User:Cazort/Amelia Maciszewski

Amelia (Amie) Maciszewski (born 1954) is an American sitarist.

Biography
Amelia Maciszewski was born to Polish-American immigrants Teresa and Arthur Maciszewski, and grew up in New Mexico. Like many western sitar players, she first became interested in the instrument after hearing it used in songs by The Beatles. Maciszewski first travelled to India in the 1970s, where she studied Hindustani music with Suresh Misra, Aashish Khan, and Girija Devi.

In 1998, she received a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Texas. She produced a documentary film in 2000, Our Stories, Our Songs: North Indian Women’s Musical Autobiographies. She also produced Guria, Gossip, and Globalization (2004), another documentary film, this time with the subject of Indian courtesan musicians. Much of her scholarship revolves around feminism, gender issues, and the position of women in post-colonial India.

Besides the sitar, she also plays the esraj and the tanpura, and is an accomplished vocalist. She currently resides in Austin, Texas.