This week we welcome Randy Naraine, a musician who emigrated from Guyana to NYC in 1999. He has collaborated with visual artists through Sing for Hope, a nonprofit that places painted pianos in public spaces around NYC, and has played over 500 pianos with this organization since 2011, making music inspired by the artwork on the instruments.
Randy attended public schools in New York and landed his first job as a piano salesman at a store in Ozone Park. Simultaneously, he studied IT at CUNY and sold enough pianos every semester to pay his tuition and graduate without debt. After working at various tech jobs, he now runs cybersecurity engineering for Jetblue Airways.
“Music and the arts have always provided a balance in my life to offset my career. Working in cybersecurity can be very stressful, so getting in front of the piano after a 10-hour day in front of a computer is very relaxing, especially when playing outdoors or with other people. I love improvising music based on specific surroundings and what I hear around me,” he writes.
“The music I play spans a broad range of genres. I love classical, pop, contemporary, rock, R&B, and film scores. I also love to create and improvise music spontaneously based on visual art, nature, or other forms of art around me.”
See and hear Naraine’s work on his YouTube channel.
See more of our Artist of the Week profiles here.
