Dawoud Kringle (or as the underground mystics of the Tri-State Area call him, Dawoud the Renegade Sufi) does not so much play music as channel its flow. 

He recomposes music mid-performance, resonating with that indefinable voice in our hearts. 

His Dautar (a guitar-cello-sitar hybrid built for him by the Limulus Musical Instrument Company) symbolizes a disregard for borders. 

He’s played with saints, sinners, and even robots (a little name-dropping: Lauryn Hill, Nona Hendryx, Spaghetti Eastern Music, Daniel Carter, Idris Muhammad, Mark Deutsch, SoSaLa, The Brooklyn Raga Massive Orchestra, Sayyd Abdul Kabir, among others). We could mention his 16 solo albums (or are there more? Check out his Bandcamp page to find out) , film scores, collaborations with theater and dance companies, and performances throughout the US and Europe. We could also bring up his neoclassical compositions (including a full symphony and an orchestral fantasia based on a mathematical framework within an American raga Dawoud heard in a dream)... not to mention his other literary and artistic endeavors.  

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But these aren’t credentials. They’re aftershocks of a man who treats the next note as a jihad against genre and the whispered secrets of a man's soul.

They claim his music sounds like “Hans Zimmer and Jimi Hendrix dueling over a beautiful princess from another galaxy” and “The moment when the beings of Mt. Olympus allowed us to hear their chief musician” (actual quotes from fans). 

Dawoud’s music is electro-acoustic neoclassical chill nublues ragas that dissolve time, digital symphonies that map the synapses of the soul, and late-night improvisations where the music plays the listener.

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"Dawoud Kringle, aka Dawoud the Renegade Sufi, is one of the more forward-thinking, globally-centric and productive music-makers on the New York scene... Dawoud has created a musical world that unites the past, present, and future of sound. For him, no borders seem to exist, and the most distant of inspirations, the most seemingly warring thoughts can live in perfect harmony. This is music as a healing and calming force, something the world needs now more than ever. "

- Sal Cataldi (nysmusic.com)​

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"The music borrows from and advances an eclectic array of musical styles, ranging from Indian classical to trip hop to modal jazz to ambient and chill. I even hear some British pop, circa David Bowie, in there. The compositions are thoughtful and melodic. The playing is dynamic and often delightfully surprising. The lush production values are at once crisp and ethereal, utilizing cool sound imaging (pans, reverbs, etc.) and contemporary recording techniques (even some tasteful Autotune!). The lyrics (some sung, some rapped or recited) are evocative and thought-provoking-provoking. The Power and the Longing is the total package."

- David Belmont (doobeedoobeedoo.info)

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