The Merrymaker's Orchestrina

The Merry Maker’s Orchestrina is a New York-based trio featuring the musings of guitarist-vocalist, Ryan Shivdasani. With a vast array of stylistic offerings, fans haven’t quite decided if the band reminds them of artists like Beck, Radiohead or Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they do know that they love what they hear. The slight disarray of genre-placement makes sense to Shivdasani who feels that his music fuses together his training in classical guitar and jazz, all while being a tremendous fan of rock & roll of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, funk and blues. Growing up, Jimi Hendrix became a heavy influence of Shivdasani, while also appreciating the writing style of icons like Bob Dylan and the innovative vocal stylings of legends like Chet Baker.

After years spent perfecting his craft playing nearly 10 hours each day, Shivdasani set his sights on becoming a film composer and songwriter, initially not intent upon singing his own lyrics. His first slew of good songs arrived after a break-up in 2007. “They were crap before then,” confesses Shivdasani, but his tenacity was apparent, and studying his predecessors’ methods and oftentimes “carefree” approach to verbalizing their thoughts kept him encouraged. He soon developed the ability to lyricize almost any experience in his life from social views to romantic encounters, thus helping lay the foundation of what would become the wide variety of moods performed by The Merry Maker’s Orchestrina.

Living in a rehearsal space in Hollywood is where Shivdasani felt most at home, but from the decision to making it a reality, a 3,000 mile move to a rehearsal space in Brooklyn occurred in just 1 week. After relocating, he had gained enough confidence in his vocal ability to start a band of his own, adding bassist, Jack Redford and drummer, Danny Wolf, together putting the final touches on their debut album, “ACT 3”, release pending.