Ep 32 / Madame Gandhi, Musical Artist & Activist

How can we work with and contribute to the organic soundscape?

Watch or Listen: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube

Hey folks, we are back with the first episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast for 2025 with the incredible award-winning musician, producer and activist Madame Gandhi.

Madame Gandhi is the stage name of Kiran Gandhi who uses her music and voice to support personal expression, female empowerment and most recently - nature.

She began producing music in 2015 after her story of free-bleeding while running the London Marathon went viral. Since then, she’s been named a TED Fellow, and to Forbes 30 Under 30 list for music and the BBC 100 Women list. Plus in 2023, Kiran was awarded the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Abe Olman award for excellence in songwriting and leadership.

As we discuss in the episode, after connecting with nature more deeply during the COVID-19 lockdown when it was seen as a safe space for activity, Kiran pursued a Masters in Music, Science and Technology from Stanford. In this program, she learned how to build a hydrophone and had the opportunity to travel to Antarctica where she recorded the sound of glaciers melting that make up her song ‘In Purpose’. That song - ‘In Purpose’ (Listen on Spotify / Listen on Apple Music) is unique in that it is made completely of recordings Kiran captured in nature - which is credited on the track - and is part of EarthPercent’s Sounds Right initiative with a portion of streaming royalties going to conversation efforts and projects to mitigate the effects of climate change.

I think you’ll be able to tell from the episode that I was pretty excited to get to chat with Kiran and as excited for you to get to listen to this conversation we recorded about a month ago. We talk about her background growing up in metropolitan cities around the world, how the pandemic shifted her relationship with nature, and how she actually goes about capturing and creating music from nature sounds. She has an amazing aim to combine her already empowering lyrics with music that is 100% sourced from nature, while considering how she can be a positive addition to the soundscape.

Kiran’s work is a great example of how our relationship with nature can become a source of artistic and creative expression. I really encourage you to check the show notes to listen to her song ‘In Purpose’ and then explore the rest of her amazing body of work.

Before we get to the episode, I thought I’d take the opportunity afforded by this being the first episode of the new year to restate and frame the goal of this podcast.

I had the great fortune to see the new biopic of Bob Dylan ‘A Complete Unknown’.

In the film, the great activist and folk singer Pete Seeger, played by Edward Norton, tries to relay to Bob Dylan, played by Timothee Chalamet, the value of his influence. Pete tells Bob that everyone who attends his performance is bringing a teaspoon of support to the fight for things like peace, justice and love (read more about the teaspoon brigades). And Bob brings a shovel. The idea of Ecosystem Member is to talk to the people with the shovels who have outsized influence in the cultural conversation.

So while Pete was trying to convince Bob to not ‘go electric’ at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, I think it makes sense when applied here as well. As Bob goes electric and some in the crowd shout ‘Judas’ at him, he turns to his band and says ‘Keep Playing’. So while I am not Bob Dylan and we’re not at Newport and 2025 is not 1965, we need to ‘Keep Playing’.

Please enjoy the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast with musical artist and activist, Madame Gandhi

Thanks for listening -

Rick