Uncommon Ground ^ Ali Eskandarian

Ali Eskandarian
Ali Eskandarian was born a few months before the climax of the Iranian revolution September 11th 1978 in Pensacola Florida where his father was being trained by the Americans, as was standard in those days, to become a fighter pilot. Upon the completion of the training Ali and his family returned to Tehran, Iran's capital and the family hometown. The revolution was complete, the Shah was out of the country, the economy had collapsed, and everywhere there was confusion and chaos. Ali's father was moved to Shiraz, one of the major cities of Iran and the site of the ancient capital of ancient Persia, Persepolis. By this time the forces of Saddam Hussein had invaded Iran and the country was at war. This meant that Ali's father would be called upon to fight which he did. Ali has vivid memories of bombings, sirens, blood, tears, death, and all other side effects of war. After the war was over and the Ayatollah Khomeini died (1989) the family moved to Aachen, Germany and were granted political asylum by the German government. After nearly 2 years in Germany the family were granted political asylum by the US govt and moved to Dallas TX where Ali went to High School and College. Ali found the changes rather hard to deal with. The climate of suburban life in Texas was not the best place to be for a young boy (12yrs) who wasn't White or Hispanic.

Ali attended the award winning Quad C theater program @ the Collin County Community College in Plano Texas where he studied acting for 2 yrs. After that he moved to Los Angeles for a year to pursue a career in acting. He then returned to Dallas and studied Video and film production at the Art Institute of Dallas. During this period Ali started to concentrate on the band he played with, The Warm Jets, in Dallas. He moved to NYC in July of 2003 so he could play with the big boys. "I knew that people's ears opened wider in NYC" Ali is influenced by many kinds of music from Iranian Pop, jazz and traditional music to Indian, Greek, Italian, and German(krautrock) to Glamrock, blues, jazz, psychedelic rock, YOU NAME IT.

Ali's ambient organic soundscapes, mixed with his edgy songwriting and singing set him apart in todays music scene.