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, 22, a multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker, will be the youngest TED fellow ever selected.
Born in Karachi, he was trained in piano at the early age of six. Later, Riaz 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 the Internet due to the scarcity of music teachers in Pakistan.
Riaz first time performed on the stage of TEDGlobal 2012, after one of his video “Fire Fly” caught the attention of TED curator Chirs Anderson.
His talent is not only confined to music, he also writes and directs short films to compliment his compositions. He had also painted the cover of his music album “Circus in the Sky“.
Currently Riaz is in his first semester at Berklee and is pursuing a dual major in composition and performance.