Andrew Mendelson - Sitar player

Counter to the ancient tenets of reincarnation, Andrew Mendelson attempts to live as many lives as possible simultaneously in the present. A devout student of Indian classical music, Andrew has been playing and studying the sitar for over 15 years. In 2005, Andrew won the grand championship gold medal at the Darshak Institute Music Competition in Jaipur, India--the largest music competition of it's kind in the state of Rajasthan. He is a disciple of renowned sitarist Pandit Krishna Mohan Bhatt. Andrew continues to performed at venues throughout New York City and University campuses across the U.S. He is also a studio musician and recently composed the opening credit music for Mike Myers' film The Love Guru.

The remainder of Andrew's time is spent in the realm of film and television production. He has been working in the entertainment industry in New York City for over 10 years. He recently completed his first documentary feature film entitled "A Cricket in the Court of Akbar," which chronicles his participation in the Darshak music competition. The film has been screened at festivals worldwide. Andrew also produced and edited the independent documentary feature "Nerdcore Rising," about the rise of Nerdcore Hip Hop (ie. nerds rapping about nerdy things), which premiered to sold out houses at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March, 2008, and continues to blow geek-inclined minds across the globe.