Kiran Gandhi starting playing drums in 2001 when she was 12 years old. Working with Frank Molina in New York City, she practiced in her basement by listening primarily to Riot Grrrl bands, TV on the Radio and Thievery Corporation until she was 18.
She moved to DC in 2007 to attend Georgetown University where she studied mathematics, political studies and women's studies. Here she founded her second prominent band called City Folk, which lasted all four years of college. Soon she started sitting in with local DC artists like Thievery Corporation, See-I, Sitali, Huda Asfour, One Nite Stand in places such as Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle and U Street. By 2010 she landed her own Sunday night residency at the legendary Eighteenth Street Lounge, playing live percussion alongside DJ Thomas Blondet. That year, she also helped manage his label Rhythm & Culture by running studio sessions, recording percussion and coordinating various releases.
In 2011, Kiran moved to LA to work as Interscope Records's first digital analyst. Here she created the label's first ever analytics department working closely with the head of digital marketing to study consumption patterns in digital data.
There she formed her current afrorock percussion project KIRUN, with legendary local guitarist Runson Willis (Blac Jesus & The Experimentalists, Young Old Man).
In 2013, she was asked to join MIA's Matangi tour, playing sold-out shows across Canada, the US and Japan. On this tour, Kiran plays a live percussion set up, including a stack of 10" Istanbul Agop splash cymbals to achieve a live, meaty, closed hi-hat sound.
Kiran currently attends Harvard Business School in Boston, MA.
