ANNIVERSARIES:
ANNIVERSARIES:
After releasing his 11-song album titled ‘Here We Go,’ Sooraj is now working on bringing those songs to life on the screen with a series of music videos. ‘The Actor,’ he says, is the first of more videos that he has planned. “Moving through the masquerade, I just want to see your face,” pleads Sooraj in his newest music video for his song ‘The Actor.’ In the video, Sooraj tells the classic tale of a young artist with big dreams in the unforgiving world of Hollywood – with a twist.
Sooraj recently graduated from Musician’s Institute, Hollywood with a degree in vocal performance but has been playing the keyboards since age one and a half, passing his Trinity College Grade 8 keyboard exam at age six, and playing multiple instruments such as the guitar, drums, bass while combining them all into music production. His other music videos for the songs ‘Nemesis’ and ‘City Beat’ raked up over 60,000 and 150,000 views on YouTube respectively, while he performed his songs from the album both in the US and in India. He is also a private pilot, and has in fact shot an aerial scene for the music video from the flight deck of a small aircraft.
The video, shot by LA-based filmmaker Jonas Gaida is a reflection on Sooraj’s own stories and observations of the Hollywood glitz and what goes on behind the scenes. “The song is about people who start out with stars in their eyes and end up pushed to the ground by the world around them. It was inspired by true-life stories of people being forced to warp their original identity and aspirations by the big bad world who wants them to be someone they aren’t.” With a smile, he adds, “I walk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame every day and all I step on are pink stars on the boulevard. I thought to myself, is this the pinnacle of fame – to have a star on the boulevard and have people walk over you? That was what sparked the writing of this song.”
‘The Actor’ can be found on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, and the song is available to stream as part of Sooraj’s album ‘Here We Go,’ on all major platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Saavn and Amazon Play.
Those of you who have been around from the 1960's through the 1990's will remember the vibrant live music scene in almost every starred hotel in India. Those were the days when you walked into a nightclub like 'Rendezvous' at The Taj Mahal hotel and 'Supper Club' at the Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai to see curtains going up on a band that was the prime focus of these outlets. Every seat in these restaurants allowed an unobstructed view of the band that performed every night on resident contracts. Today all this has disappeared thanks to some ridiculously high entertainment taxes on live music. Today, non off these hotels have complete bands playing save for a few that feature small duos or solo singers. The Lodhi in New Delhi, recently listed among the world's best hotels, decided to step in and rewind to the good old days. They got Goa's premier jazz quartet 'Jazz Junction' to move to Delhi on a resident contract and the decision has paid off in terms of footfalls generated by the band. Jazz Junction featuring singer Daniella Rodrigues, pianist Tony Dias,
bassist Colin D'Cruz and drummer Angelo Colasco began playing at The Lodhi in June 2018. Four months into the contract the band generated a sizeable following, with quite a few high profile guests choosing to celebrate their special occasion at the Elan bar where the band performs. Against all odds the rewind option proved to be a huge success and hopefully other properties around the country takes the cue to trigger a whole new revival of live music.
