The Score Magazine June 2014 issue

ISSN 0974 – 9128

Vol 07 Issue 06 - June 2014

thescoremag

@highonscore

www.skore.in

India's National Pan-Genre Music MagazinE

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Nikhil Chinapa

The indubitable king of dance music

The Band Psyche everything that makes or breaks a band

Priyanka Blah On opening for deadmau5

Yamaha Powers BAND OF THE MONTH

The Down Troddence

Folk Thrash Metal from the land of looms and lore.

Indian Ocean Diving into the depths of India’s favorite fusion band

Kamal Kharera • cut time: music & energy • the latest film & Indie music reviews

Director, Strategy and Planning Ajay Prabhakar Director, Business Development Pragash VM Head - Marketing & Operations Sneha Ramesh Associate Editor Kanika Mishra Content Coordinator Nidhi Iyer Honorary Editor Sidharth Vipin Editorial Advisor Nikila Srinivasan Head - Sales & Events Sai Adithya Creative Director George Vedamanickam Lead Designer Nipun Garodia Social Media Coordinator Vishakh Iyer WebMaster Daanish Millwalla Cover Photography Ashima Yadava

OurWWW

the edit PAD Our take-away from Palm 2014: We stand apart. It is with a sense of pride that I can proudly claim that The Score Team has created something that truly differentiates us in the market. Every year, we see countless music media organizations getting washed away, become irregular, become bankrupt or deprecate in quality to below recovery.

But, this isn’t the story of just music media organizations, it is unfortunately the story of an industry built on unsustainable business models: The year 2013 alone saw the death of 2 music/ audio tech magazines, the take-over of a new music portal by music labels after which it became irrelevant, the drop in customer engagement of a website, the USP of which was concert photography and the indigestible downsizing of a music venue from hosting 3 concerts a week to 4 concerts a month.

I am not cherrypicking my data, we are seeing a continuous cycle: debutants with wads of cash, spending it all in short bursts and incidentally spoiling the village well. Thats why we stand out: The Score Magazine was bootstrapped and built ourselves from scratch.

We are sustainable and we are here to stay.

Ajay Prabhakar Director - Strategy and Planning

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The Score Magazine is proud to support the Mother Teresa Foundation and urge our readers to join us in giving back a fraction of what we have been given.

i nside Band of the Month POWERED BY YAMAHA 22 This Down Troddence from Kannur reinvents the meaning of folk-thrash-metal. Meet the Down Troddence as our Band of the Month for this issue.

In Studio

The waves of Indian Ocean

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Indian Ocean, being the first band to release their album 16/330 Khajoor Road for free on the internet 2010 in, is now back with a new album, Tandanu!

Keyboardist Of The Month: Kamal Kharera 18

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Siddharth Vipin, our honorary Editor, is back once again with all the information you need to make your own music!

Nikhil Chinapa

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Our Star of the Month is a household name in the country. Nikhil Chinapa, pioneer of Dance Music in India and VJ par excellence.

Score Reviews

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Here’s bringing you the best of Indie and Film music, all in one place, Score style.

String temple recorD

Kamal Kharera has a bright & sunny future ahead as the lead keyboardist of Astitva.

Quirks and Queries Priyanka Blah 20

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Sriram Parthasarathy who brought us heart warming tunes like Suttum Vizhi Choodare and Elangathu Veesudhe is our special feature.

Cut Time: The Comic Segment

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We all have our notions about what music is. Ever wondered what ISN’T music? Flip away at the pages to find out!

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The bold and beautiful lady who opened for Deadmau5 earlier this year.

INDIAN OCEAN

Photography: Anup Kumar Pandey

Anirudh Kanga

They’ve stood the test of time and it’s been over 20 years that this band made its mark in the rock scene in our country. It takes talent, passion, perseverance and of course all the toil and sweat to to make it to who they are today. With almost 7 studio albums to their name, and an impressive filmography list, Indian Ocean gets candid with The Score Magazine about the death of their percussionist, controversial release of their previous album and some more.

Dig in to find out!

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Indian Ocean is considered to be the pioneer of fusion rock genre in India. Would you agree with that? And how would you define the music that you play, however abstract it may sound?

We agree. We’ve tried to define our music, we’ve really tried, but we haven’t able to. For us, fusion was Fusion Shakti fantastically technical musicians came together to play brilliant music. Technically, we’re not proficient in anything. Especially after working with such proficient artists in our new album, we have been reassured that we are not technically proficient. We never used to call ourselves fusion. We threw around the term Contemporary Indian, but everything is contemporary Indian.

According to me, Bollywood is perfect Indian Fusion.

With Nikhil Rao coming in last year, this makes a second major change in the band in the last 5 years. I guess what a lot of people are wondering, and what we’d like to know, is where is the band headed? Was there ever a question of the band breaking up with so many changes?

Firstly, Asheem’s death was a big shock, as you can imagine…it was unexpected, it came out nowhere. We didn’t expect him to die; he was in a coma. That was probably the darkest hour for Indian Ocean. But we continued on. With Susmit it was different; we knew he was going to leave sometime. He wanted to do more solo stuff. We knew about it for a while. So we were more prepared.

Amit and I never thought of stopping. Never.

Mr. Jagasia is of the belief that with Nikhil Rao, the sound of the band is definitely going to change. Some predict it’ll turn towards a more ‘Rock’ sound. We’d like to hear from you firsthand as to how Rao sir’s contribution to the band has changed the sound.

Nikhil has come out of nowhere. He was doing his PHD in Material Sciences in Singapore. He was never a professional guitar player before this. His brother Anurag works with the band. So once he came down and jammed with us, and he had a very unique guitar sound. When it came to choosing another guitar player, Amit suggested that why not ask Nikhil. And at the time even Susmit agreed that it was a great idea. Nikhil has a sound of his own. He’s interested in Carnatic music, he’s interested in jazz, he’s into blues and he started off as a death metal guitar player! There were no auditions really. The faith in him has been completely vindicated.

Credit goes to Amit for that, for remembering that there was this guitar player who played like that. And after Nikhil coming in, we’ve gone back to being a band that jams all the time and we’ve gone back to having a lot of fun. It’s been pretty cool.

So your new album – Tandanu - is about to be completed.

Gotta say, the preview got us really excited for the release.

Tell us a little bit about this latest project and how it came to be.

Tandanu is a collaborative album. It has 7 songs with 7 different artists who we have collaborated with to make the songs. We’ve wanted to do a collaborative album for a long time. Even when we released 16/330 we put up a poll asking, “Whom do you want to see us collaborate with?” And when you’re thinking in the air it’s very easy to talk. There were a lot of names flying around. There were talks of Sting, Yo Yo Ma, Carlos Santana, A. R. Rahman. However, reality set in and we realized it’s not that easy to get in touch with these artists. And secondly, it’s expensive to get such great international artists to come to India and play with us. Then we started thinking that there are so many great Indian artists who are a lot closer to us musically, whom it’s easy to get in touch with, so why don’t we start doing collaborations with them? Finally in

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November we managed to get some funding in place because you can imagine a project like this incurs a lot of expenditure. Plus we had this idea of filming the whole project. This is how it started off.

When it comes down to who we wanted to collaborate with, some artists just selected themselves. It matters a lot that we like who we collaborate with, because nobody wants to play with someone they don’t get along with. The chemistry has to be there. Like with Shubha Ji, we’ve had a long, long relationship. We respect her a lot as a singer, and as a person. Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt had come down once in 2012 October for a practice session and we had an amazing day there with him. We already respected him, and then we got to know him. He is absolutely brilliant. We were in awe, and so, he also selected himself. This was all in our minds though; we were making the list in our mind. We had still to ask them. The beautiful thing is, when we called and asked these guys if they will come and play with us, all of them said yes at the very first go! There were no delays, nothing. Their reply was unanimous - “Sure. What do we do and when can we do it”. Isn’t that amazing?

With the changes in the band line-up, new guitarist coming in, weren’t you tempted to do a project, or even a song, just Indian Ocean, and blow away all those rumors of the sound changing and band falling apart?

No, but we think in our own way we’re doing it. You listen to the album; it’s a fantastic album! You should expect a change in sound, because you can’t find clones. You can’t find Asheem’s clone, you can’t find Susmit’s clone. And if you get clones, those are not the kind of people you want to work with. You want people who have their own idea, who will bring their own sound, but will not step on the idea of Indian Ocean. For that, Amit and Rahul, who’ve been around forever, knew what we like, and we knew what we don’t like. We were sure that interesting stuff would come out of it because these guys (collaborators) are on the same wavelength as us. It’s the new avatar of Indian Ocean. Some things are still the same, though. When people think the song is over, then we start off and go to another place with the song – that still remains. The style of songs is still the same. The actual sound may be different, but we quite like it. We agree we’re tending towards more “rock”. It seems the older we get, the more “rock” we get!

Since 16/330 Khajoor Road, you’ve played MTV Unplugged and worked with Mohit Chauhan on The Dewarists. What do you have to say about the role these shows have played in developing and broadening the interest of Indian youth in music?

We’re a little ambivalent towards Dewarists because the format of putting 2 musicians in front of a camera for three days and expecting them to come up with fantastic music. It definitely happens that one or the other of the collaborators ends up doing the bulk of work. That’s what happened with us with Maya.

On collaborating with Shubha Mudgal

Shankar Mahadevan:

The song we had in mind for Shubha Ji said was not working for her. Then Amit came up with the idea of doing this leftist anthem called ‘Gar Ho Sake’. We have a history with this song, and so does Shubha Mudgal Ji. We’ve both performed it at various stages of our career. So we tried it. We didn’t compose the song, but we changed it. There are parts of that song that Shubha Ji has come up with from scratch. The whole guitar riff, she came up with it! She didn’t come up with it as a guitar player, but she sang it, and we were like “hey, that’s a guitar riff”. That was very impressive!

Rahul got to know Shankar during his stint on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. We approached Shankar and he was very receptive. There was a song we had been fooling around with for over 10 years, we made him listen to a scratch version of it and he liked it. He came down to Delhi and he worked on it with us, he made it cool. So when the collaborative album came up, we knew not only that Shankar was going to be on it but we also knew which song he was going to do!

For Shankar we had Tandanu, and we knew Shankar would like Tandanu, so we trusted our instincts.

I have known Indian Ocean for a long time and have sung with them at times on rare occasions but this is the first formal collaboration I have done with them. I think for me it was very easy to accept their invitation to collaborate because there is certain ease and comfort that we already share mutually.

The moment I heard Tandanu I knew I wanted to be a part of this because the song has got a very unique catchy kind of a lyrical rhythmic quality to it. The whole concept of Indian Ocean is that it’s very original and it’s the first band to do music like this, so I’m really happy to be part of it. It’s been a beautiful experience, which I really cherish and I really look forward to performing this, whenever I get a chance to play with Indian Ocean.

I’m delighted that this song on which we are collaborating is actually a song that was sung by various groups of activists who were actually protesting about the fact that our country seem to be torn into many fractions.

We chose to collaborate on this particular song because I think now is the time that we need to remind ourselves that you can’t let the country be taken over by the kind of strange politics that has been played out and so I think to be on the album with musicians I admire so much and for whom I have such respect and admiration is really great!

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MTV unplugged is great if the whole band gets to play. But if there is an in-house band, then it gets messy. See, if you bring in Rabbi and tell him to play, then you bring in Papon and ask him to play; they’ll sound the same if they just come and sing. The idea of unplugged should be that the whole band comes and plays an acoustic set, no?

Speaking of Khajoor Road, you, controversially if I might say, decided to put the album on the Internet for free.

What motivated you to make that decision? Was it just the Record Companies or was there a more worldly idea behind it, something of a statement against Piracy?

No, there’s no anti-piracy. We don’t think you can fight piracy.

We know that nobody buys CDs anymore. Everything is becoming digital. See, our income stream is live concerts. So we just gave it to the fans for free. But it’s worked out. Now we can tell the record companies what we want and make them agree to our terms. Like when they ask us to sign with them, we tell them we don’t want to do it because you f*ck around with us, and they’re much more sympathetic to our cause. Let’s hope it works out as a stroke of genius.

Being from Delhi, I am always extremely moved by history of our city and the beauty of the monuments, a lot of which contribute to the pride of India herself, and I’m sure your feelings towards Delhi are the same (probably more since you’ve lived there longer). Tell us where 16/330 and Delhi feature in your music?

It is difficult to quantify these things. Delhi music scene is calmer than say compared to a place like Bombay where everything is rushed. Asheem used to say that you can sit around on a log in Delhi and play your music on your own time. Musically the only way Delhi has affected us is that we listen to more North Indian music, which is really a downside. Now of course we joke that our new South Indian guitarist wants to make us into South Indian Ocean. But we’ve always admired Karnataka music, so we’re glad that it’s coming into this album.

Being one the greatest bands in Indian history, tell us your version of the rock and roll lifestyle that musicians have?

Hah! That’s only for the angrez, not for us. Nothing happens. At most we’ll have a party after the concert. To tell you the truth, Rahul has had more people ask him for an autograph because of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa than because of Indian Ocean. It’s shocking, the reach of that program!

Were there any offers/propositions that you turned down in the past, which you might not have if they were offered to you today?

No, but we have been foolish. We met Yo Yo Ma once and there were talks of playing together. At that time we just nodded our heads and said, “yes sir, yes sir”, but we never exchanged numbers.

We also haven’t followed up on a lot of things. We’ve met a lot of artists on our tours, but at that time we never had the depth to reach out and experiment. We ourselves, as musicians, were very incompetent in this matter. Basically, our marketing and PR has been shit. Now hopefully things have changed.

Indian Ocean has a huge fan following, not just in India, but outside India as well. In your tours across the globe, which, if any, particular performances would you always remember as being special?

Most memorable is very difficult to say, but we did one for about 2000 students in Vietnam, which was beautiful. We did one in

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Vishal Dadlani: Vishal Dadlani again we know for a long time. We like Vishal because he is a ‘band waala’ like us. He went to Bollywood but he’s never given up his band (Pentagram). We really like that.

We love his voice, his singing, so we wanted to ask Vishal.

I am a big fan of Indian Ocean anyways so the moment they asked me to collaborate with them for a song, I was like yeah that is exciting and I would love to do it. The song Roday, which is about displacement of people who have been uprooted from their homes and forced to settle elsewhere, found an immediate resonance within me and I knew that this was the perfect song for me. I have sung parts of it in Sindhi and this is my first opportunity to do anything in Sindhi so I am quite grateful and happy to be doing that.

Trafalgar Square for around 15000 people. Gorky Park in Moscow was another fantastic experience. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have come away with such memories. In India, Sahmat show at Mandi House, which led to Desert Rain, was quite a concert. Our First concert in IIM Ahmedabad was another special one.

I’m sure you get fan messages and read blog posts with Indian Ocean’s fans discussing what they expect out of the new albums/songs. As a musician, what do you expect out of an album? In terms of music, and in terms of response from listeners.

We go song by song. It has to sound interesting, original and new. That’s what we strive towards.

Sir, all of you have always been brilliant composers of music. What we’d like to know, is when you start composing, when you’re sitting with a blank paper, what do you do to motivate yourself? Meditation, a discussion, senseless jamming, a night of fun…what?

Just jamming. If you put a musician with an instrument in a room, he will start playing something. And then the others also start playing. A lot of it is nonsense, but that’s how it goes. It could be a Tabla riff, or Nikhil coming up with a tune, anything.

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt:

Karsh Kale:

In most cases, we had an idea of what we wanted to do. But with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, we had no idea. So when he came down, we played for around 8 hours before we had something that looked promising. So the next day, we sat down and played the whole day and worked it out. Before he left, we did a complete version, so that when he comes around the next time, we know what has to be played in and out. It was very interesting to be working with someone from scratch!

Karsh Kale we know for quite some time. We met him when we were playing in New York and we asked him if he wanted to come down and play with us. He did and it was a lot of fun. So we decided to ask Karsh to come down and collaborate with us.

Indian Ocean is a band, which I admire a lot - they are a bunch of really talented people who have this amazing energy and zing about them.

I have had a wonderful time collaborating on this song with them, and I really felt some strong vibes while composing the song along with them.

I have known Indian Ocean for a long time and over the years we had spoken about working together several times, but there was never really an opportunity to do something like this I guess. Probably we waited just for the right moment to get together and try this and I am thrilled the way it worked out.

The vibe of the song Behney Do is very triumphant in nature and seems to be kind of defiant - defiant in a more positive way - like something when people come together to make a change.

On their collaboration with MTV Indies: We have tried to explore new avenues and try out newer ways to make our music available. Last time, we gave out our album (16/330 Khajoor Road) for free via our website. This time however we felt with all the collaborators coming in, it would be nice to release the songs on a weekly basis along with episodes on what went behind the making of each particular track and the amount of fun we had in working on each song.

We are releasing one song each Saturday via digital platforms (like iTunes, gaana.com, Spotify, Nokia Ovi, timesmusic. com) along with the episodes premiering on Pepsi MTV Indies. Subsequently, the CD for the new album is being released by Times Music around 1st week of June and we are also working on bringing out a Collector’s Edition LP for Tandanu.

Photography: Anup Kumar Pandey

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I listen a lot to Bollywood music, which has come of age now and is technically and musically at par with international music.

powered by ft

Kamal Kharera 18

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Harsh Kumar

Astitva, the band, is making a lot of waves these days, especially after their album Patang Dor’s release. Established in 2007 spanning over genres like progressive rock, fusion and desipop, Astitva has played at big venues, including the opening act for the Common Wealth Games Youth Festival. ‘Delhi Anthem’ is one of their originals which they proudly sport on their website. They were the music composers of the Delhi Tableau for 64th Republic Day Parade.

Having starred on MTV Rock On (Season 2), the doors to Bollywood also opened for them.

Giving music for the movie ‘Valentine Night’, they even got a chance to perform with Shahrukh Khan. Bagging the Youth Icon award by Punjab Kesari, they also made an appearance in the semi-finals of ‘Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega’.

Kamal Kharera, the man behind the keys/synth is considered the soul of the band. Classically trained, Kamal plays the keyboard like an extension of his body. The Score Magazine got some face time with him about how he started his career, his equipment, the various gigs that Astitva has played at and his future plans.

So when was your first encounter with the synthesizer?

How did you know that you want to play it?

I started when I was 15, and my father, who is a wonderful synthesizer player himself, was a major source of my inspiration. Once I started playing, I understood that I had the aptitude for it, I just had to keep practising. My dad has always been there for me and has provided all the support that I needed for my musical growth.

How did you learn playing the synth?

Most of my early training was under my father. I worked on improving my skills further, by watching live performances of other good musicians, and listening to good music. All the training made me pretty good in the comfort of my room but it was the experience of playing live, jamming with others that made a big difference in my playing style and attitude.

Can anyone play the synthesizer or is it something you are born with?

To be a good player, you need an inborn musical sense, and talent, as well as a lot of practice and hard work. The innate musical sense can only help you see the direction you are heading towards, but its the hard work that makes any musician a stellar musician, no shortcuts!

Who is your idol?

I am most influenced by AR Rahman Sir. His music is unpredictable and very innovative I also admire Jordan Rudess, from Dream Theatre for the same reasons.

I listen a lot to Bollywood music, which has come of age now and is technically and musically at par with international music.

With the advent of technology into music and things like time-stretching and VST do you feel that the art of making music has changed?

There has been a lot of change in music production,with the advent of DAWs, like Cubase and Logic. A good knowledge of the basics of these softwares, is very important these days, both in the studio, and for live performances. The art of creating music has definitely gone through a lot of change. Technology can help solve a lot of problems that existed before.

For someone who wants to pick up the piano/synth what would be the right way to start learning in your opinion?

Learn music in theory, practice and get a good teacher. Once you get comfortable with the instrument, jam regularly and gain stage experience. Just keep going at it with patience and perseverance. You will shine!

Did you always know that you were going to be a musician?

I was always interested in music, but once I started playing the synthesizer I found my path.

What do you think about the rock scene in the country right now?

We have some very good bands in India, who are coming up with new ideas, and are experimenting with their music. The future of Indian rock music looks good, with many bands being able to showcase their music, on music channels, and in Bollywood.

Astitva for life? (What are your future plans?)

Astitva is my soul and all the band members share a special bond. It is definitely for life.

What is your affiliation with CASIO? I have done a few workshops for CASIO and have also given inputs on how they can improve some of the technical aspects of their synthesizer.

Any message that you would like to give to all the headbangers who read our magazine?

Keep listening to good music, keep appreciating it! You inspire us to work hard and to create good music. You are the source of our energy, on and off the stage!

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Nidhi Iyer

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There is no greater joy for a musician who is shown love and support on the big stage and enjoying every second of being up there.

Opening for Deadmau5 has to be one of the most exciting experiences for me as a musician.

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with

Priyanka Blah

he is eloquent with her words, and puts her soul into her songs. She is a fashionista, a singer, a songwriter and a designer. She is also incredibly strong willed and is uniquely opinionated.

It’s really up to us, as evangelists of good music, to make sure good music reaches eager ears

Photography: Karthik K Shetty

We get quirky with Priyanka Blah, who recently opened for Deadmau5 in Bangalore and has some interesting projects lined up, which we can’t wait to find out about! Dig in for some of the most quirky and thought provoking answers you’ll ever read!

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I come from a very musically inclined family with my mother having been a professional singer. Each member of my family has loved music and it’s one of the several things that bind us together as a family. The only other thing that takes precedence over music at home is food.

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I’ve been writing since I was a child. Naturally, I graduated from silly, idealistic poetry to poetry that was a lot more personal because that’s the way I articulate myself best. A lot of my poems that I felt were all right to share with the world have become songs and I’m happy that they didn’t just gather dust in a notebook. I also did a brief music-journalism stint before pursuing music full time. Blogging was just a natural outcome of my combined love for writing, travel, fashion and music.

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The tattoo I have is the tree of life, which is said to represent the underworld, middle and spiritual realms. I could explain this in detail but it would require delving into several mythologies and philosophies from Nordic to Tao and Buddhism!

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My favorite holiday destination in India has to be the Andaman Islands. In Europe, I would go back to the French Riviera, Prague and Berlin over and over again.

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Arjun Vagale and Raghu Dixit have been making us very proud the world over. I’m hoping to see some singer-songwriters join those ranks in the near future.

I think it’s a wonderful time to be in the independent Indian music industry and not just EDM but music in of any genre. acceptance has risen significantly

Priyanka Blah speaks

O

bjectification of women

is a problem across the world. It would be unfair to say it’s something that only plagues the Indian music industry.

Entertainment is the same across the globe. The problem may be more glaring in India because we don’t hide it very well, although that’s not the part that makes me uncomfortable. It’s the part where women who are being objectified don’t seem to mind it and sometimes even work it to their advantage. There will be objectification for as long as there are takers for it.

It’s almost impossible to voice an opinion without it having some kind of a backlash.

However, that’s the price we have to pay for having an opinion and not being afraid to voice it. Do I have a problem with society’s notion of an ideal woman? Well, that really depends on what I choose to accept as their definition. The part I’ve chosen to accept and embrace is the part that treats women with equal respect and provides equal opportunities to men and women, doesn’t set double standards for men and women and advocates a merit based system, not one that makes special provisions for the perceived weaker sex. The definition I choose to accept is the one that defines women as strong individuals with an equal right to life and all it has to offer.

As long as there are musicians out there honestly pursuing their love for music and helping the scene grow, we’re off to a great journey.

As long as there are musicians out there honestly pursuing their love for music and helping the scene grow, we’re off to a great journey.

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Band of the Month

from left to right Sushin Shyam - Keyboards, Backing Vocals Advaith Mohan - Guitar Munz - Vocals Nezer Ahemed - Bass, Backing Vocals Ganesh Radhakrishnan - Drums Varun Raj - Guitar

This folk-thrash metal band from Kannur, Kerala which rose to fame with their first single Death Vanity, is making it with big bagging the award for the best music video for their song Shiva in the South Asia Music Awards (2011) and now recently releasing their debut album, “How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You.” Their lyrical theme is centralized around the universal issue of injustice and inequality which is under the influence of traditional Kerala folk music elements, giving this form of trash metal music a unique twist, and aims to serve as a voice for the ‘down trodden’.

The Down Troddence! How did you guys name the band that?

N: The name represents the state of mind of being a down trodden person. That means a lot in various ways. Being deprived of what we need is a way of being down trodden, being helpless is the state of being down trodden. That’s the emotion we’re trying to convey, by the name.

A: It’s not only just about poor people, it’s more like the concept.

What was the Kannur metal scene like before you guys came into the picture and how did it change after?

N: Kannur really had no metal scene except for one or two gigs.

A: There was actually no music scene.

N: There wasn’t really a scene in Kannur. Now it’s picking up, people are starting to listen to more music. Let the genre be metal or anything else, they’re listening to music with substance. It’s a good change.

As you said, you guys rose to fame by Death Vanity, how hard/easy was it for you to get there?

N: It was really, really hard! I remember times when we used to travel in general compartments near the bathroom with our instruments. From there, I think it’s a good journey, but I think we’re still capable of doing that. *laughs* A: Yes, we’re still capable of doing that. *laughs* N: We aren’t boasting or anything but yeah it’s been a tough journey. We had to sacrifice a lot to be in the band.

G: Eventually, we moved to Bangalore.

A: I think musically also it’s been a good journey. If you compare the first single to our latest songs you can see the development.

It’s been tough but rewarding.

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Shiva, your debut music video was amazing! The song had so many elements of cool in it. Tell us about what all went into making the song and its video.

N: The song was written in four different spots when we were constructing the song per se. I think that’s how it was portrayed in the music as well. Maybe the place had an influence on it, but majorly it was done in Kannur, so obviously the element of Kannur was there in the writing.

A: Shiva history is a huge thing in Kannur. Sati’s dad was killed by Shiva in this place, there’s a huge Shiva temple there.

N: So, coming back, the video shoot for Shiva was crazy! We had to call it off because it started raining and we had to cover up everything by ourselves. It wasn’t like there was a huge crew behind the scene or something, we were the crew! We had to do everything by ourselves. It just popped out of our minds one fine day, we were like let’s make a video for Shiva and that we need to portray this somehow and so we called in Jayesh and Clinton from Cochin, they did the scriptography. It’s been an effort of friends and nothing else.

A: We’re planning on making another video with the same crew, probably next month.

You also got awarded for the best music video for Shiva, how was that feeling?

A: Good to put on your resume. *laughs* N: To know that someone appreciates your music is amazing!

A: That too at an international level.

2008

2009

Munz and Varun start a bedroom project‘Ultimaytum’, and that transforms into them writing their first single, “Death Vanity”

Full fledgedly called themselves, “The Down Troddence” Prayag (drummer) replaced

by Ganesh (previously with Purple Blood from Trivandrum)

2010 Shaib the bassist leaves due to personal reasons, Naser roped in for bass guitar.

Manisha Bhat G: We were also competing with a lot of mainstream artists like Agam and many other artists.

N: We couldn’t really believe it. We were like, “Okay, is it really happening?” But it’s good to know that people are hearing our music and appreciating it. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Tell us about your influences, individually and as a band.

N: We’ve been listening to a lot of music! It’s not like it’s been compartmentalized genre wise. I think people should do that, listen to all kinds of music.

G: There’s Tool, Opeth, Meshuggah.

A: Karnivool, Porcupine Tree, Pantera.

N: Bands that are old school, bands like Helios. But yes, we listen to everything.

A: We listen to Daftpunk in the car. *laughs* There’s Soul and Sufi music.

Indian Classical music!

N: We are diehard fans of Indian Classical music!

Considering all the influences, how were you inspired to create folk metal music and thrash?

A: We started out creating trash music.

Maybe in our next album you’ll see a lot of progressive metal. We’ve transformed now and our latest songs sound nothing like trash.

But initially we started out as angry young men or angry college guys. Naser’s played in other bands and that was funk. But when we get on the stage there’s so much energy we get by playing.

N: More than aggression there’s just pure energy!

For a brief period of time the band was quiet. What happened during that time?

G: We were just out of college and we were figuring out stuff.

Tell us more about the lyrics of the songs, they seem to be strongly based on inequalities and injustices in the system.

Does this come out of experience, any incident or for the general sad state of the country?

G: We’ve been, for true, down trodden people. We see things from a perspective. Inequalities are all around us, we just have to see it from a perspective.

A: Everyone can see it, but sometimes we choose to ignore it and sometimes we have to tell it out loud.

N: People need to know.

A: If you read the lyrics, everything that’s there is what people feel normally.

N: It’s out there. People ignore it. We’d like to call their attention to it because something can be done.

How do you think the Indian metal scene changed over the past 5 years or so?

N: The listening population has definitely increased and people are more liberal now, it’s not like “I have to listen to metal.”

People listen to all kinds of music. That’s what we’d love to see, a music listening population, people who listen to everything and appreciate it in its whole form.

Being Avial-heads, would we be seeing you collaborating with them?

G and N: We’d love to!

N: But I don’t know how possible that is.

G: Maybe. We already collaborated with Baiju.

N: They’re musicians of another level. We should try really hard to get there.

Which upcoming bands do you think will make it big?

G: Scribe.

N: It isn’t an upcoming artist, they’re pretty established. They’re good. Black Letters is good.

G: Chaos is doing great too.

N: Reverse polarity, Crypted, Orchid from Bangalore is a band to check out.

N: It was a very tough decision, to get out of college and have a lot of options around you otherwise. It’s been tough, but very, very rewarding!

Lastly, what are your views on the Indian political system?

Congratulations on the debut album. Tell us about how different it is and how perfect it had to be for the debut.

A: I really like what they stand for, but they’ve not been given enough time judge. But the worst thing that the political system has done to us people, is that it’s made us so apathetic, nobody cares. People like us, we don’t even go vote! That’s how bad it is, there is no penetration. Every political party seems to be saying the same things. There’s no difference whether the BJP comes to power or the Congress comes to power, just the prices go up or come down. Do we see any change? None! I think the change has to also come from the people within.

N: It was not like we had to create an album. But somehow an overarching theme appears from somewhere and you decide to call it into one package called the album.

A: Towards the end we added another song, we had all the lyrics written down.

N: It sounds nothing like metal, though.

2011 TDT bags 3 awards at the IndieGo South Asia Music Awards 2011

2012 Rinoy leaves. Advaith comes in, as guitarist.

N: It’s either that or it’s either this, there’s nothing else. But you know what, AAP is something nice that’s happened.

2013 On New Years’ Eve, at Counterculture, TDT releases their new album: “We Are Fine, Thank You.”

N: Thinking in the right frame of mind and leading us in the right direction is what politicians are supposed to do. We don’t care who comes to power, we need to see some change.

A: We should be able to care. But truth is that nobody cares.

N: Change in the Delhi scene is heartening, but let’s see what happens.

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in studio with

Siddharth

Vipin

Getting started with Virtual Studio Technology What is a VST? VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology. It’s an interface for integrating audio synths and effects plugins with a digital audio workstation (DAW). Simply put, it brings to life the hardware components like keyboards and drum machines into your music software such as Cubase, FL Studio or Logic Pro etc.

The story behind the VST. Digital musicians before 1996 used their DAW to control keyboards and samplers through a midi and then routed all their external hardware through a traditional mixing desk. When the Cubase 3.02 was released, Steinberg announced the VST interface specification which allowed a new breed of software developers to recreate all those bulky effects units as VST plugins.

The true game changer though, was when VST’s were allowed to receive Midi data in 1999. With this addition, we could recreate keyboards, synths and drums. With this, the VST-I or the Virtual studio technology instrument was born.The modern day VST’s

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can process audio in 64 bit, allow audio inputs, multiple midi ins & outs and note expression.

How does one install a VST? There are two types of VST’s the smaller ones and the bigger ones. The smaller ones are usually (dot) dll files. Which needs to be copy pasted onto the plug-ins directory. Once that is done, on restarting your DAW, the plugins start working.

The bigger files are (dot) exe files which are usually the more expensive ones need to be installed like any other file.

Your choice of VST depends on what DAW you use. Some DAW’s give away VST’s as free downloads. You can also purchase certain VST’s . There are some developers who give them away for free. To have ample control over your VST, a keyboard with weighted keys will give you more expression and a controller with plenty of knobs and faders will allow you additional control over all your plugin settings. There are plenty of excellent keyboards and controllers around these days to suit every budget, so you choose exactly something that works for you.

How does a VST help a musician?

card to comply with the heavy VST’s. Otherwise your system will come to a screeching halt and will hang up midway through your For a musician in a studio, it might be pretty difficult to get work. A cheap sound card will result in a delay (latency) between certain artists to play certain instruments or for that matter you playing a note on the keyboard and the sound coming our of avail the instrument itself. VST’s come in your VSTi. Make sure you ask for a card play here! You can get almost any sound with zero latency or adjust the latency or instrument to download. This can then The famous composer Hans settings on your current card for best be applied to your DAW to reproduce that performance.

Zimmer has his own set of VST’s sound. You don’t actually need it to played available for download. Imagine physically. Although some people may Also note that you’ll need to balance your feel that it may not be as good as a person having Hans Zimmer and his use of VST plugins, effects and Virtual playing it, this is the closest you can get Instruments with the power of your system. orchestra on your composition. to a real physical performance. Imagine Too many things running at one time and Amazing, isn’t it? being able to replace a grand piano or a you’ll see your system slow down and your Leslie Hammond organ with a VST. Pretty audio glitching. smooth, isn’t it?

Though there is nothing to beat the human

How good should my PC be to run the VST’s ?

The most important aspect of your PC should be a decent sound

touch, a VST has become a must in the studio in today’s time. It serves as the perfect platform for a composer to deliver his ideas to a producer or a director.

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Practice

Makes Pro

Musical Advice and Tips by a few young and successful Carnatic Musicians of today.

Proficiency in any field requires passion, dedication, and acumen. Carnatic Music is one of the most challenging forms of music in the world today. Many aspiring musicians struggle with the concept of practice and too often have I heard the questions, “What do I practice to get better? How do know if I’m practicing correctly?” Musicians’ skills can continually improve over decades before peaking.

To shed some light on the subject, I asked some of the young and upcoming musicians how they practiced to become professionals.

Sai Subramaniam

Sumesh Narayanan

Arun Ramamurthi

Guhan Venkataraman

Anirudh Athreya

Morsing player and student of Kalaimamani AS Krishnan

Mridangist and student of Sri Tiruvarur Bhatavatsalam

violinist and student of Sri Delhi P. Sunderrajan

Vainika and student of Smt. Ranganayaki Rajagopalan

Kanjira artist and studentof Dr. TK Murthy

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Ananya Ashok What are some personal challenges that you have faced while trying to develop your music skills? (Example: balancing school, work, music, motivation, confidence on stage)

violin as well as strong encouragement from my parents and teachers. I eventually learned how to manage my time and prioritize activities which helped me strike that perfect balance between school and music.

How have you improved your manodharmam? Can you share some practices that have helped you?

Guhan: Living in America, I learned only during the summer and I used to have a hard time motivating myself to practice, as there was no “deadline” to learn something by. I would also forget songs, sangathis, and specifics very often because each of those summers would be a veritable “crash-course” of music (I would be learning at a very fast rate because Mami is very old and weak, so she always wants to maximize the amount of material taught). I’ve always had to work hard and self-motivate myself to practice each and every song multiple times.

Sai: In respect of , My guru gives me some phrases and allows me to improvise in order to get me to think for myself.

While doing this one must carefully prepare a korvai with regard to limitations on the Morsing, which is common in every instrument. My Guru also says, instead of writing down korvais or calculations, retain and recall. It’s a better workout for the brain. Aside from that, musical conversations with friends improve your spontaneity.

Ashwath: Motivation was never an issue for me, as I was very serious about how I approached it. When I was little, I used to crib about waking up early for practice. When I got older however, balancing studies and music was never a problem for me. I was an above average student in both school and college. All my teachers and professors were very supportive of my musical talent. Post-college, balancing work life and music has been a little difficult. But I constantly work to strike a balance.

Sumesh: I personally feel, listening to a lot of diverse styles helps a lot in building one’s creativity. For instance, the old school of playing Mridangam had a drastic effect on mine and I have arrived at a point where anything I play or anything I create has to sound old and traditional. This, I strongly believe is because I exposed myself to a lot of vintage recordings. I then use their approaches as my base and start building on it. While innovation is a great phenomenon, I have a personal flair towards old school.

Sai: Currently, I’m doing my CA and in the process of doing my final. Till I completed my CA course (IPCC), taking leave on school days for concerts and practices was easy. However, balancing time became tough during my Articleship.

Thankfully, I have an understanding boss and I schedule my concerts according to my work schedule. I rarely accept concerts during the “known” hectic periods and the musicians I accompany are very understanding.

Anirudh: Every art form brings along its share of challenges.

I would be exaggerating if I said i haven’t faced any of it!

It’s the experience that comes with the challenge that helps you develop your skill as a musician. As a child, I never had problems with balancing school and music. Motivation has never been a problem and I am fortunate to have some fantastic fellow musicians, who have inspired throughout!

There have been only a few situations where I found myself low on confidence on stage due to the pressures involved in sharing the stage with some of the legendary figures of Carnatic Music.

Sumesh: During school days, I was under the overrated pressure of having to meet expectations. But honestly, I never let it hinder my focus in what I consider my primary forte i.e; Music. I somehow managed to score decently in my exams, thanks to last minute crash courses. There were sacrifices, but it all yielded well in the end. I realized I became confident with every concert I played and listened to. So, fortunately I wasn’t ever challenged as such. Every concert was an exam in my head. And I had to pass. There were no choices.

Arun: The challenges vary at different stages of learning. I began learning the violin at the age of 4, and at that time it was probably just my new toy. Next several years, practicing the violin was never really a problem. As a teenager is when I first ran into challenges in keeping up with my daily practice routine. With the pressures of high school, at times it sadly turned into a stressful chore rather than an enjoyable hobby. However, I was able to get Ashwath Narayanan through it thanks to my passion for the Student of the late great Palghat Sri KV Narayanaswamy and later Smt. Padma Narayanaswamy

Do you like music other than Carnatic Music? If so what kind? What do you listen to? Have you ever performed for other genres of music? What was the experience like?

Anirudh: Yes, I love to listen to Jazz and a lot of other genres of music. I am a big fan of Michael Jackson and Yanni. I also like film music. I was part of the fusion band ‘Oxygen’ for sometime. The experience was definitely new and very interesting. You actually get a chance to cater to a variety of audience through such collaborative efforts. I would love to listen to a Jazz concert, live in Chennai sometime.

Sumesh: Absolutely. I listen to a lot of Latin and Jazz. I feel there’s a lot of connection among all the genres of music. I also listen to pop and rock from time to time. As a musician, I feel it is essential for every musician to accept and adore music as a whole without bias. A lot of the other songs also have strong Latin influence, thanks to the brilliant minds in the band. I personally feel very ecstatic when I have to learn a Bossa groove or a Rumba clave pattern. It only makes me love what I do, all the more.

What are some things you do now/used to do when you first started performing, to prepare for a concert? What do you do on the day of? For example do you meditate/ warm-up/practice specific things?

Sumesh: Other than basic things like trying to be focused on the day of the concert and not straining the mind too much, I strongly feel that maintaining a good vadyam for every concert is a job well begun. I inspect every part of the particular vadyam on the day of the concert, play a little, get used to it for the evening’s performance and treat it well so that it treats me back in the same way.

Anirudh: I make it a point to warm-up by practicing some basic strokes for half-an-hour on the day on the concert. I also make sure that I take a power nap before the concert; it keeps me fresh and helps to improve my thought process.

Ultimately however, it’s really the number of hours of practice that I put in during my earlier days is what that keeps me going even today.

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THE

BAND PS YCHE

Starting points Well, the most common story I hear is that a group of friends or acquaintances figured out that they had the same interest in a certain genre of music or prominent artist and came together to create much of the same. Some may not even necessarily be familiar with a particular instrument at the time of forming.

Many times, the goal of achieving elusive skill levels and musical sensibilities is not the primary focus. It may be more along the lines of wanting to be the next best thing or tapping into its cathartic effect. The ability to play 24 chords or time signatures on a drum may be secondary in the focus of starting a band.

For example, a group of eager young’uns want to start a Blues band- they just need to know three chords (E, A, B). This is characteristic of Bono’s saying “All I have is my red guitar, three chords and the truth.” There ya go. There are various starting points for all bands, of course. And reasons for staying together become more profound as they learn more about each other and themselves and their potential as a band.

Turning points After a band has formed, factors like chemistry and communication play larger roles. Band dynamics are in the process of formation and roles are set. The adjective that could characterize bands with healthy band dynamics is “tight”. Being a tight band refers to an ideal situation where the band members are able to amalgamate and play/perform in accordance to each other. There’s no overpowering, only heavenly synchronicity.

This may happen only during the honeymoon phase of their band relationship or may continue on for years resulting in the manifestation of the band becoming a household name.

Sometimes a member’s sensibilities are different from the very

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start leading to band trouble. Let’s look at The Beatles. Pete Best, the first drummer, was talented, yet he did not quite fit into the style of the music the rest of The Beatles wanted to play. His focus was on folk rather than the pop avenue The Beatles were taking. Out went Pete and in came Ringo. Talent didn’t play a role here. The fact that Ringo Starr played in accordance with the rest of the band did.

When the music stops Why is it that some bands stay together for a significant amount of time and some don’t even get their big break? The Beatles, our favorite band to dissect, were together for ten revolutionary years. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the main songwriters; however, performance-wise equal input was needed.

A mix of egotistical clashes, a dash of mystical Indian music, and other hobbies for each member started taking a toll on their band relationship. McCartney’s swaying towards progressive rock was a sign that the band’s primary idea of what music to create had changed. When they started, they had the same ideas and complementary personalities, but after a while, each had developed his own persona leading to the dissolving of The Beatles, more or less.

Most bands that stay together are able to claim clear cut roles which aid communication. Leadership is necessary to keep a band up and running, although a democratic affair does sound ideal.

Take U2. Started in the late 70s and they’re still one of the best out

Christina Stephenson

Being in a band always sounded like a cool thing to do, right? People ask you what you do in life and you don’t mention your major or current workplace, but with a smirk, you drawl, “Oh I’m just in a baaand.” Wink. Nudge. Now I’m just exaggerating, of course. A hoard of individuals out there, gifted with musical talent and stage presence (or lack thereof), don’t form bands just to gain a level or two on the social strata. There’s a passion. A calling. The ability to create music is one of the most beautiful talents God bestowed on humanity. And when an individual wants to pursue that ability with all his might with the help of a few others, it is laudable.

Let’s explore the intricacies of the band- formation as well as disbandment.

there without once having to consign themselves to democracy.

They started with limited musical proficiency with Mullen’s main purpose to “get girls” and grew under the songwriting and leadership of Bono. Though Adam Clayton did have a few discrepancies with their evolving style, he was able to bow to the majority opinion. Hence, U2 still owns a bit of the scene for almost forty years. Members of a band might choose to leave due to a number of reasons. The way money is handled may cause a rift as well as personal beliefs. Some individuals cite reasons such as unhealthy personal habits and addictions of fellow members as incentive to leave.

So there you have it, a few insights on band 101. But we’re not done, let’s hear it from band members of the current Chennai music scene who have experience with bands that have ticked and bands that haven’t. They help shed light on the whys and wherefores of starting out, the underlying reason of sticking together or going separate ways, and ways of dealing with roadblocks on their journey towards common or uncommon goals.

Berty Ashley (former member of New Horizons, Madurai): Sometimes, factors like basic geography can aid the disintegration of a band. We were in a small city and that’s what made us really hit it off.

Kausthub (Adam and Evil, Chennai): I think we started out the way we did because of the incredible chemistry we shared, not to mention similar musical influences. We wanted to play music like The Red Hot Chili Peppers and we did, and that’s what got us together in the beginning.

Vikram/Rohan (Grey Shack, Chennai): What brought us together at the very beginning was probably a competition during the college days. At first, it was the rush of emotions playing on stage. On the other hand, we wanted to create original music

stemming from a personal need. We wanted to create music reflective of current thought and there is always that unmatchable feeling you get when you play something great and it’s accepted.

Kausthub: The reason we’ve been together for so long is the way we handle our roadblocks, I guess. We make it a point to talk it out. We meet up when we’re calm and composed and one of us might mediate and we discuss alternatives or compromises. It’s always worked.

Vikram: What we have going for us is probably is the fact that we indulge in a lot of bonding off stage. There’s a subconscious sort of synchronicity. We got to a point where we can expect what the other is going to do while jamming. That’s really important in keeping a band alive.

Prithvi (The Halcyon Days, Chennai)/Sairam: There’s always a way to keep the band together. Recording our latest single (Oblivion) was probably what helped the most. We try not to depend on an audience and their opinions. Because if that dies out, the only choice is to call it quits.

Although, it seems pompous to try to simplify the complexity of band psychology, due to the number of factors playing in, I think we might have an accurate picture of what works and what doesn’t. To the bands that haven’t worked out, to those that have, to those in the making, here’s to brighter futures, all.

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Star of the Month

Nikh iL Not only is this man a legend and a truly revolutionary figure in the dance music industry in India, he is also the most dedicated husband a woman could ask for.

Meet the ex-Festival Director of Sunburn and the chief architect behind Submerge, the man who has brought some of the best international talents to the country, possessor of the most dynamic stage and screen presence, and VJ par excellence. The Score Magazine brings to you your very own Nikhil Chinapa as our Star of the Month!

Nikhil’s Pro Tips for aspiring musicians:

On Dada Life: Submerge is hosting a 3-city tour with Dada Life in India. They’re one of the few mainstream artists who haven’t been to India yet and there’s a ton of excitement around the tour. Musically, they’ve managed to retain edginess and a certain amount of grime to their sound, while continuing to churn out multiple hits.

Walking this fine line is what has made their music stand out these past few years.

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Dump the EDM tag. It’s been done to death and becoming just another EDM artist isn’t going to let you stand apart or be unique. Create a unique style that is your own.

Copy someone else and you’ll dig yourself into a creative hole you’ll find it difficult to get out of.

On Submerge’s future plans: We’re working on a few acts but alongside popular names, Submerge is focusing strongly on nurturing the alternative music scene aka the underground. We feel that this is crucial to the overall health of dance music and the community around it.

Srishti Ambani

Chinapa There was a time when the general perception about DJs was that they’re people who play music at parties.

Sometimes even on demand. From then to today, when being a DJ is one of the most coveted professions there is, what are your views about this shift in perception?

A lot was said and speculated over when you decided to break free of Sunburn and join Submerge. What’s the journey been like, ever since? Sunburn was once synonymous with your name. How has it felt not being associated with it anymore?

That general perception is still the bane of many a DJ’s night. However, we’re evolving into a more informed and perceptive audience, as far as dance music is concerned. A ton of credit needs to go to those DJs amongst us who’ve stuck to their guns and played music they believe in. This has been a crucial aspect of educating our audiences to new sounds, styles and genres of music.

This in turn has resulted in an evolution of the DJ’s stature and the perception of his / her role.

Submerge has been around since 2003, long before I came up with the concepts and plans for Sunburn. In fact Pearl and I were already bringing acts to India from 2001, way before Submerge was born.

We were busy building the foundation, spreading the music, getting processes in place, organizing all sorts of gigs and events, for nearly a decade before Sunburn came about. We worked with and supported a huge number of Indian as well as international DJs over the years, as many as we possibly could. So many DJs across India bolstered and strengthened the scene here and we worked alongside them.

We were all part of one tightly knit community and happy to see the trajectory the country’s music scene was taking.

Why do you think EDM has gained such popularity? Why has it struck such a strong chord with today’s young generation?

The music has tons of energy and simple melodies with catchy lyrics have helped catapult EDM into the mainstream. It’s also no coincidence that the growth of social media has seen a parallel growth in EDM. The ability to share music has multiplied its popularity, especially since it was already the most popular music around when social media exploded.

Who, according to you, is the most underrated EDM artist in the country?

Vachan Chinnappa’s on the top of that list.

Favorite Indian EDM artists: An artist that I’ve liked for a while - who isn’t an EDM artist at all, is Praveen Achary.

Along with DJs like Vinayak A, Vachan Chinnappa, Tuhin Mehta, Ash Roy and of course Pearl; they’re making a qualitative impact on the music scene in India.

Do you think the EDM wave will make an entry into Bollywood music too? Or maybe even overthrow the Bollywood music monopoly here one day?

EDM has been a part of Bollywood for a very long time, in the form of “Bollywood remixes”. The remixes are essentially EDM tracks with desi vocals. But to answer your question, no I don’t think EDM will overtake Bollywood in popularity anytime this century.

I brought all this experience and know-how to the team when discussion about a festival came about. Sunburn was created in 2007 after a conversation with Aman Anand and Devraj Sanyal, who at the time worked at Percept. I worked on that festival for six years with what I now look back on as false promises. I was eventually delivered legal notices and taken to court. Not just me – Pearl, Hermit and Submerge have been dragged into this as well. They have worked relentlessly to create the base a festival like that now stands on. It’s indeed a pity to see the methods and mode that they have resorted to.

It feels sad to be pushed out of the festival I helped create and even gave its name to and what saddens me further is that we have been dragged to court as a reward for all this. Pearl was the one who signed our first ever artist agreement in Amsterdam – in 2001 – the first page that set this whole thing rolling for India. She now fights for us standing in Court and visiting lawyers.

It’s horrible to see this level of antagonism and aggression being brought into the electronic music scene in India, which was a peaceful place all these years that we’ve been involved in it. Pearl and I now have to defend a legacy we created from our own personal life experiences. That’s our lot for now, but I'm only looking forward.

I will continue to focus on what's important - the music and the dance music community we're all a part of.

EDM has developed enough awareness to be classified as mainstream. How well do you think the underground genres of deep house, glitch, nu-disco have penetrated the Indian audience?

The past year has seen a huge growth in interest in these genres you’ve mentioned as well as bass music. That’s fantastic for our scene’s future as it provides a viable and stable alternative to the mainstream. So whenever the mainstream wave passes, we will have a strong core-group of fans for the alternative sound, which will define future trends in dance music. The cooler crowd in India is listening to these new sounds and their number is growing by leaps and bounds! The new release by Defected in the House, Ibiza 2014 (a compilation of great house music that transcends styles and has a strong emphasis on deep house) is at #1 on iTunes India, which is a sign of things to come!

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Score Reviews

Top 5

Khalifa (Lekar Hum deewana dil) Most of the faces in the promos of this film seemed unidentifiable but when ARR’s scoring the music, the movie doesn’t need a bigger USP. This track is an energetic dance number sung by the maestro himself.

bOllywood SONGS

Galiyaan (Ek Villain)

Muskurane (City lights)

Ankit Tiwari seems to be on a purple patch in recent times. This song from Ek Villain is a must listen for its haunting music and Ankit’s sonorous voice.

Arijit Singh has become a standard in this column already. His range of vocals and his consistency are worthy of awe. Jeet Ganguli crafts this beauty of a song that is extremely soothing to listen to.

Unborn Children (Million Dollar Arm)

Ghoom Gayi (Hawa Hawaai)

A R Rahman reuses his old composition “Thirakkadha Kaatukulle” from En Swaasa Kaatrae in his latest international venture, Million Dollar Arm. Needless to say, this melody seems to have withstood the test of time and still remains one of his best compositions.

Amole Gupte’s film got rave reviews, but this short soundtrack went unnoticed. Hitesh Sonik’s compositions complimented the movie brilliantly and this number crooned by Sunidhi Chauhan is the pick of the lot.

The 5 that almost made it Maaloom (Lekar Hum Deewana Dil)

Tabah (Heropanti)

This seems to A R Rahman’s month indeed. This track is oft reminiscent of the sound he used for Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. But he concocts a tune that is so youthful and joyous in its appeal. The choice of singers, Hriday and Jonita, is yet another A R Rahman masterstroke.

This pensive melody is right in Mohit Chauhan’s comfort zone.

Sajid-Wajid get the tune spot on and Mohit aces this song with his ever so dependable vocals.

Makhna (Million dollar arm)

The quintessential 60s dance number. Barring Himesh’s nasal twang, the song does make for fun listening and Himesh gets most of the yesteryear elements in the music right.

Sukhwinder Singh continues to be a regular in A R Rahman’s international albums. This one is a fun Punjabi tune, layered over a punchy techno beat.

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Ice Cream (The Xpose)

Kris Prashanth

Score Reviews

Top 5 KOllywood SONGS

Enthaara enthaara Ghibran is sensational. His music keeps getting better and better and at this rate I’m sure he will find himself among the top composers soon.

This particular track is a lovely, sweeping melody with innovative backgrounds and some top notch singing by Shadab Faridi and the ever dependable Chinmayi.

Oh Oh Nadhigal (Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham) Santhanam’s debut solo hero project does boast of a couple of good songs by the talented Siddharth Vipin. Oh oh Nadhigal oda is makes the cut for its breezy tune and neat vocals by Naresh Iyer and Shreya Ghoshal.

Rayile raA Ghibran ropes in the talented to Bonnie Chakraborty to croon this sprightly number that is accentuated by neat techno backgrounds. The tamil pronunciations go awry at places but his hyper energetic singing compensates for that.

Rasa Magarasa (Mundasupatti) After a kickass debut in Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, Sean Roldan follows it up with a superb sophomore effort in Mundasupatti.

This song is perfectly in tune with the film’s setting and Sean Roldan ups the ante with some innovative orchestration.

Nenje nenje (ennathan pesuvadho) About time someone brought Harshdeep Kaur down south to sing for a Tamil movie. D Imman takes the initiative and creates a wonderful composition with splendid backgrounds. Harshdeep’s voice is the icing on this lovely cake.

The 5 that almost made it Kannukul pothivaipen (Thirumanam Enum Nikkah) Three songs from the same album in the top 10 should tell you how fabulous this album is. This song with its Carnatic base is handled by Vijay Prakash, Charulata Mani and Sadhana Sargam. What results is pure aural pleasure.

Kaathala (Sathuranga Vettai) Sean Roldan is on a roll. After Santosh Narayan, he seems to be the next big thing in the Tamil music scene. Kalyani is on top form in this song and Sean kills it with some stunning arrangements.

Nenje Nenje (Yaan)

Gnayiru Dhinangalin (Poovarasam Peepee)

Harris jayaraj’s latest album clocks more misses than hits but this song is the pick of the lot. The tune is beautiful, typically HJ-ish, but Unnikrishnan and Chinmayi’s singing adds the extra likeability factor.

Arul Dev is a newcomer to the music scene but he does pretty well with this album. Abhay Jodhpurkar’s version of this song is a delightful listen, especially the guitar which seems to have a voice of its own.

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In Hi Ko - Lifafa Lifafa is Suryakant Sawhney’s self-styled “chudail step” & electronica project, a description that explains itself perfectly in the EP In Hi Ko. It opens with a self-titled track and dives right into a nostalgia road trip with heavily delayed, drunken nearly-imperceptible choruses, deep bass and a hazy synth. Tofah clears the fog somewhat, with an interesting example of aberrant stop-start sampling. Take the soundtrack from a dramatic Bollywood sequence from the 70s, stick it in an edgy new-age movie, put a chillwave spin on it and you have Agnee Redux. Sawhney’s influence from Peter Cat & Recording Co.’s makes an undeniable appearance in Irradon, possibly the best track of the EP; it showcases the enormous potential in Lifafa, a corrupted desi chillstep vibe, an original sound overall.

Recommended: Irradon

What Color is Your Raindrop?

Tajdar Junaid In a soundscape dominated by electronic sampling, metal and world music, singersongwriter Tajdar Junaid is a breath of fresh air on a spring evening. What Color is Your Raindrop? is a two-way storyteller, an album to tell stories and create some.

It is the result of collaboration with over 18 musicians such as Greg Johnson on Mockingbird and Freddie Hangoler on The First Year. This EP has a supporting cast of an array of world instruments as in Dastaan, a simple, haunting theme floating on the crutches of the Charango and Violin, you don’t even realize the lack of percussion because that would wake you from your reverie. Junaid has a flair for writing beautiful instrumentals, a talent evident in the title song.

It is clearly a deeply personal album, Tajdar’s father makes an appearance with his poetry narrative in Yaadon Ki Pari and Aamna is dedicated to his niece.

What Color is Your Raindrop? bears a seamless adaptability to each ear, like an aural mood ring, the album evokes day dreams, playful childhood memories of hide & seek, introspective inner monologues and hidden revelations.

Recommended: Dastaan, Yaadon Ki Pari, Though I Know

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Sabrina Adeni

Rlung Ta - Samved Electronic versions of Hindustani classical music come together in a fusion experiment to form Samved and Rlung Ta is their debut album, released in a surprisingly short 6 month endeavor.

The album has everything, old-school syrupy vocals, stirring sarangi solos, emotive tabla percussion and a sound-driven electronic landscape. In spite of all these redeeming and promising qualities however, Rlung Ta fails to leap at the possibilities of its talent and somehow falls disappointingly short.

Ambient and diverse, Love Science is debatably the best track off this album; the solo at the end is tight. Anamudi Access, is one of the tracks that is a step in the right direction, interweaving tabla and manufactured percussion over brisk, heady playback singing, same goes for the instrumental 7 Brick Walls.

The album definitely does justice to the fusion label and is sure to gather new fans for the genre, but given the enormous scope of the digital playground, the buck stops within the boundaries of predictability.

Recommended: Love Science, Anamudi Access, Eastern Clouds

Shapes On The Wall Black Letters Fresh out of the college circuit, Black Letter comes off as a cookie-cutter altrock band at first listen. On a second listen, the album opens up to unsuspecting maturity and storytelling. Roam is a good choice for the first track; we get a taste of all 4 musicians right off the bat and they play to each other’s strengths very well. The lead singer nails the archetypal alt-rock vocal (think Benji Madden or Doug Robb) layered with catchy riffs, inventive bass lines and crisp drumming.

For a band that has its origins as a metal band, tracks like Old Firebox, Remembrance and Find You come as a pleasant surprise, and the lyrics reveal a thoughtful exposition to the idea of the album.

What I like best about this band is that they don’t try to be something they’re not, their sound is fresh and firmly alt-rock, a box they fit quite neatly into.

Recommended: Old Firebox, Find You

B Seventy - The Bartender The Bartender puts a new spin on 70s classics in B Seventy courtesy Mikey McCleary and his cabal of sultry playback singers. This album comprises 8 tracks, all remakes of the best from Big B’s hits from the 70s, opening with Khaike Paan Banaraswala, possibly for the first time with a female playback.

Inteha Ho Gayi Intezar Ki gets the drunken drawl right and considering the reputation Big B had as the Angry Young Man, his characters have a second facet surely more popular at parties i.e., The Inebriated Vocalist as in Thodi Si Jo Pee Li Hain and Jumma Chumma De De. Anushka Manchanda’s flirty crooning in the latter is almost too sexy.

The Bartender has shaken and served a dirty martini from the era of disco and cabaret in a tall glass of B Seventy.

Recommended: Inteha Ho Gayi Intezaar Ki, Jumma Chumma De De

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www.stringtemple.com

This month's edition features a special segment of the String Temple records with Sriram Parthasarathy. The same Sriram, who brought us heart warming tunes like Suttum Vizhi Choodare and Elangathu Veesudhe.

This award winning playback singer is also a talented veena player and a disciple of the great Shri. Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan, reflecting every bit of his musical eloquence in Hindustani as well as Carnatic renditions.

Let us know about your early exposure to music, coming from a musical family. How was your experience being under the tutelage of your grandfather, Veena player Shri. Raghavan and your father Mr.Parthsarathy, also a prominent Veena player ?

Hailing from a family of musicians, I was really blessed to grow up in a musical environment which made me hear and enjoy the nectarine sweetness of the divine instrument of veena since the age of 3.Though I’m a singer by profession, I have great love for our family instrument, the veena. This was mainly because of my grand father, Veenai V.Raghavan, who was a great exponent of the instrument (and practices 24/7). He also shared the art of playing to many people by teaching. I was initiated by my grand father, Veenai V.Raghavan, into the veena at the early age of 6.

Learning from him, the techniques, was nostalgic. He

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shared them with great love and care, not only with me but to the other grand children as well.

My father Veena R.Parthasarathy found the spark in me when I was young and let me learn whatever I wished in music. He was very open minded as a musician which in turn gave me way to listen to all forms of music across the globe to become a complete musician.

You are adept at Carnatic and Hindustani Classical music. Do you incorporate any of the Hindustani music elements in your Carnatic performances?

How do we learn to understand the differences between these two forms of music?

According to me, though we talk and discuss about these two great forms often, I honestly feel the joy and oneness that it is gives us is inevitable and evident as we travel to the depths of both genres of music. Though both are essentially from the same source (the 7 great musical notes), it requires a great deal of understanding and approaching these systems. My conclusion is, the aesthetical approach is pure joy, irrespective of the forms. I fuse the aesthetics of Hindustani music often, in my carnatic concerts. I sing mainly in Tukadas or any Hindusthani ragas.

How does your learning experience with Shri. Neyveli Santhanagopalan reflect in your music?

It was almost like a Gurukul system in my case, in which the essence of music is transferred carefully to the student. My first Guru was Vidwan Shri. O.S.Thiagarajan. Later, I was completely under the guidance of Vidwan Shri.Neyveli R.Santhanagopalan who is the reason for whatever I’m today. I owe it all to him. He was a genius himself, but a simpleton. He nurtured my music not only by teaching but also made me accompany him on the stage as a vocal support for many years to learn the secrets of performing. The process of learning under him for years together was a great experience in itself.

His perspective of music definitely reflects in mine when I approach a krithi or a raga.

Can you elucidate on the aesthetics of instrumental music in Carnatic classical?

I feel every vocal musician should certainly learn to play atleast one or two instruments to know the range and ambit of an instrument. It definitely opens up a new dimension in terms of understanding the frequency and in turn enriches the vocalist by imbibing the nuances of the same. According to me Human-Voice is the ultimate instrument which can reproduce almost all the frequencies when it carefully analyzes and assimilates what it hears.

Yes...I incorporate my understanding of veena in my vocal, when I approach a sangathi it comes down to my aesthetics.

How does your classical music experience reflect in film music? Or how do you differentiate between both experience wise?

Any classical form learnt will be of great use when you venture in to other genres because you can always compare and understand the difference initially, but to become an adept is possible only by experience.You need a keen understanding of your voice projection. Singing Carnatic and singing film music has an ocean of difference when it comes to understanding and

delivering it as such.

In film music, usually the music director demands the interpretation of the song and to satisfy the composer is a real challenge. I have sung for almost all the leading music directors like Vidyasagar, Ilayaraja, A.R. Rahman and others.

The experience I’ve gained from them are invaluable.

What is your take on the current scenario of Film Music. Does film music in India gives the right kind of exposure to World Music?

Yes. Though we talk about trendy music etc, at the end of the day, to relax, soothing melody is what finally people arrive to and of course, there are exceptional cases :).

I feel more melody numbers should come up to maintain the balance of the present scenario.

How far do you stress the importance of learning or exposure towards other forms of music? be it either for musicians or the listeners?

Being open to other forms is the first and foremost qualification of a wise musician. To become a complete musician, you need an overall understanding of almost all the forms and that demands good amount of listening to varied music. Shri.V.S.Narasimhan Sir helped and guided me in this aspect by sharing his collection of greatest music videos and audios with me. I thank him for sharing all those great riches with me.

I agree, that to master one genre itself takes years of practice but if one is not exposed to other genres then he’ll never know what is happening on the other side of the world and will only think that his genre or form is the greatest of all. That’s pathetic.

You are more into creating your own music and production in the recent times. How does it feel creating your own?

To express myself musically is the greatest joy of all. My heart felt thanks to Shri. Chandrashekar Sir (Guitarist and Sound engineer of Raga Fantasy) who initiated me in to the world of techno-music recording by teaching me the musical softwares like Sonar. I materialize my musical ideas whenever I feel like composing a song or a musical piece with the help of these techno-recording gadgets.

What is your take on collaborating with western musicians ? What do you think of V.S.Narasimhan's Madras String Quartet and what was your experience working with him on his latest album Raga Fantasy?

I have been always part of fusion programs, Jugal bandhis, film music, Carnatic concerts etc. Collaborating with them enriches our skill-set and there develops a mutual appreciation. I'm really happy to be a part of Raga-Fantasy.

Raga-Fantasy is a unique project in which Indian instruments even like veena, harp santur, mridangam, ghatam and kanjira are beautifully used for the quartet arranged classical pieces.

This is a very new thought with which the composer has come up with and has to be globally appreciated. I’ve recorded two songs in this album, Sri. Sarasvathi and Thelisi rama. It is sheer joy as well as a learning process, that too from a doyen like V.S.Narasimhan Sir. He has made an ideal and genuine fusion of musical forms in the best way possible. My respects and wishes for him for more creative work.

CUT TIME

Music has always been about energy to me

a question of fuel

sentimental people call it inspiration but what they really mean is fuel

and i’m a serious consumer

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on some nights, i still believe

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Nilankur Dutta

that a car

with the gas needle on empty

could run about fifififififfifiifty extra miles

if you have the right music, really loud on the radio

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Roland FA Series Music Workstation

Sound: FA Series is loaded with legendary 2000 INTEGRA-7 tones.

There is expressive SuperNATURAL acoustic, synth, and drum sound, as well as a collection of Roland’s PCM sounds from past instruments. FA Series has rewritable memory capacity equal to 2 expansion boards which allows the user to download extra tones made available from Axial website.

Added Advantage

Complete Recording Solution: FA Series has an inbuilt 16 track MIDI sequencer which allows you to record songs from the scratch. The ability to enable and disable the recording feature while recording gives the user the freedom to try new sounds, move to the next track, try new melodies or even mix tracks without ever having to stop the sequencer.

Each track that’s recorded in the FA-series’ sequencer can be exported as an individual WAV file stem directly to an SD card.

The user then needs to simply insert the card and move his files into his favorite multitrack recording software.

Add loops and Samples to your performance: FA Series makes working with samples fast, flexible and hasslefree. Import a loop or vocal line, assign it to a pad, edit the start point and use it in your performance. It also allows you to sample the internal sounds or an external instrument (via line in) with added effects and then send back out to your DAW software. Since the FA Series uses SD cards, you get instant access to your samples with no loading time.

FA Series has control knobs which allow you to modify your sound while you are live on stage.

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Sampling Pad – Currently no keyboard in this price bracket offers sampling pad. This feature gives extra punch to the sound as the keyboard player has the added advantage to enhance his performance by using the actual loops played in the original track.

Not only loops, sampling pad can also be used to give the effect of chorus or harmony as well.

The True School of Music: Where Education meets Opportunity.

The last 5 years have seen a phenomenal growth in the entertainment and media sectors.

The Recorded Music Industry in India is currently worth $150 million. As far as independent music goes, around 1000 live gigs and 3120 DJ gigs take place every year. In terms of music production, over a 1000 films and about 19,000 ads are being released each year; and the number is only rising.

What this country’s growing music industry really needs is for people of the right caliber to meet it’s rapidly increasing demands.

The True School of Music, India's first comprehensive institute for contemporary music, aims to do just that. The teaching methodology has been crafted to inculcate real world skills in students; skills that will help them thrive in this competitive field. With state of the art facilities and top faculty from around the world, the True School of Music endeavours to be the vanguard of providing music education of the highest caliber, helping students take the initial steps or continue their journey to higher levels in the music industry.

TSM has strong support from music industry icons like Ehsaan Noorani, Salim Merchant, Shubha Mudgal, Louiz Banks, Indian Ocean, Ranjit Barot and Monica Dogra.

The school is intrinsically rooted in the Indian Music Industry, giving students the opportunity to learn, work on real live projects, build relationships and be part of an inspiring yet professional environment and work ethic.

Music as a career is here to stay. And a quality music education will ensure you stay too.

A quick look at the courses The True School of Music offers:

"I looked at Berklee and other top schools and wondered when will we have something like that. I wish I could just stop my music career and join TSM for an advanced course" - Salim Merchant

Pro School

Get certified as an industry ready music professional.

Guitar| Bass | Drums | Keyboards | Vocals | DJ | Music Production | Audio Engineering

Pre Pro Program Go from novice to musician, equipped for further music studies.

Guitar | Bass | Drums | Keyboards | Vocals | Music Production

Foundation School

A hobby class with quality curriculum and focus on ensemble playing.

Western: Guitar | Bass | Drums | Keyboards | Vocals | DJ Indian: Tabla | Harmonium | Vocals | Bansuri

ADMISSIONS OPEN FOR JULY 2014

For more details: www.trueschool.in | info@trueschool.in | 022-66243200 107 Sun Mill Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013

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