinct, virtuosic precision and play. Award-winning touring and recording artist and teacher at the New School in New York, he is known for a sound that is as fearle
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Dec. 16, 2025
From Busyness to Sustainability w/ Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
Sæunn happens to be one of the most respected cellists in the world, performing with orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and Iceland Symphony, and in venues like Carnegie Hall, Barbican, and Suntory Hall, to name just a few accolades. She’s basically one of the best out there, for those who find language like that easier to understand. But what makes Sæunn stand out beyond her accolades are the challenges she throws at accepted narratives both in the classical music world
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Jan. 29, 2026
Freedom, Love and Identity w/ Peter Crone
For over twenty years, Peter Crone (‘’The Mind Architect’’, ‘’Human Ayahuasca’’), has worked with some of the world’s most elite athletes, CEOs, artists, and Hollywood icons, helping them dissolve the mental constructs that create limitation and suffering. His approach doesn't attempt to offer behavioural fixes or quick-fix strategies, but goes where generic self-help tends to tiptoe around: dismantling the core beliefs underneath accepted constraints in the first place. Recorded with a live onl
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March 12, 2026
Safety, Trust and the Piano w/ Pallavi Mahidhara
(Rec. 23rd Oct 2025) Photo: © Peter Pavlov When a serendipitous turn of events resulted in Mahidhara's international debut being on one of the most visible stages of the world, the cascade of events that followed leading to an illustrious career that breaks multiple stereotypes in the arts industry by default, was not on a premeditated agenda, but a natural bi-product of a passionate and tenacious work ethic amply apparent even in her earlier formative years. We dig deeper to trace the trajector
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June 25, 2026
From Rock Machine to Human Be w/ Uday Benegal
Uday Benegal is the founding vocalist of Indus Creed (formerly Rock Machine), the Bombay band that that arguably forced the rest of the world to acknowledge the existence of a culture that had always existed inside post-colonial India amidst the crossfire of an East and West not always as hypothetical as portrayed. Rock Music. Indus Creed navigated a global music industry with no label, no budget, and no precedent, and still managed to land an MTV Video Music Award at a time when public internet
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June 19, 2026
"Limiting Beliefs" — A Limiting Belief?
Most creatives know that beliefs are holding them back. Some can articulate them, analyse them, even replace them with supposedly empowering alternatives. Yet the behaviour often remains unchanged, and the resistance stubbornly intact. What comes up: Why "limiting belief" might be the inaccurate terminology What self-sabotage is actually trying to do The question I used to ask, and the one I ask now Why knowing the pattern doesn't always break it The beliefs you never chose Read the article. Fre
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June 12, 2026
Familiarity is not safety
The brain mistakes repetition for safety, comfort for understanding, and endurance for choice. This confusion runs deeper than personal relationships; it shapes entire careers, industries, and the inherited scripts we mistake for our own lives. What comes up: Why the decisions that change your life rarely feel safe at the time Why the brain is a prediction machine, not a happiness machine Liking things simply because we've seen them before The known wound vs. the unknown opening The music indust
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June 4, 2026
Saying 'No'
Saying no sounds simple. It isn't, and not for the reasons most people think. In this episode I unpack why the word itself was never really the problem, what's actually happening when we can't hold a line, and why the emotional aftermath of a boundary is harder than the boundary itself. Drawn from real situations — a collaboration that needed a hard conversation, a coaching relationship that got uncomfortably accurate, and years of running a business through someone else's framework, this one ge
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May 28, 2026
The Lost History of Indian Jazz w/ Sandhya Sanjana
There is an entire chapter of Indian music history that has shaped global music in unknown ways remains preserved only in the human memory of a select few. Sandhya Sanjana is one of those humans. Long before "world music" became a marketing category, she was part of a generation of home-grown South-Asian artists blurring the edges of jazz, global and Indian classical music by a trial and error met with genuine curiosity, rather than novelty. Co-founder one of India's earliest internationally tou
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May 22, 2026
Gift Economy vs Transactional Economy
In this episode, I unpack two economic philosophies that sound academic but are anything but. The gift economy and the transactional economy. What they actually mean, where they came from, why the gift economy keeps surfacing as an alternative to the chaos of how power and wealth get distributed and why, in the creative industries specifically, the romance of giving freely has been one of the most expensive ideas we never agreed to. Read the article. Free Artist Training Coaching + courses
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About the Host
T.L. Mazumdar
Musician/Educator
T.L. Mazumdar’s 20-yr-plus artistic journey is reflective of an eclectic career that has aptly been described by Rolling Stone India of someone who ‘...personifies multiculturalism’.
He loves coffee, is passionate about arts as medicine, and is a quintessential Third Culture Kid who has gotten a lot better at dealing with his anxiety when asked 'where he is from'.
www.everynowheremusic.com
www.holisticmusicianacademy.com
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