Nikolai Ruskin is a multi instrumentalist known for his skill
on a variety of instruments from around the Middle East. His
influences range from Egyptian folk music to sweeping cinematic
scores to Japanese Taiko drums, Gypsy violins and grinding
heavy metal riffs. He carries a passion for visual art and
storytelling into his musical aesthetic, crafting his own
unique and moving style. Outside of the studio he has performed
traditional Middle Eastern music, world fusion, punk rock,
metal, Indian and Celtic music. On the stage Nikolai specializes
in Middle Eastern percussion instruments as well as the Oud
(the Arabic lute), Nay (an end blown flute), Zurna (double
reed shawm) and Rababa (an Egyptian horse hair spike fiddle).
In the studio he can be heard playing kanun (a Turkish zither),
violin, guitar, bass, drum kit and cello. Nikolai composes
in a variety of styles including Middle Eastern, world fusion,
orchestral, funk, rock, electronic and heavy metal.
Nikolai grew up as an artist in San Francisco and Sonoma
County, California. He spent his early adulthood as an illustrator
before discovering his talent for music in 1996 at age 21
with the punk band “Cat Puke”. He relocated to
Ithaca, New York that same year, taking up Flamenco guitar
and the darbuka, an Arabic hand drum. Upon falling in love
with this deceptively simple instrument, Nikolai shifted his
focus to an intensive study of traditional instruments from
Arab, Turkish, and Persian music. Within a year of taking
up music Nikolai was teaching private lessons, group workshops
and lecture demonstrations. He formed the gypsy music inspired
band “Gadje” with guitarist Art Bakert in 1998,
and in 2002 he co-founded the Cornell Middle Eastern Music
Ensemble in Ithaca, NY, of which he was the Musical Director
until 2006. In 2005 he relocated to Nyack, NY where began
composing his own original music as well as music for film
and video games.
His past performances include appearances at festivals, theatre,
concert halls and wedding banquets with musicians from a variety
of traditions, including Naser Musa, Amir El Saffar, Yair
Dalal, Latif Bolat, Hank Roberts, the Sharq Ensemble, Turbo
Tabla, and Zikrayat. In 2007 Nikolai performed music by composer
Jamal Mohammed for Mary Zimmerman’s play “Arabian
Nights”, staged at the University of Connecticut. Nikolai’s
recording credits include a recent collaboration with one
of the top video game composers Jesper Kyd, "Zikrayat:
Live at Lotus" by Zikrayat, “The Belly and the
Beat” by Turbo Tabla, “the River is High"
by Gadje, "The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of a People"
by the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble. He has had the
opportunity to learn from some of the top performers of traditional
world music such as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Guru Gangadar Pradham
and Professor Ali Jihad Racy.
