Usman Riaz 1st Pakistani TED Senior Fellow

Born in Karachi, he was trained in piano at the early age of six. Currently Riaz is in his first semester at Berklee and is pursuing a dual major in composition and performance.

Usman Riaz turn out to be a creative endeavor and taught himself percussive guitar, a style that relies on a sharp striking of both the strings and guitar’s body as well as harmonica, mandolin, harmonium, and percussion through internet.

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t exposed to music. I am very privileged to come from a family full of extremely talented and creative people.

Inspired from his grandmother work ethic when it came to her classical music always fascinated him. She was the first one who first exposed me to the piano and was just 6 years old when he started loving with the instrument. And now his favorite genre of music is classical.

Around 18 the young talent started developing his own style on the guitar influenced by percussive guitarists like Michael Hedges and Kaki King. His musical insights and passion allowed him spell the music magic.

A Pakistan student at Berklee College of Music, Usman Riaz, has been named one of the 12 TED senior fellows who will present at the next four TED conferences, starting in 2014, Berklee said on Monday.

Riaz first time performed on the stage of TED Global 2012, after one of his video “Fire Fly” caught the attention of TED curator Chirs Anderson.

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