Atash was born in the vibrant arts and music scene of Austin, Texas , where musicians called The Gypsies began creating an exquisite fusion of world sounds as early as 1996 . Quickly hailed as "Austin's best-kept secret!" (Austin Chronicle), The Gypsies earned numerous accolades for their theatre and film scores, most notably their "live" score to Tod Browning's 1929 silent thriller, The Unknown, and their incidental music to the play The Conference of the Birds, by Peter Brooks.