RICK HEIZMAN

Musicologist Rick Heizman with some of his favorite musical instruments: In the
center is a Burmese saung gauk, behind it is a Middle Eastern oud from Syria, on
the right is a Chinese zheng.
Image 2003 Rick Heizman

If it has strings and makes music, it's an irresistible magnet for world
instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist Rick Heizman. And if it comes from Burma,
then doubly so.
For Rick Heizman, involvement with international music has been a lifelong
passion, but his love affair with Burma began quite serendipitously at age 24, while
passing through on his way to a hiking trek in Nepal.
"Seven days, that's all that was possible in the '80's," says Rick. "But I went to
Burma six times like that in the early and mid-80's. On my first trip, I visited
Rangoon, Mandalay and Pagan. It was quite a time warp, very traditional, very
Buddhist, deep culture, wild music, fascinating and friendly people."
Rick did eventually make it to Nepal on that same trip, and when asked how his
adventure compared with what he experienced in Burma, he replied, "Also
fantastic...I went back to Nepal many times as well... I am a travel nut. I've been to
Burma 14 times since 1981. Also, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Bhutan, India,
Thailand Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Albania, Macadonia,
Slovenia, Croatia...." Yet in his 14 trips to Burma, Rick feels that there are still
plenty of odd corners to explore.
According to his understanding of the historical timeline of modern Burma, and how
it came to be the troubled independent Asian nation that it is today, Rick says,
"Burma gained its independence from Britain in 1947. Aung San, father of Aung
San Suu Kyi, was the first democratic leader. He was assassinated two years later,
and strongman Ne Win took over, established a military dictatorship and
xenophobic policy and it's been bad since. Nevertheless, the Burmese are a great
people, stoically dealing with a terrible government."
Rick feels that Burma is a great country, people and culture to be concerned about,
and the government there needs to be disposed of. On his yearly visits there, he
maintains ties with cherished friends and is discreetly involved with the political
opposition.
Rick is a native of the Bronx in New York City, but migrated to Los Altos and Palo
Alto in California at age 10, where he has been more or less Bay Area Californian
ever since. He attended Foothill College, UC Santa Cruz, and San Jose State,
where he graduated with a BA in Music Composition and Guitar.
In his early adulthood, Rick's parents lived and worked in Hong Kong, China, and
India, where his father served as regional head of a high tech company. Rick
describes their simultaneous adventures as a "separate but parallel interest in
Asia," and recalls that he and his father often met up in exotic places such as New
Delhi and Katmandu. For all his trips to Burma, Rick describes the Burmese
language as extremely difficult, however, his many travels in Asia have rendered
him fluent in Japanese, functionally fluent in Chinese, and able to get by (albeit
rusty) in Indonesian.
When he isn't traveling in Asia, Rick Heizman lives in a spacious flat in San
Francisco's Inner Sunset district. In his curriculum vitae, Rick is a self-described
guitarist, composer, teacher, performer, ethnomusicologist, world-instrumentalist,
musicologist, recording artist, and producer. A professional, multifaceted musician,
much-in-demand and highly regarded guitarist equally proficient in jazz, classical,
Brazilian, and 'new original' styles. He is a composer who has written for guitar,
other Western instruments, and many world instruments, and produced,
performed, and recorded his works. Rick is also a very busy and popular freelance
teacher of jazz, classical, improvisation, and music theory.
Rick has had a long fascination with other musics of the world. He has traveled
many times to far corners of the world - absorbing music and culture, doing
projects, and collecting and studying many instruments. As an ethnomusicologist
he is always studying some form of world music, and has contributed his skills and
knowledge to many projects and recordings. He is a world-instrumentalist who has
studied and plays other instruments such as, dan tranh (Vietnam), saung gauk
(Burma), ud (Middle East), tar (Persia), kora (West Africa), and mbira (Zimbabwe).
As a musicologist, Rick studies and performs such particular styles as Baroque
Trio Sonatas, or German Baroque lute music. A recording artist, he has recorded
numerous CD's of his own works - both as a 'Western' musician, and as a world
musician - and has contributed to various other projects. As a producer, Rick has
done some very interesting recordings, particularly in the country of Burma. He has
produced, recorded, and documented the bulk of Burmese traditional music
available in the world for a number of record companies, including Smithsonian.
In 1996, after visiting Burma again, Rick, as an ethnomusicologist, recognized that
the vast musical world of Burma had barely been recorded by the outside world. So
Rick felt compelled to record and document the music world of Burma. He sought
out Burmese musical virtuosos, well known in their musical circles, one of whom is
a virtual national treasure, a harpist named U Myint Maung.
And while Burma does have its own brand of pop music, Rick focuses mainly on
traditional and "evolving traditional" genres. For those unfamiliar with traditional
Burmese music, Rick describes it as, "Quirky, energetic, and virtuosic, with a
complicated technique. And while having no Western influences, it can sometimes
seem like modern, quirky jazz. It is not necessarily soothing, and definitely not for
the timid."
Rick Heizman finds his bliss in figuring out a new odd instrument, and feels that the
worst waste of time is catching up with mundane "office/computer" type work and
not getting to one of the many great instruments laying just near by. His motto: Do
something interesting, artistic, beneficial, unusual...do it well...and do something
with it."