May marks the beginning of Asian American History Month. To celebrate, I’ll be showcasing a different Asian American, Philadelphia-based artist every week. If you got a chance to check out my post on the Monkey Man soundtrack yesterday, you may find a similar theme between these two posts.

The first artist I’m showcasing is SANTRISTÁN, a West Philadelphia artist who is quite challenging to describe in a few short words. SANTRISTÁN is predominantly a mix of Indian and Puerto Rican backgrounds. Still, his cultural makeup is not just limited to those two regions. Similarly, while he is a multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and filmmaker, his art incorporates R&B, hard rock, metal, hip-hop, and funk to create a sound as unique as his identity. 

While SANTRISTÁN made a name for himself with his exceptional video and directorial work on projects ranging from music videos to documentaries, he made his mark on the Philly music scene in October 2023 with his debut EP, God, If Only. The four-track project incorporates heavy guitar riffs offset with syncopated percussion, all produced by SANTRISTÁN himself. His genre-bending extends to both his subject matter and his vocals, demonstrating the range of musical influences that helped mold him into the artist he is today. While his South Asian influences aren’t quite as forth-coming as your traditional fusion artists, you hear subtle nods as exemplified in “SLRRDNXCTD.” But whatever you do, don’t have your traditional Desi families listen to “HYC” unless you want to leave your lonely, unmarried aunty in a puddle. “ENOUGH PT 1” contrasts with his single off the album, “SVR CMPLX” to showcase a more melodic, softer side to the artist, revealing the scope of his musical understanding in 4 beautiful songs. 

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I related my experience with getting to know Tristan as an artist with how I felt when I watched Monkey Man because we can speak so openly and candidly about the things we would like to see progress within our culture. Both Tristan and I have shared experiences of feeling misunderstood and isolated by our culture at times. While that doesn’t mean we take any less pride in it, it does mean we sometimes feel disconnected. While we differ because I cannot understand the bi-racial experience (to put it lightly in his diverse background), we both understand the importance of courage to speak against generational norms, especially because we both come from unconventional families supporting and encouraging our artistry. I got the opportunity to sit and have a beautifully candid and vulnerable conversation with SANTRISTÁN, which I’ve attached and transcribed below. I urge you to take a second to really listen to this honest perspective of navigating identity, especially within the music world, when the world wants to box you into specific labels, whether it’s race, genre, or anything in between.

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Today starts my first of four artists that I’ll be highlighting throughout May for Asian American History Month. I have SANTRISTÁN here with me. We’re going to be talking a bit about his role in the music industry, his career throughout Philadelphia, throughout other places he’s lived, and the projects that he’s working on currently. How are you today?

SANTRISTÁN: “I’m great. How are you doing?”

I’m doing good. So tell us a little bit about what you do here in Philly, the kinds of music that you make, the things that you do.

SANTRISTÁN: “I’m SANTRISTÁN, filmmaker, musician, creative director, and other things amongst the mix. But yeah, I’m from Philly, West Philly, specifically. And right now, I’m trying to bridge the gap between a few worlds, both creatively in my two main mediums, genre-wise in regards to how I put different genres together. And then, on a human level, as someone who’s multiracial. I am in a lot of different circles. And it gives me, I don’t know. I think I’m able to communicate with different types of people a little bit better because I have a perspective that they don’t, but also their perspective at the same time in a weird way.But yeah, that is what I’m trying to do. Be the center point between all these different things.”

I love that. And what have been some of your most recent releases that you think have been reflective of that? 

SANTRISTÁN: “Just this past October, I put out my first project. It’s an EP. It’s called God, If Only. And for me, it was made at a time when I used to live in New York and was doing film-ish stuff out there and just wasn’t really satisfied because I was more being a worker than an artist. And my musical connection, I’ve always done music throughout my life. But I kind of settled on film as to be my career choice. It wasn’t working the way I wanted it to. So I went back to Philly and wanted to explore going after what I wanted. And a month later, the pandemic hit. And with that, I just had a bunch of time on my hands, and I still had my guitar from when I was a teenager. So I just started playing it, and I played stuff I liked, and I hadn’t really played in a while. I didn’t have as many chops as I used to, but I liked what I was playing. So I recorded it. And then in about a week, I had the instrumentals for most of the project. And through that, a whole bunch of experiences during the quarantine and stuff, informed what I wanted to say as a vocalist on top of all that. With that, I wanted to make something fun and cool. I like heavy music. I also like pop R&B. So I dug into both of those routes from the mid-2000s. And made something that’s like familiar, but like not, I guess.”

And I know you come from a very creative background in terms of family wise.I think one thing that we relate to is just having families that are supportive of the creative endeavors that we take. But I know a lot of the times my mom will try to understand it and I have to kind of explain things a little bit more thoroughly just because it’s so out of her wheelhouse. Did you have to go through that with your family, or did they instantly understand the vision of what you were trying to transmit?

SANTRISTÁN: “Yeah. Something that I didn’t fully understand, was being multiracial. I’m Indian and Puerto Rican. So, my Indian family was kind of the only concept of what an Indian family was to me. And they were a little bit separated from the other Indian community and, I guess, the Desi community in general here. And I realized this because they are kind of out of the box culturally than most people in our culture. Like they’re from different ethnic groups, my grandmother, grandfather, and different castes. And on my grandmother’s side, North and South, like all mixed up. But, like, they’re all artists. It’s a family business for a little bit. But with my family being artists and my mom being an artist too, it made sense that this is what we do. And for most South Asian people I know, that’s a no-no to kind of step outside of that as more than a hobby. Which confuses me. Understanding the role entertainment plays in Asian culture. I don’t understand how it’s not evident or like, oh, some people have to go do this. I don’t know if it’s cultural norms that keep people confined to certain ways of thinking in life. But I’m hoping that people see me doing whatever I want and that they’re encouraged to pursue what they want to do. Because I don’t know. There’s not really anyone to look up to for someone like me growing up South Asian or Puerto Rican, specifically in the dominant Western American culture. We need more people just doing what they want.”

I love that. And I also love the fact that you haven’t felt the need to stamp on your work. Okay, this is my cultural background.I had this conversation just yesterday about how a lot of the times we feel like we need to shout from the freaking rooftop to the world that we’re of Desi culture or we’re of X culture or Y culture because we feel that lack of representation. Because yes, that is so much of who I am, but it’s not all that I am. I want to show you how it’s influenced my work, but I don’t feel as though it has to always be so literal. And I think that right now, that’s such a prominent thing in the music industry, which is beautiful. We’re seeing so many fusion sounds. But like you said, even just having that simple representation of someone that looks like you doing those things, finally getting to be the rock star, finally getting to be the forefront of the band, that speaks volumes.

SANTRISTÁN: “I think it’s interesting that you said putting, like, I forget how you’ve worded, but it was like my cultural spin on music. Because to me, the music I make is my cultural music. I’m a second-generation American. I’m mixed. I grew up in the city. The music that I made is the music I listened to. And that was what people who related to me listened to. Whether it’s hip hop, rock, metal, R&B, that was my cultural upbringing more so than specifically Indian or Puerto Rican music. Yeah, it was part of it, but directly in my life being second gen, definitely, American culture is what I consider my culture.”

I think it’s so true that that is such an extension of who we are. And yet others don’t really see it quite as much. It is still your upbringing. It is still your roots. And it doesn’t have to link back to generations before us. I mean, I feel that having found my place in the hip hop industry, you know, there’s not that many of us, but that’s where I feel the most comfortable, more than any Desi space, in all honesty. But going back to the aspect of creating this album, I know you mentioned that you worked on all of the instrumentals beforehand. What was your production process going through it like? What were some things that you were hoping to convey with your production? What did you want to really set the tone of this project to be like?

SANTRISTÁN: “Well, I started producing as a beat maker. So, I approached this with the same mentality. The guitars I only ever played were with a band. I never really added or recorded rock music before. So when I was making beats for myself or working with other people that’s kind of my foundation in producing. And I just approached the same way, using these quick guitar riffs as loops and building this song out the way I built a pop or a hip hop or an R&B song where I’ll finger drum it in, get my rhythm out, lay it out, quantize, boom, boom, boom. Then, okay, now I got to add the other instruments. Let me go record a loop. I mean, that’s kind of how the project came, the bones of it.”

I know that you’re going to be performing on Friday at Warehouse on Watts. Are you going to be performing with a whole band backing you? What’s that going to look like?

SANTRISTÁN: “Yeah, for live performances, I’ll do the full band. I view that as the extension of what the project is because the project has my program drums in it, and everything else is me, and I can’t play them all.”

I think you should figure out how to do it. That’d be kind of cool. 

SANTRISTÁN: “It would be, it’d be something. I got a great group of guys who are much more skilled musicians than I am helping me rip it up on stage.”

So, where did some of your production inspiration come from? Because you mentioned, you’d always been a beat maker before a lot of this. What were your inspirations? 

SANTRISTÁN: “I’d say my earliest influence and before I quote unquote made beats, but who made me think about production was MF DOOM. When I was a young boy, like fifth grade. And it’s really just because my godfather, my uncle, would listen to all types of cool shit and put me on. And I’d be in fifth grade with my CD player, and it’d be a mixed CD of a bunch of different songs. And I’d be like, yo, listen to this. And my friends would listen and be like, oh, this is what my dad listens to. They were trying to play me like, oh, my dad listens to this shit. I’m like, no, this is fine. But yeah, definitely DOOM. Both his production and all the different producers that he worked with. So Madlib, Dilla. Then, from there, I’d say Alchemist is someone else I really like in regard to production. But also what influences how my production. I’ll listen to a lot of heavy music. Drummers in metal are playing, in my opinion, very similar style rhythms to trap beats and other things. So I’m trying to adopt some of those rhythms and syncopations into something with not acoustic drums.” 

I think that that is just one example of how you’re able to bridge all of these different avenues in these different worlds.And it’s so funny because I had mentioned to you when I listened to this album, it was so outside of my wheelhouse. And just with what I typically listened to, it really challenged that for me. But I loved it all. You know what I mean? It never at once felt like, oh, as soon as it starts, this isn’t something I would check out. It just kept pulling me further and further wanting to hear what else was going to take me on this journey or take me on this surprise that I’d never really had something to compare it to. 

SANTRISTÁN: “Thank you. That kind of was my goal. Because I really love heavy music. And I know it’s a little bit polarizing as a genre, and understandably, but there’s a lot of things I really like about it. And I wanted to make music that was that, like, here are all the things that I like about what the genre has to offer. And with that, it’s like, those are kind of pieces of me. The things you like are what make you up. And if people like me, then they’ll like this, because to the transitive property, they want to be seen. So yeah, I’ve had a few people tell me, I wouldn’t know to listen to this style of music, but this is cool. And for me, that’s great, because there are other bands who also make great music. But maybe upfront, it was a little bit more abrasive than you understood. It wasn’t exactly your taste. But, now you’re privy to what this sounds like. But that being said, what I made, I don’t view that as defining my style. It more just was a thing I made at that time. And now, with our music, I really try to push the genre boundary and still keep with guitars and stuff. But, you know, guitars and reggaeton. And then, I got another song that’s more jazzy. And then I got another song that is gonna be more South Asian influenced, leaning into this song by Metallica called “Around My Room.” It has a sitar in it. Similar vibe to that. But my goal is now that that’s settled, and y’all listen to, oh, you listen to this style music now? Now when I make the real weird shit, y’all are already with it.”

I love that. That’s so cool. Do you think you ever would actually be able to define your style? Like, would you really be able to ever completely pinpoint it? Or do you not want to be able to do that?

SANTRISTÁN: “I don’t know. I view genre the same way I view my racial makeup, where you can compartmentalize it to one thing, but it’s not the full truth of what it is. Outside of that, music specifically, I have so many different interests and influences that confining it to one thing doesn’t really represent. You know, like, Beyonce doesn’t have a genre. I’m not comparing myself to Beyonce. But, like, Beyonce doesn’t have genre. It’s just Beyonce. And I’m trying to be on a similar type time just as an artist where it’s Tristan, SANTRISTÁN, whatever my music is going by, that’s what it is. It’s me. And it’s hard to confine whether it’s a dance song, a reggaeton, a trappy, wherever I’m existing, that’s just another different reflection of your boy.”

And so now, going into the fact that you have your foot in all of these different creative spaces, like you have your foot in the heavy metal space, you have your foot in the hip hop space. Is there one world in all of those places in which you felt most of your, I guess, more of your racial identity represented? Whether the fact that you’re all of these different races, or specifically, the Asian half that you are? Do you find that you feel that more in one space than the other? 

SANTRISTÁN: “Well, I’m not really in the rock space. Not too much. There’s a couple bands I’ve played shows with. But the part of the scene that I feel like I fit in is the alt-R&B sphere. And those are all my friends in the scene. But my music doesn’t necessarily fit in with them. And I was I was just tweeting about this the other day. It’s like, I’m too heavy for the R&B shows, but I’m not heavy enough for the hardcore shows. And, like, where’s that space? (18:05) Luckily, there are a few people who are in that route, like the show we’re playing on Friday. There are artists that don’t really fit into one of those. And we have multi-layered identities in regard to our interests and how we want to express ourselves. In regard to my racial and ethnic identity, feeling comfortable. The alt-R&B scene, that’s the reason I’m there. People that look like me and look like my family are there. And that’s why I’m there. Because we share something in common culturally.”

Do you find that you relate to other Asian Americans much? Do you group yourself with that community? Tell me a little bit about that. 

SANTRISTÁN: “I personally never really fit with other Asian-Americans, whether they’re East Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern. That’s just not the people who are in my dominant circle. I also wasn’t raised with that many outside of my literal family who are related to me. So, the answer is no, I think, to what your question is. I think the reason is, there’s a cultural divide. Even me being mixed, it’s an issue for some people and they look at you a certain way. You know, even the way I dress, me growing my hair out, me playing the style of music I play. I don’t know. South Asian culture is a little bit archaic at times in how they approach things. And I’m lucky enough that in my family, they’re much more progressive than most. And I see things for what they are and don’t like to associate myself with those aspects because they’re toxic and they’re doing a disservice to all of us, in my opinion. And I’ve seen it firsthand with people I know who are the toxic parts of South Asian culture and let it run their lives. So they make big life decisions around it. To me, that’s not a way to live.” 

I completely agree because I feel like I’ve gone through so many transitions with my identity, how much I relate to it, and how much I accept it. Because when I was really young, I loved it. And then you go through that really difficult phase of being a teenager where you’re compared to everybody, and you’re constantly not good enough. Everyone’s in competition. There can never be a group of success stories. It’s always who’s the best. And it was challenging and stressful and really tiresome. And it made me denounce everything. I strayed so far from my culture because I would get so frustrated with it. I would even see it then from my peers, too. The girls were horribly mean to me. The guys treated me like a second-class citizen. And then I got older, and I was kind of like, well, this is such a part of me. I want to be able to embrace it. But how can I embrace it while acknowledging the things that are wrong with it and hopefully going away from these generational issues and traumas? Because I think a huge reason why, especially in Asian culture, it continues on for so long is because we’re too scared to talk about it. And we’re oftentimes not given the ability or the platform to talk about it, whether it’s online, whether it’s to our own family members, recognizing the toxicity there. So I think that our generation is hopefully getting a little bit better at that and really talking about it because we’re already so racist against other South Asians. Other South Asians, not just other Indians.

SANTRISTÁN: “I’m not a part of it!”

I mean us as a community, not us. But-

SANTRISTÁN: “Have you seen the tik tok. I’m sorry. You see the tik tok with the white guy. He’s like, we’re racist. And the other guy is like, wait, hold on.”

I have no idea. But no, South Asians as a group tend to be so racist, not even just to other South Asians, but like Indians, to other Indians, you know what I mean? So I could only imagine your experience growing up in that sphere when we can barely accept our own. And then you have somebody that’s a beautiful blend of all these cultures, but it’s such a foreign concept to other South Asians. No pun intended. 

SANTRISTÁN: ” Yeah, no, you’re not wrong. I think that shame holds a lot of power in our culture. On that side of it. So much fear of shame and disgrace. Respect is the wrong word because so many people do things the opposite of respecting themselves and what they’re doing. And it’s to keep up an appearance for what other people think.”

I feel like it’s more power than respect. Like there’s a huge power dynamic. 

SANTRISTÁN: “Yeah. Yeah.”

Well, I’m excited to see how you’re able to bridge all of these gaps and really show all of these different aspects of your creativity and your culture and your own identity, however you choose to define that. Is there anything that you have working on that you want everyone to really tune in for and keep an eye out for?

SANTRISTÁN: “Not really off the top. I’m going to be taking a little bit of a break from performing to just get things a little bit settled because as I do all these things, I’m still just one man, and you get spread a little thin. So I just want to make sure I’m number one, taking care of myself. And number two, I’m able to give the energy and effort to things in the way that I’d like to. So yeah, there will be more things coming, and they’re in the works. I’m going to be less front-facing for a little bit.”

That’s fair! And where can everyone check out your most recent project?

SANTRISTÁN: “All streaming platforms. Gotta follow me on all streaming platforms.”

And where can they find you this weekend? 

SANTRISTÁN: “Friday, you can catch me at Warehouse on Watts playing as part of Art Explosion hosted by Joey Sticks.Joey Sticks is also going to be playing the drums with me. It’s going to be a good time. Friday is also Bandcamp Friday, so you can go and buy my project on Bandcamp. May 3rd.” 

And where on social media can everyone find you?

SANTRISTÁN: “You can find me on the interwebs at @_santristan. Underscore. 

And that is it for today. Thank you so much for being so vulnerable with me, for sharing so many things that go beyond just the music and yet are still so alluded to in your music. I’m really excited to watch you explore more of these avenues and, like I said, pave that way as well. Thank you so much, everyone. We will be highlighting a new amazing artist from Philadelphia next week, so make sure to stay tuned and check it out.

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Buy Tickets For 5/3 at Warehouse on Watts