Raj Ramayya

Raj Ramayya
Raj Ramayya
Background information
Born	Saskatchewan, Canada
Occupation(s)	Singer, composer, lyricist, voice actor
Associated acts	Beautiful Losers, Yoko Kanno, Tatsuya Oe, Chris Mosdell, Ron Sexsmith, Akakage
Website	rajramayya.com

Raj Ramayya is an award winning Canadian session singer/songwriter/composer/producer who has collaborated with several distinguished artists ranging from Yoko Kanno (Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Wolfs rain) Tatsuya Oe (Fatboy Slim ,Hotei, Captain Funk) Chris Mosdell (Eric Clapton, YMO, Sarah Brightman) Duran Duran, Mos Def, Ron Sexsmith, and many others. Ramayya is best known for his contributions to the anime and game soundtracks for Bandai’s (Cowboy Bebop ,Wolfs Rain) Capcom's (Resident Evil 2) Konami (Beatmania and Rythmania) MTV Japan's ( The World of Golden Eggs) Victor Entertainment's Gungrave, Shenmue, Sega's Racer and many more. Ramayya is credited with over 250 TV commercials, 2 #1 iTunes songs and several Billboard top 100 hits with co-writing, writing and singing contributions and sales in excess of 1,000,000 worldwide.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Raised in Canada Ramayya moved to Tokyo, Japan at an early age and was influenced heavily by Japanese music and culture whilst heavily involved with the Tokyo underground electronica and rock scene of the 90’s. Primarily working as a session singer, guitarist and songwriter Ramayya made a mark in Japan as one of a select few successful non-Japanese professional musicians. Gaining notoriety for his singing voice and hook laden songwriting Ramayya was invited by numerous musicians in the underground electronica, anime and J-Pop scenes to guest sing and co-write on a multitude of albums on major and indie labels eager for a new sound. His collaborations include Japanese Deep House Music act Studio Apartment and other pop/ electronica artists such as Captain Funk, Akakage, Masanori Ikeda and Tsuneo Imahori

As the one of the most sought after session singers and vocal coaches in Japan for his work with numerous J-POP and Visual Kei artists Ramayya’s Beatlesque vocals are featured on over 250 TV commercial's as the instantly recognizable voice behind several well known products ranging from Nico Nico Douga, Asahi Beer, KFC, Circle K, Volvic, Toyota and Coca-Cola and on theme songs for classics such as Konami's game series Beatmania IIDX, Sega's Racer, Capcom's Biohazard, MTV Japan's animation MTV series The World Of Golden Eggs, and Victor entertainments Gungrave, as well as the cult anime series Cowboy Bebop and Wolfs Rain. Melding a love of voice work with music Ramayya was invited to host several NHK animated shows as both a singer/songwriter and lyricist for popular productions such as Little Charo and Eigoryan.

Ramayya's folk rock band formed in Tokyo called The Beautiful Losers gained notoriety on the Japanese music scene working on theme songs for mainstream Japanese TV and earning opening slots for acts such as The Indigo Girls, Matt Nathanson and Coldplay leading to song placements in multiple major Hollywood movies and TV shows ranging from The Walking Dead, Glee, Gravity, Quantico to Pretty Little Liars and Alice in Wonderland. Recently delving into the world of film scoring using a hybrid style of Indian fusion electronica scores influenced by Beats Antique, Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh and other Asian Underground artists. Ramayya has won multiple motion picture awards^{[citation needed]} for his soundtrack work on documentaries with Indian themes and is currently scoring and writing theme songs and scores for feature films, video games and animation for international productions both in Asia and North America at his studio Strawberry Hill Music.

Filmography[edit]

Television[edit]

The Millennium Hits on TV: "Time To Go" (NTT Docomo Winter Campaign) (2000)
Strange Dawn (2002) – Jorg
TV Series Soundtrack: 48hrs Japan (2003)
Anime Movie Soundtrack: Wolfs Rain (2003)
Documentary Soundtrack: Cosmic Current- CBC (2004)
Movie Soundtrack Cowboy Bebop "Tank The Best" (2004)
MTV Japan- The World of Golden Eggs theme song (2005)
TV series- Eigoryan!- NHK Japan (2006)
Documentary Soundtrack-Mad Cow, Sacred Cow-CBC (2008)
MTV- The World of Golden Eggs theme song (2008)
Soundtrack- "Landings" SCN/CBC (2009)
Captain Funk album: Sunshine-Model Electronic (2009)
Little Charo 2 (2010) – Duma
Yoichiro Itoh AKA Akakage – I'm Your Clown- Universal Japan (2010)
Kevin Penkin ft. – Underground River – Made in Abyss Soundtrack (2017)
TV series: Cowboy Culture (2017–2018)

Film[edit]

Cowboy Bebop 2001
Wolfs Rain 2002
Chin Chiro Mai, Sony Entertainment (2000)
Tonari No Hito (2003)
Cosmic Current (2004)
Mad Cow, Sacred Cow (2009)
The Revolutionary Optimists (2013)
Who Killed Gandhi? (2013)
Path of Pilgrims (2014)
Cooking for Two (2015)
Chokeslam (2017)
Echoes of Afghanistan (2017)
Heartbeats (2017)

Video games[edit]

Guitar Freaks 6th Mix-Konami Entertainment/PlayStation (2001) – Game Soundtrack
Drummania 5th Mix-Konami Entertainment/PlayStation (2001) – Game Soundtrack
Shenmue II (2002) – Additional Voices
Steel Battalion (2002) – Additional Voices
Gungrave (2003) – Game Soundtrack
Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2003) – Bruce McGivern
Bloody Roar 4 (2003) – Bakuryū The Mole
Good Cool-Ultra Expander, Konami (2005) – Game Soundtrack
'Racer", Sega (2006) – Game Soundtrack
The Initial (2017) – Game Soundtrack
The Initial (2018) – Game Soundtrack

Discography[edit]

CAPTAIN FUNK - Songs of the Siren (2000)
Jazz Com Bossa – Omnibus (2000)
Movie Soundtrack-Chin Chiro Mai (2000)
CAPTAIN FUNK – LOSIN' MY WAY (2001)
Movie Soundtrack-Cowboy Bebop- "Knocking On Heavens Door" (2001)
Movie Soundtrack- Tonari No Hito-Director Alec Macauley (2002)
Bobby Sue And Skinny Jim – Guitarfreaks & Drummania Best Tracks (2003)
Reggae Classics Album-Avex Trax (2003)
Group Sounds Compilation Album-Avex Trax (2003)
The Beautiful Losers album- Eponymous (2003)
The Beautiful Losers – "Peace, Love and X-mas" (2005)
Sony Music website theme-Sony Music (2006)
Move Me – V-Rare Soundtrack 14 – Beatmania IIDX 11 -IIDX Red (2006)
Bhang Lassi album-"Real Refresher"- Dynastic Records (2006)
Make Me Your Own – BeatmaniaIIDX14 Gold Original Soundtrack (2007)
City Lights album- Flower Records (2007)
Captain Funk-Heavy Metal- Model Electronic (2007)
Captain Funk -Heavy Mellow- Model Electronic (2007)
Akakage Album-"Come Down To My Place" (2008)
Disney Mobile contents- "Alice In Wonderland","Chim Chiminee","The Circle Of Life" (2008)
Make Me Your Own – Beatmania IIDX -Super Best Box- Vol.2 (2009)
Make Me Your Own – DJ Hico – Meets Beatmania IIDX – Nonstop Mix By DJ Hico (2010)
STUDIO APARTMENT (2010)
The Beautiful Losers Album- Four Corners Of A Tiny Planet"- Strawberry Hill Music (2010)

References[edit]

↑ "The Crew". Mad Cow Sacred Cow. Retrieved February 3, 2010.

External links[edit]

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Raj Ramayya on IMDb

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[1] "The Crew". Mad Cow Sacred Cow. Retrieved February 3, 2010.

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