Elvis lives on in Graceland

Graceland is the home of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley. The mansion on a 13.8 acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, is today a pilgrimage destination for his millions of fans worldwide. The site was listed in the American National Register of Historic Places in 1991and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2006. In 1982 it was opened to the public as a museum and is the second most visited site in the US after the White House.

There are very few people who can be recognized historically by their first name. Elvis is one of them. Elvis had a presence. You felt him even when you couldn’t see him, and as we celebrate his 42nd death anniversary on 16th August, Verus Ferreira pays tribute to the rock n roll great on his visit to Graceland.

Elvis Presley’s Graceland was always on my bucket list, and I was privileged to get a chance to visit the place when friends Renuka Rose and Marc Taube invited me and my family for a holiday to their home in Cleveland, I jumped at the offer, especially when they said we could visit Graceland. What I didn’t know was my Marc pitching an idea of a road trip to Tupelo (Mississippi) the birthplace of Elvis, then Nashville - home of country music, Memphis (Graceland), St Louis and back to Cleveland. After soaking in the sights of Cleveland’s iconic Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and other places, we werelooking forward to the trip of a lifetime.

Well stocked for the jaunt in a four wheel drive Toyota SUV, we headed out one early morning for the long drive. After a night halt in Columbus, we headed onto Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis. It was here that Elvis Aaron Presley was born on 8th January, 1935. Presley was supposed to be a twin, but his brother, Jesse was stillborn. Elvis was raised by parents Gladys and Vernon Presley who took up small jobs to keep the home fires burning. Elvis was deeply devoted to his parents, especially his mother, Gladys, and was raised to have a strong faith in God. Presley attended the Assembly of God Church with his parents, where gospel music became an important influence for him. Noticing his love for music,Elvis received his first guitar as a gift from his mother on his 11th birthday.

A tour ($18) which will give you access into the modest two room shack, museum and the Chapel he
attended. It’s hard to believe how humble Elvis really was and how great a star he went on to become.
Quite a difference from the opulence of Graceland. The shack has an outhouse; one full room for the family to sleep that has Elvis’ bed and a small kitchen. The cute lady in the house answered questions about how Elvis’ father bought the house. It is a really peaceful, contemplative place to be. I enjoyed sitting on the porch-seat. In my opinion, this place is far nicer, more appropriate and prettier than Graceland, for people who want to remember Elvis quietly. The timeline surrounding the shack takes you back in time.

The Chapel is quite large and has the original podium that Elvis once used. There is also a replica piano of Elvis’ on one side. It is definitely worth the visit especially to see a rare videos of Elvis singing hymnsat the morning prayers when he was a young child. The museum here is very interesting with a lot of photos and stories.Don’t forget to take a walk around the well manicured garden and then a short climb uphill to see thestatue of Elvis which is really grand. If you are going to Graceland I would suggest visiting Tupelo where it all started.Back to the Elvis journey, in 1948, the family moved to Memphis and it was here that Elvis had his first taste of musical success when he won a talent show at Humes High School in Memphis. After graduating in 1953, he began working as a truck driver to pay his way into the Memphis Recording Services studio to get studio time.

He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studio. He sang the song My Happiness and That’s when your heartaches begin and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner, decided to sign on the young singer. He got his first break with That's All Right Mama which was his first single in 1954. Soon enough, the hits came rolling in for Elvis. Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Don’t be Cruel, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, Teddy Bear, Its Now or Never among many others put him in everyone’s heart. His impact on American culture was stupendous, as he seemed to have an effect on the manner of dressing, hairstyles, and even behavior, which many copied. His spinning movements on stage became legendary. His stardom got him 136 gold records and 10 platinum records. He was the top recording artist for two straight decades, the 50s and 60s. Elvis received 14 Grammy nominations and won three wins for Gospel recordings - the album ‘How Great Thou Art’ (1967), ‘He Touched Me’ (1972) and his live Memphis concert recording of the song ‘How Great Thou Art’ (1974).

Elvis also tried his hand at acting, thereby showcasing his music too. His first film was ‘Love Me Tender’ (1956) and the very popular ‘Jailhouse Rock’ (1957) followed by many more, making him singer and actor. Called to serve his country, Elvis began a well-publicized stint in the army in 1958, but returned when his mother passed away in 1958. The remainder of his military service was spent stationed in Germany (until 1960), where he met his future wife Priscilla Beaulieu who he married in 1967. Theywere blessed with a daughter Lisa Marie.

Elvis's success in the entertainment industry came the hard way and with it a few wrong decisions and
unneeded advice. This took a toll on him when he faced numerous failures in his personal life. In 1973, he and Priscilla divorced; As Elvis's millions grew, so too did the mismanagement by Parker, his long time manager. Elvis made an estimated $4.3 billion in earnings during his lifetime, but he never acquired a concept of financial responsibility. His personal problems were never ending, weight gain and drug dependency hitting him hard. Through all this, Elvis continued a steady flow of concert performances in sold-out arenas well into the 1970s. On 16th August, 1977, the day before another concert tour was about to begin, Elvis was found dead in Graceland Mansion by his fiancée, Ginger Alden. He was only 42 years. The official cause of death was heart disease, although information revealed after his death about his drug dependency. His death caused worldwide scenes of mourning.Elvis continues to be celebrated as superstar and legend as much in death as he was in life. Graceland
Mansion, which he had purchased in 1957 for his parents for $102,500, is the top tourist attraction in
Memphis and attracts millions of visitors from both America and around the world.

Elvis’ Graceland lies near the majestic Graceland Hotel on Elvis Presley Boulevard. There are many budget hotels nearby. It is advisable to book your tickets online to avoid serpentine queues. You can opt for The Ultimate VIP Tour ($169) that gets you a personal tour guide, a meal voucher, an exclusive lounge and a chance to view and hold some rare exhibits of the King. The pass also lets you make multiple return visits to the exhibits before closing time. There’s also the Elvis Entourage ($96) and the most popular $59 Elvis Experience Tour. All tours have a mandatory interactive iPad.

Once on the tour you would be drooling over the man and his almost unbelievable, superhuman charisma. I went crazy to see the home where he had lived, breathed, sang, made love to Priscilla and years later breathed his last. Our eight member group, (yes I opted for the Ultimate VIP Pass), began just outside the museum, when we were bused across the street to a sweeping lawn and into the environs of the Graceland mansion. The two storied limestone mansion with green shutters, white Corinthian pillars, and two white marble lions, beckons every visitor aka Elvis fan. The Living room has 15 foot long white sofa, gold drapes, peacock stained glass windows. A staircase leading to the first floor was out of bounds for visitors and probably is only accessible to Elvis’ wife
Priscilla and his only child Lisa Marie who visit Graceland. You can feel Elvis’ presence as you wander though the mansion, maybe seated at his Dining table. Move ahead and you have the kitchen with a vintage blender, fridge, microwave oven, wash basin and cabinets. The tropical rain forest evoking Jungle Room with stone walls, carved heavy wood Polynesian furniture also has part of the walls covered in green shag rug with a non functioning waterfall. You couldn’t miss out the Teddy Bear seated on the sofa nearby. His French dynasty-inspired Billiards Room (Pool room) was decorative to the core, with its tuck-and-draped ceiling made of 350 yards of heavy brocade fabric; the media room was all lemon yellow and black with a mirrored ceiling for good effect, with three TVs, where the ‘King’ sat and watched television,. There are a couple of LP records around with a white porcelain monkey on the centre glass table.

In the Trophy room, the walls are lined with silver and gold records, while his Racquetball building, houses the piano that was used by him to entertain his friends. It’s the same piano he played the day he passed away. A passage leads you to his father’s office where a host of exhibits are displayed. Elvis was a cowboy at heart. Out on the lawns you can watch horses graze, but none of these are Elvis’, namely the most famous Rising Sun, who was the last to die in 2005. After another gallery of exhibits, you then head outside to a kidney shaped swimming pool that overlooks the Meditation garden, Elvis’ favorite space at Graceland. It’s where he lies buried alongside his parents Gladys and Vernon, Grandmother Minnie Mae and his twin brother Jesse. I spent awhile in reflection of his great spirit. I couldn’t hold back the tears, but I wasn’t alone, diehard fans were weeping, staring at his grave, prayingat his gravesite, feeling his presence.

Back in the bus and across the road, the tour continues with the Museum exhibits that follow Elvis life and career gaining insights into his roots, influences and artistry, his movies and his life in the army. Iswooned over every photo gushing about just how handsome he was. There’s lots to see from his Automobile Museum that has over 20 cars, his 1955 Pink Cadillac or the black 1973 Stutz Blackhawk III, the car he used the night before he died. There’s the Lisa Marie Conair 880 aircraft, the fashionable outfits he wore on stage, one better than the other, it is all here. Elvis loved dressing up, just wearing what he liked and felt right; he became a fashion icon that everyone followed, the bell bottom, different colored sequined jackets, flared shirts, boots and ornaments to go with such royal attire.

Our tour ended with the secret room. Here our select group got a chance to see his comb, the necklace and ring he gave Priscilla, and the microphone he used. I almost wept with delight as I held the microphone. It was a magical moment for me, something I would always cherish for the rest of my life.Before leaving don’t forget to pick your souvenirs from Graceland or the nearby merchandise shops. The wall and at places even the footpath outside Graceland is inscribed with messages from fans from across the world who have visited Graceland and left their memories here.

The Elvis Presley story does not end at Graceland. Head to Downtown Memphis to visit Sun Studio where his career started. You learn all about the birthplace of rock n roll, you can even stand on the spot where Elvis stood (I unknowingly did), take a picture with the microphone Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis used. You can also grab a bite or a beer at the BB King Bar or Hard Rock Café on Beale Street. While many referred to him as The King or the King of Rock n Roll, he calmly remarked, “I am not the King, Jesus Christ is the King. I am only an Entertainer.” Elvis’ charisma, style and that deep melodic voice that measured every word, is unforgettable. So rich, velvety. It was Elvis’ dream to sing. He taughtus, that dreams can come true.

A Song for Julian Assange

Historically, poetry, song and literature have often been used as a means to propagate new ideas, social reform and to protest against injustice and oppression. They have triggered revolutions, helped overthrow many a despot and been instrumental in bringing about much needed change. Many of these poets, writers, thinkers and revolutionaries have gone on to become heroes, for their contribution to the social, political and cultural evolution of our civilization.

Some of the great protest songs that come to mind, include, the gospel based We Shall Overcome, Bob Dylan’s Masters of War and Times They are a Changing, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and Edwin Starr’s War. Some were born out of the oppression, persecution and injustice suffered by the people under the ruling classes, while others have been triggered by specific events or ideas such as, Hurricane by Bob Dylan, Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Free Nelson Mandela by The Specials, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine, or Alright by Kendrick Lamar, to name a few.

In an ideal world, where lawmakers, administrators and industry, the people in power, are responsible, clean, transparent and non-corrupt and everything is open to public scrutiny, there is nothing to expose, everything is out in the open. In an ideal world you don’t need the likes of Julian Assange, or W Mark Felt, Woodword and Bernstein, or Serpico, or Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, etc.

But the real world is a far cry from the ideal. Most Governments, private and public institutions are often recklessly irresponsible, thrive on corruption, indulge in heinous criminal deeds and are necessarily opaque, because they have a lot to hide.

It is in this scenario that people like Assange or any of the others mentioned above become relevant. Through his efforts, Julian Assange, Founder of Wikileaks, the organization he founded to expose war crimes, corruption and human rights abuses and aided by former intelligence analyst, Chelsea (Bradley) Manning, published several secret documents that incriminated those in power.

With the result he has since been persecuted by those who feel threatened by what he had exposed. Isn’t what they did justified, when you consider the greater good. Don’t citizens have a right to know what is happening? Don’t governments themselves use the reason of greater good to justify many of their actions when it is convenient? You could say that technically the means used by Assange may have been illegal, but as a journalist wasn’t it his duty to expose the wrong doings?

No man or woman is infallible. So Julian Assange has his shortcomings but his journalistic endeavours cannot be called criminal. He believed in protecting freedom of speech, and the right to free expression and set about doing what he had to do.

Facing US extradition proceedings, he surrendered to the British police in 2010 but broke bail and sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador, where he remained for seven years, before he was jailed last month when Ecuador withdrew his asylum.

So why has no one thought of writing a song protesting the treatment meted out to Julian Assange. There have been movies and documentaries made about him but alas, no one has thought to write a song about this man who fought for human rights, freedom of expression, transparency and free flow of information.

Where are the great protest singers like Dylan, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Kendrick Lamar, or Morrissey? Had they been alive, maybe Phil Ochs or Pete Seeger or Lennon would have written one. With escalating global conflicts, intolerance, increased muzzling of the press and restrictions on the free flow of information on the net, wouldn’t it have been a timely reflection of our times?

Don’t you think he deserves a Song?-

-Stanley Paul & Pradeep Joseph

Exploring American Influence on Punjabi Music

A recent drug crisis in India, especially in the state of Punjab, has authorities scrambling to find a cause. Could music be to blame? Given the enormous popularity of hip hop culture in India, particularly Punjabi Hip Hop and Rap,there is a concern that Lyrics common in popular modern rap that promote violence, misogyny,and alcohol and drug abuse may contribute to the epidemic. Punjabi Hip Hop and Rap are music and culture that combine hip hop music and culture with music and culture of India andsurrounding countries. Some of the leading desi Rap stars are Badshah, Honey Singh, Hard Kaur,Raftar,Baba Sehgal to name a few. According to this theory, the music often glorifies drugs and drug use instead of promoting the benefits of being drug-free.

A history of drug-related lyrics.
Hip hop artists in the United States have used drug imagery since the beginning of the genre.Several early rap artists grew up during the panic surrounding the use of crack cocaine in the1980s. Others were raised in areas experiencing problems with other drugs. Some of these young people felt trapped and disillusioned since they felt that more traditional paths to success excluded them. Instead, they may have grown up idolizing successful gangsters who were prominent drug dealers. Some of these drug dealers may have entered the drug trade in efforts to rise above their circumstances or gain prestige.
People then incorporated these experiences in their music . Their lyrics spoke of using drugs as a commodity to acquire wealth and success and as tools to escape the bleakness of the impoverished and disadvantaged environments that surrounded them. In such portrayals,dealing drugs, not taking them, was cool. They promoted the benefits of being drug-free while earning material riches and respect.Song lyrics transformed over time. Instead of glamorizing drug dealing as an avenue to obtain money and lavish lifestyles, lyrics began championing inebriation and drug use to mask inner pain or to party like rock stars.
A study by the University of California at Berkeley reported that the use of drug-related lyrics has increased. Lyrics about drugs appeared in only four out of thirty-eight popular songs (11percent) prior from 1979 to 1984. By the end of the 1980s, the use of drug-related lyrics increased to nearly 20 percent. By 1993, the percentage was 69 percent.
Music companies realized that mentioning drug use, objectifying women, and hinting at other antisocial behaviors made rap artists appear more edgy to the young people who idolized them.That edginess led to increased record sales. So, the combination of sex (and the objectificationof women). drugs, and rock and roll (or rap) became some of the essential ingredients of modern hip hop. While some rappers tried to counter this with more positive lyrics promoting the benefits of being drug-free , others continued glorifying drug use and other behaviors.

Punjabi Hip hop & Rap became increasingly popular in the United States and around the world. For example, it is popular in India, which added its own contribution to the genre with desi rap or desi hip hop.Desi hip hop or desi rap is an East Asian form of hip hop that combines traditional hip hop with Indian influences. Rap has continued to gain fans on the Indian subcontinent, becoming one of the most popular genres in India with no slowdown in sight.
Like its Western counterpart, desi hip hop sometimes glamorizes drug use in its lyrics. Also like Western hip hop, the prime demographic for desi hip hop is young people who sometimes seek to imitate their idols. Studies have shown a tendency for some fans to try the drugs mentioned in rap songs. Some African American millennials admitted that they've tried the drug Molly (MDMA) for the first time after hearing about it in songs by popular rap artists . With popular artists promoting drug use without a strong counterargument about the benefits of being drug-free, drug use among young people may not seem too surprising.

Changing the message
Dr. Dheeraj Sharma of the India Institute of Management found that there may be links among popular song lyrics pertaining to drug use and increases in drug usage, violence, and negative attitudes towards women. One challenge now is to discourage drug use without censoring music. Censoring lyrics might have an opposite effect. It may make drugs and drug-related lyrics seem more desirable and increase their allure.
Instead, parents and schools may want to provide young people with information on the effects of drug use. People may want to make artists aware of the dangerous effects their lyrics may have on their fan base. There are numerous benefits of being drug-free and ways people can encourage this.

- Dale Vernor

Classical musicians and their on-stage antics

It’s Show Time!
Classical musicians and their on-stage antics A lot of research has been done to classify personality, management and parenting into different styles. Has anyone studied the concert styles of performing artists? I am talking about the styles adopted by Indian classical musicians on stage. I have them classified under seven types.

1 : 24K magic
What is common amongst Mozart, Beethoven, U. Srinivas or Rashid Khan? All are child prodigies, born to sing. In their
concerts, one is merely a spectator witnessing pure magic. Making good music is of paramount importance, nothing else mattered.
2 : Boom boom paw
For many years now, I have stopped going to amusement parks. Roller coaster rides are not for me. However, many classical concerts
these days have started giving the audiences the same kind of thrill. These musicians perform acrobatics with their voices and the
audiences walk out chanting ‘scintillating, mind blowing, thrilling’ …..
3 : We’re all in this together
“Which one is the main singer?” asked the gentleman next to me. His question was valid considering there was literally a dozen people
seated on the stage. The maestro had three disciples , two on either sides and one behind him. And then he had upto four different and
varied percussionists. What’s more, he had many disciples sitting around him just observing him perform. Such musicians could put
Serena Williams to shame in terms of the size of their entourage.
4 : Everything you want
These are musicians who have devised a formula for success and they give the audience what they come to hear. Experimentation and
creativity give way to consistency. It is a win-win situation for both the performers and the listeners.
5 : Party rock anthem
This is the type in which the musicians walk on to the stage and transform into showmen. They have an on stage persona which is very
dramatic. They are to the classical scene what Shah Rukh khan is to the Indian cinemas. Stylised and complete entertainers.
6: Like a prayer
The padmaasana, the mudras, the stillness, here the singer is meditating through his or her music. One may not understand the
technicalities but certainly knows that one is a witness to some serious spiritual exercise. This breed is dwindling because the
masses want speed and action. These singers believe that classical music is not for the masses.
7: We belong together
Last is the breed of performers who like to collaborate with other musicians; call it jugalbandi, fusion, new age music, collaboration.
These musicians are soon only seen collaborating, quite like the doubles players in tennis or the ones who only play the Davis cup.

---- Rama Sundar

Music Therapy

“I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music." Billy Joel. Allopathy, (the most commonly used system of medicine) is fast on the wane, with most people wanting to try something new. And the good news is that today people can choose from more than a 100 alternative medicines, ranging from traditional Ayurveda to Naturopathy to Aromatherapy to Music Therapy.

Music therapy however, is not a new therapy and has been around for centuries. In the Bible in 1: Samuel: 16:23 we read: “Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him”

So how does Music therapy work? Experts say it does two things:
1. It acts as an alternative for a sedative, drug or tranquillizers which would be prescribed in allopathy.
2. It is believed to increase the metabolic properties of the human body. It is also said to accelerate our breathing and improve the body’s muscular activities, soothe the Central Nervous System and Circulatory System of the listener as well as of the performer. Music therapy is believed to heal both physical as well as psychosomatic disorders.

Music therapy can be divided into two broad categories: “Active” and “Receptive”. In active music therapy, the therapist and patient (after discussing the problem) get together, and the patients are actually encouraged to create their own music, using their voices, musical instruments, or even everyday objects like, spoons, bottles, pans and pots etc. Therapists say this allows patients to explore their creativity, shed their inhibitions and express themselves through the music they create. This therapy is said to work well for people who are introverted, facing mental blocks, personality disorders or those who have problems expressing themselves.

It has also been said to have achieved good results with autistic children. Receptive therapy on the other hand, needs a more controlled environment and normally takes place in a more relaxed, soothing setting. It is said to work best when the patient is lying down in a dimly lit room and relaxed. Then the therapist plays pre chosen music, to which the patient is asked to listen to with eyes closed, or if they like they can doodle or imagine happy scenes in their mind.
The music used in receptive music therapy could range from calming ragas, classical western music or nature sounds (like waterfalls, wind in the trees etc) for people who are hyperactive, to peppy, happy, feel good uplifting music for people who are depressed or feeling low. Later, once the therapist determines which receptive music works best for them, patients are given recorded CD’s which they can listen to at home.

Corinne Heline (1882-1975) once prophetically quoted: “…man is a musical being. One day he will recognize music as a vital factor in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth of the whole human race.”

I personally feel that the day has arrived.

- Noel Keymer

Your Grand Parents Lied To You!

Believe me! Remember when you were twelve years old and your grandmother washed out your mouth with soap and

water for using foul language and then threatened to wash your ears out too for listening to and singing songs like “Cocaine” or “Love to Love You Baby” by Donna Summers”? Yes, our grandparents are constantly reminiscing about the “good old, clean, romantic, wholesome music”, music of the 30’s 40’s and the 50’s”. And you too may have been a victim of having being “brainwashed” into feeling that, yes, the music of the 80’s, 90’s & 2000’s (heavy metal, punk, soul, rap and hip hop) are really full of violence, drugs and sex!

Talking of violence, sex and drugs, every generation thinks they had the right value system during their times and that with every new generation it was going to the dogs. Well, we’re here to break a few age old myths and to enlighten you about the real truth as to why those days were called the “Good Old Bad Days” and how your grandparents lied to you!
“Sometimes she gets unruly;
An she act like she just don't wanna do;
But I get my 22-20;
I cut that woman half in two;
Your .38 Special;
Buddy, it's most too light;
But my 22-20;
Will make ev'rything, alright;
No, this isn’t a song of 80’s or the 90’s. These are the violent lyrics of a song where Skip James sings about cutting a woman in half in this blues number called "22-20 Blues" and he sang it way back in …1931! Compared to this the lyrics of “Ma Baker” sung by Boney M in the 70’s seem positively “tame”.
Couldn’t possibly get more violent than that right? Wrong! Check out the lyrics of Blind Willie McTell singing the "A to Z Blues" – circa 1956

“I’m gonna cut your head four different ways;
That's long, short, deep and wide.
When I get a rhythm of this rusty black handle razor;
you're gonna be booked out for an ambulance ride;
Cause I'm gonna cut A, B, C, D on top of your head;
That's gonna be treating you nice, like mama you ain't gonna be dead.
I'm gonna cut E, F, G right across your face;
H, I, J, K, that's where runnin' bound to take place;
Cut L, M, N cross both your arms;
You'll sell an' peddle gal your whole life long;
Cut N, O, P, Q that's gonna be trouble too;
Cause I'm gonna grab you mama and turn you every way but loose;
Cut R, S, T to hear you cry;
That'll be the last time tears a run from over your eyes;
Cut U, V, W on the bottom of your feet;
That'll be the last time you walk up an' down 25th street;
Marking cross your bosom with X, Y, Z;
When I get through with this alphabet;
You'll quit your messing with me”.
Let’s all be thankful that Blind Willie wasn’t a KG teacher teaching little kids the A to Z of the alphabet!

And if the “bad blue” boys of the 1930’s, 40’s & 50’s thought they were going to get away with violence against women, they were absolutely wrong! Because Josie Miles and her sister “blues” singers proved that they too were equally blood thirsty (if not more) and didn’t even need a reason for getting violent! Compared to these “bad mamas, the so called “bad girls” of today come across as “pristine virgins”.
In the following song "Mad Mama Blues" Bad sister Josie Miles is out to wreck the city, and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop her.
“Now I could see blood runnin'
Through the streets;
Could be everyone;
Layin' dead right right at my feet.
Give me gunpowder;
Give me dynamite;
Yes I'd wreck the city;
Wanna blow it up tonight.
I took my big Winchester;
Down off the shelf;
When I get through shootin';
There won't be nobody left.
Violent enough? “But hey”, I hear you say, “maybe they were violent, but at least they weren’t doing drugs!” At least they didn’t have songs like Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” or The Beatles “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” encouraging people to try LSD or snort coke! Wrong again sister! just check out the lyrics of this next song -

Dreamed about a reefer five feet long.
Mighty Mezz, but not too strong.
You'll be high but not for long.
If you're a viper.
I'm the king of everything.
I've got to be high before I can swing.
Light a tea and let it be
If you're a viper.
When your throat gets dry you know you're high.
Everything is dandy.
Truck on down to the candy store.
Bust your konk on peppermint candy.
Then you know that you’re body's spent.
You don't care if you don't pay rent.
Sky is high and so am I
If you're a viper.
Name of the song? ‘If You’re A Viper” sung by Stuff Smith in the year 1936 and I’m sure he was really flying super duper high if he smoked five foot reefers!!

Do I hear a few voices still protesting, “OK fine, they had violence and drugs in their lyrics, but at least they didn’t have any “F” words or explicit sex in their songs, like “Oh Me So Horny,” by “2 Live Crew” who Broward County Police had to haul into court, because their album “As Nasty As They Want To Be” had been banned for its obscene lyrical content.”
So Wrong again!
Lucille Bogan, a very motherly, plain looking woman was not called the queen of the "Dirty Blues" for nothing. Yes, this “plain Jane” was the writer and singer of such dirty classics as "Sloppy Drunk Blues," "Tricks Ain't Walkin’ No More" and the "Bull Dyke Women's Blues’s”.
And the lyrics of her most famous song, “Shave ‘Em Dry” which she sang live in pubs in 1935 are too explicit to even print here. But if you don’t believe me you can go to Goggle and type out “Lucille Bogan – Lyrics of “Shave “Em Dry” and check them out. But don’t blame me if you’re scandalized!
And yes, dear child, if you still don’t believe that your grandparents lied to you, then I’m sure you’ll also believe that “Madonna” is still a virgin, that “Michael Jackson” is still alive and “moon walking” and that “The Beatles” are practicing hard… for their next gig!
- Noel Keymer

Musicians hope for a noteworthy New Year

The writer Monarose Sheila Pereira is an author, journalist and media lecturer. She has published several books and has written for all the major newspapers and magazines. She has worked for All India Radio and Doordarshan. She also conducts self improvement workshops.

Sheldon D'Silva, Bass Guitarist/Music Producer
For me music is the religion of the soul, through it may we unite all casts and communities with harmony to come celebrate the joy and love of Christ. I wish for enlightenment in our souls to find peace and joy, governance through love so that we may become a society that uplifts one another. May we put aside materialistic exigency and encourage love and kindness in our actions. It is a time for giving, and through knowledge let us educate our young for a better world.

Anup Jalota, Singer,
I wish for happiness and it is not possible to get it outside. Gift me the power to feel it within me all the time. People often ask me why I‘m smiling all the time? I tell them I have one big satisfaction and happiness that God has given me much more than I deserve. Now there is no place to ask for more.

Anuradha Pal, Tabla Maestro and Music Composer
I pray that all of us bring some Rhythm and Music in all our lives.. so that we are centered and happy from within..I wish that the New Year brings us ALL, good health, peace, happiness, understanding and success in our lives, to become better human beings, with concern for animals, humanity and the environment.

Roookumar Rathod, Singer,
Let there be peace, happiness and harmony in the atmosphere. I would like to emphasize on spreading lots of love to all my ardent fans who have successfully contributed in making me what I am today. I shall be ever grateful to everyone and strive to do better than what I have done so far and also hope that people continue to shower their good wishes, blessings and love on my daughter Reewa, who has persevered and is about to reap the fruits of her labor.

Anand Dhotre, flautist
May all the flautists work their magic to make this world a better place to live in. I hope my students outshine in the coming year and contribute to the magical realm of music. I hope the New Year brings joy, happiness, success and love to the world. I hope we elect a government which recognizes the function of arts in society. It will be very exciting to see pro-activeness on the part of the government in this field.

Hema Sardesai, Singer
Let’s spread love everywhere to make the world wonderful for everyone. I wish everyone joys happiness plus great health and wealth too; but above all this New Year I wish everyone oneness, togetherness and a One World Family. We all belong to each other. Love is God; God is love; Love instills respect; respect promotes humanity. So wishing everybody a happy love filled year..rock on!

Aqeel Ali, DJ
This New Year I wish everyone lots of luck happiness world peace and prosperity.
I wanna make lots of hits and make people happy, joyful, ambitious, dance and forget pain and sorrow. In my 20 years I have made a lot of fans and thanks to them I am who I am so I want them all to be happy and give them lots of great music. Music has no division; just unity

Ashley Rebello, Guitar instructor
Teaching and sharing my knowledge of music with my students, young and old has been the greatest blessing and experience and sharing knowledge has been a different feeling altogether. My wish for the New Year and to everyone would be to follow your dreams and whatever your heart wishes for, even if it is to pursue the finer arts because we only got one life to live; so we might as well make the most of it with no regrets. You are your own clay and so shape your life; and you might as well do it the right way by choosing to do what you love. Choosing music and to play the guitar has and always will be the best decision I have ever made in my life.

Happy 2019 to All

Love is in the Air

On the eve of Valentine’s day, we asked Music personalities what does Love mean to them. Here are a few of their views...

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sarod Maestro
Love is a precious gift of God....... But what the Western World has created an expression of Love that I find very unmusical and mechanical.... Love is the most sacred of spiritual feelings for the lady you love or the love between father and son or daughter.... mother’s love for her children.....and other human relationships.

Anaida Parvaneh, Singer
Love to me is all that is real! It can mean so many things to so many people. It means acceptance and then appreciation. It is our natural frequency. The core energy of creation. Its the reason and the answer. The start and the end. If you truly love someone, you will accept them for their authentic self. As they are! True love does not judge and well, love is positive. Always positive. If its not positive, then its something else. And yes did i already say it? Only Love is REAL.

Roopkumar Rathod, Singer
Love is the most important thing every human being on planet earth has to believe in. Love can transcend several dimensions and it is unconditional.
A Mother's love for her children cannot be described. It is a reality to be experienced. There is an immense sense of joy one can experience when love translates to happiness.
It is always important to give love to people who need it the most...it is something money cannot buy. The richest man in this world cannot find happiness if he does not love. Love and respect go hand in hand. One has to give it to earn it. Last but not the least, if you give love you get love.

Hema Sardesai, Singer
Valentine's Day is a time to endorse that real love is unconditional, that we should see our valentine in the divine by showing gratitude to every gift God had given us. Let’s show belongingness to each other beyond any restrictions, that is being a true valentine

Anand Dhotre, Flutist
Love for me is compassion and mutual respect. Respect comes first in love. If you cannot respect the person you love then love cannot stay for long. My wife respects me for what I am with all my successes and shortcomings and it goes the same for me. Love is not just about husband wife for me. There is love in a student-teacher relationship too, which we call 'lobh' in Sanskrit. Love grows with time and trust. There is no measure of love but when my students spot me anywhere outside class they come to greet me. That's how I receive their love.

Rajesh Thakker, Hawaiin guitarist
Love is very important. The world would cease to exist without Love . Love is emotion, love is omnipresent and exist in every living thing. Love suits each and every person differently like amongst family, friends, or lovers, and also active on individual platform from person to person. We are all born to love and not to hate.Love is Life , you ,me and all , everything and everyone , just open your heart and embrace Love. Love is the key to success Love is Temple of God

Gino Banks, Musician/Drummer/Producer
Love for me is split in different ways - the love for my fiancé Eden - the love for my mother and father and my family - the love of the drums and music and the art form.
Love is a big word and sometimes overused a bit carelessly I think - it takes a level of maturity to really understand what Love truly means and it always keeps evolving and we will constantly understand better as time passes on.
I try as much as I can to express my love in whichever possible in many ways - sometimes obnoxiously loud sometimes subtle - but I make sure it’s shown in the right way and for the right reasons.
Purest form of expressing Love is unconditional - with no agenda - just a pure joy to make another person happy and feel loved. That’s what we all want at our core. And that will make this a better world to live in.

Monarose Sheila Pereira is an author, journalist and media lecturer.
She has published several books and has written for all the major newspapers and magazines. She has worked for All India Radio and Doordarshan. She also conducts self improvement workshops.

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Melodious Yogini - Anaida

So we were trying to get in touch with Anaida and she was nowhere to be found. On her whatsapp her status was "In the jungles , bad signal. will return calls later". So we thought she had taken off on one of her numerous treks but a quick respond from Sandra her assistant told us she is away at a yoga camp.

Yoga camp we asked? what is she doing at a yoga camp?
She is doing a teachers training course , she will tell you about it herself , i do not know much more.
So it took two months before we heard from her, we were beginning to get worried and send a search party for you we said.
She laughed and said oh no. Everyone should be used to me appearing and diapering by now. I was doing a yoga teachers training course and was cut off from the rest of the world and it was absolutely divine.
So tell us more we said. We could hear her giggling with delight,There was a different kind of energy about her laugh and we pointed that out to her.
It does feel different doesn't it? I truly feel yoga affects your being overall, body, mind and soul .It affects your personality. Kind of "tunes you up" as to say.

So you been doing yoga for long?
This time she really laughs hard, believe it or not NO! This was my first experience! -I have hardly done any yoga but this course was some seriously intense stuff. 5 am to 8 pm kinda schedule... and you jumped in straight into an intense teachers training course? we asked, Oh yes! if you are going to do something then do it properly.

So are you going to be a yoga teacher now?
Well, if i do teach yoga at any point for any reason, i would be teaching it well . she quipped

Then why the training course?
See in the last few years and specially after the response to my meditation album and tracks , more and more life is taking me into directions of healing. I have been doing so many alternate therapy courses last 10 years and specially after my mom passed away. It has been a life long passion and how on earth would i forget yoga? This beautifully ancient physical science that this land and its wise humans have gifted the rest of the world? so i wanted to learn about it and so decided to do this course. So if i ever have to recommend yoga in my healing, i understand it in and out and my comments would be well informed.

So tell us more. how was it?
A revelation i would say. I am extremely fortunate to have found the teacher that i did. It made all the difference. You see despite being an artist and floating in the clouds with creativity half the time I enjoy the science of things very much. Also i like having a pretty open mind when it comes to anything esoteric and out of ordinary, yet, i have a very logical mind. I need things to make sense to me overall. It is all great to talk about energy and how its directed and this and that , but you can only talk freely like that when you do have a strong base , and i like it when something makes logical sense to me. makes absorbing it so much more fun. And this teacher approaches the subject with so much knowledge and sense. We discussed each and every bone, muscle and tendon and what it does and why and how of it and then in relation to yoga and Asanas etc. It was seriously intense and sometimes an overload of information and the other girls in my batch were already yoga teachers or practicing yoga for years. But hey, by the end of it. i nailed it and how! there is so much delight in her voice that we catch ourselves smiling along with her.

So are we going to be seeing her now in a yogini avatar?
Ooh I would love that. Am not sure what it would be but it sure sounds good. She chuckles.

So what else are you working on we ask her?
I have just got back into normal life and have to get ready for an art showing am having in Pune and a project am doing with food.

Food? what are you doing with food?
Will let you all know soon enough. All i can say is that it would be Yummy!
First i have to finish the plans for the art showing. am thinking if i should have it on my birthday for a change. Make sure you invite us then. we remind her with bells on. wish all your readers a happy new year for me she chirps as she bids us bye. We think she 'd look good in a yogini avatar.

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InDoor Gharana - Hoping to Live

InDoor Gharana is a Hindustani Electro Fusion Band consisting of 3 members, Deepak (Composer/Guitars), Neehar (Composer/Keyboards) and Nitasha (Singer & Songwriter).Their music is an eclectic mix of being experimental, electronic, fusion, lounge, trance and folk. The core of the band's ideal lies in the fusion of diverse and distinct cultures, sounds, ideologies and lyrical representations. InDoor Gharana are the winners of the Songdew-Raga to Rock contest for the most liked Fusion Band held recently. Raga to Rock decided to check out the band and talk about their Music.

Q. What is the story of your coming together as a Band?
It started with a song - “Hoping to live”. Neehar and Deepak, already knew each other and were working together on some wonderful projects at Chennai. Nitasha wanted to learn more about Music Technology and that is when she met Deepak at an institute, where he was faculty. She sang one of her original compositions, Tore Bina and the ball got rolling.
Meanwhile Deepak came up with a few guitar riffs and progressions which were recorded. To that Neehar added programmed beats, chords and textural elements. Both, Deepak and Neehar really liked the way the track had a central theme of ”Hope”. But there was a Hindustani section in the middle which needed to be worked on. Both felt, Nitasha could add something to that section. Having already sent the track to her, there was a curiosity over what would come by. When we all met, she had composed a perfect part to suit the section. When she sang, we just knew this is it.
This one was an effortless, spontaneous collaboration between the three. Our music wasn't a representation of one person's ability, rather a unique amalgamation of the three individuals ability and we knew at that point we needed to do more songs together.

Q. How did the band name InDoor Gharana come about?
We wanted the name to represent our musical ideologies and uniqueness as a band. To be a bridge between classical and quirky. The name InDoor Gharana is wordplay and our modest homage to the gharana system of Hindustani music.

Q. Any special InDoor Gharana achievements?
It would have to be the release of our album, “InDoor Gharana”. The release was a culmination of years of hard work that we put into the making of each song. Each composition beats to the rhythm of our hearts and dances to the bliss of our souls. It brought forth so many emotions as we realized this dream. A dream we saw collectively, of bringing our music from inside the four walls to the limitless expanse of our audiences. To over 30 million households through the SongDew network. We feel fortunate, overwhelmed and deeply humbled by all the love and responses we have received for our music. Some genuine blessings, appreciation and encouragement for the work we do. To connect with our audiences in this way is extra special.

Q. Could you share some InDoor Gharana highlights:
1. Featured in Top 20 indie music releases of 2018 on Songdew
2. Over 10K+ hits in just a few days of our debut album release 'InDoor Gharana'
3. Our Album has time and again topped the list of Friday Hits and have been listed as the top 5 songs on Songdew.
4. Even before our release, our music was chosen by one of the most imminent brands of the country - FabIndia for their Fab Cafes, those are spread across the country.
5. We received unprecedented support for our campaign on thunderclap, in favour of our Album. Our target was to reach a humble 100 supports and we had a social reach of more than three lakhs!
6. Our single, “Aye Badara” garnered more than half a lakh views on youtube with in 2-3 days of its release.
7. And we performed on Chennai Live 104.8 FM, with RJ Tausif on "Artist Special".
(https://youtu.be/icE8KXyY-tI)

Q. What have been your struggles?
To balance different aspects of our work schedules and ensure we took out the time to jam and make music which we are passionate about. Not knowing what’s the right time to bring the album out. The confusions about the other aspects - which record label, monetary considerations... Involving the right video team and working out schedules around the shoot of the videos. The “if’s” and “but’s" about which track is perfect for a music video. To persevere, overcome the obstacles and complete the process as it pans out across years is overwhelmingly fulfilling.

Q. Your aspirations as a band.
The love and support that we have received from our audiences is overwhelming and it makes us work sincerely, focused towards growing in our craft and staying true to our music. That is all we want to continue doing, keep making our music and reaching out to our audiences.

Q. Could you tell us more about the process through which the songs came about?
There was not a particular flow of events that we followed through the songs. Each song took us on a journey and unfurled layer by layer. All we did was to keep following our creative instincts and build on that. At times the composition came in first (Tore Bina, Aye Badara), at times it was the groove that started it all, (Amaani Shukraani). At times the literature spoke to us, (Aye Sakhi). Each song has a story to tell. “Hoping to live” was recorded at three different places. It was like three composers composing sections of a song. “Tore Bina” was soulful and we experimented with lounge. “Aaye Badra” was a beautiful ode to the rains. “Jogi” tells a journey of a,’Jogi’. We are happy to have collaborated with Abhay Jodhpurkar singing the male sections for that song. Also we never tried to follow a Charnam - Antara traditional structures. We believed the flow is more important and should be intuitive in nature. So we never over-planned. Every song was done in a flow which felt right at the moment to our musical sensibilities.

Q. What do you do when you are not making music?
Deepak: I am quite passionate about the field of teaching and training. I feel that teaching is one of the noblest things one can do to stay humble as an artist. Imparting knowledge only makes you & the industry better. Being a part of A R Rahman's School "KM Music Conservatory", I had to stay updated as a teacher and now its just part of my lifestyle. I feel happy to contribute whether its by imparting knowledge or making substantial or minor contributions, to me everything counts.
Neehar: I am drawn towards sketching and painting. I enjoy the process of creativity finding a tangible outcome. Any art form has a structure or a symmetry. Sometimes it's well defined and sometimes blurred and abstract. I look for an imagery, a sense of connect. Does it remind me of a place a person or nature? Does it remind me of a past I have never lived? Art has to transform and impact and when it does, you know it’s working. It’s creation out of displaced, magical blocks. For me personally there are no rules. It’s just the blend that needs to feel right. The senses don't lie. So I wait till the time mind goes beyond logic and intellect and feels right. A zone where reasoning is absent.
Nitasha: I am a mother of a toddler, a yoga teacher, a training consultant and a psychologist, so that’s quite a few hats to juggle through. I am blessed to have the unconditional support of my family, my husband, Dr. Vikram Sharma and our son, Anaadya, even though he is just over 2 years. They both are extremely encouraging and understanding of my pursuits. That helps me to focus on different aspects of my life. At a deeper level I believe in harmonizing these different facets of my life. I truly believe in the pure potentiality that we all are predisposed to. To recognize and realize that potential, for my self and consequently helping others to do that is what I aim for.

Q. Piece of advice to artists and band carving their way in this industry.
Be authentic, leverage your strengths and create a unique niche. Amidst all this, be patient and perseverent.

Q. Details of any debut EP/Album release
Debut Album Name – InDoor Gharana
Record Label – Songdew
Link – https://songdew.com/albums/indoor-gharana/151
Music Video Amaani Shukrani – https://youtu.be/3uEkOrKO7DA
Music Video Tore Bina – https://youtu.be/4YVi3ZkmBdw
First Single – Kesariya Baalam
Music Video – https://youtu.be/-azSt-tl2E8
Second Single – Aye Badara
Music Video – https://youtu.be/L30bPPmxEOg

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Creative Voices Collective

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Sherrin V connects with 'The Circuit'

Sherrin Varghese has played many roles in a career spanning almost 20 years - Singer, musician, actor & host. It all began with The Rubber Band, the first band he played with, before he was picked and packaged along with four other guys, going down in history as India's first boy band, A Band of Boys. The Boys hit the big time with their 2002 debut album, Yeh bhi woh bhi, performing numerous gigs all over India and venues around the world. In 2004 they did their first film Kis Kis Ko. Since then the band members pursued their individual careers but still got together to release four more albums over the years.More of an indie musician, Sherrin too charted his own path, curating his own brand of Electro Pop, Commercial EDM / BDM, Dubstep, Tech House, Techno & his own genre which he calls Bollytronica. He has acted in a few films and numerous TV shows and also done lot of music and shows in the South where he has a huge fan following. He has recently launched his online show called 'Circuit' where he hosts various artists to chat and create music. Raga to Rock caught up with this multi talented artist to talk about his new show.

What is your show The Circuit" all about ... and its USP?
The show is called "The Circuit" & this is a live streaming chat show with musical performances by noteworthy musicians hosted by me.
It has a couple of USP's, firstly that it is a live show in the truest sense, cos we are streaming live. Which means there is zero post-production and the entire live switching, editing, lower thirds, show flow, encoding, streaming etc., are all done live. Since it's a live show the audience watching can participate, give comments & suggestions & they are are all attended to, responded to in real time, which raises the presence & kicks in the reward algorithms of the internet a lot.

Secondly this is a show with only performances by artists with original compositions of either the artist themselves or perhaps a song which they have originally sung or performed for someone else's composition, arrangement or production only. The performances & interaction of these artists with me, most of whom are peers and colleagues along with the live engagement leaves the audience in an immersive feeling of participation in the now & that's what I feel is the USP of the show.

How did your show name 'The Circuit' come about? not any influence of Munnabhai MBBS....
The name came about cos I'm a singer & music producer with heavy Engineering & tech influences and the insides of my studio looks like a Printed Circuit Board and when the time came to build an IP, I couldn't think of a better name, cos it literally is my circuit of people who are being put out there and they are handpicked based on merit only. Also it spins into pop culture references such as Pop Circuit, Rock Circuit, Indie Circuit, Bolly Circuit, Short Circuit, Off Circuit etc.

How did the show come about?
This was originally conceived as a 24 minute episodic content of 7 songs where each episode would have an original composition of mine, produced by writers, musicians, arrangers & producers who are better than me & the initial 20 minutes of each of these episodes would be interviews by the several artists, lyricists, musicians, music producers, sound, recording & mix engineers who have helped, write, put together, arrange, record, capture, produce, mix & deliver a master to these songs. The last 4 minutes of each of these episodes would be a live performance by an in house live band of the same song. I pitched the same to Harman Professional Solutions of whom I am an endorser and they wonderfully supported & came on board as the chief sponsor & provided all the record, capture & playback gear for the same. Several other partners have joined in, namely Musikshack who came on board as the instrument partner, Desi Tortillas & Sagar -The family Treat as our snack & food partner.

While putting this together I realised that just putting these 7 songs just like that on the internet would not create a ripple loud enough hence decided to produce the current live streaming episodes of guests performing their songs with interviews as a prequel to build up the property to a sizeable number of episodes and then drop these 7 episodes with my songs as the hero content of the season finale

Who are the Artists featured...and the best part of each one of them...?
These are all artists who I have a personal connect with and most of them are from my Indi-Pop batch from the 90's and just the welcoming nature with which they have agreed to grace us with their presence has been the best part about each of them. We've had multi-intrumentalist, Sidd Coutto, ace guitarist Chandresh Kudwa, Indie baritone benchmark act, Anand Bhaskar Collective, ultra talented Raman Mahadevan, mademoiselle Shibani Kashyap so far & several other beautiful artists lined up for Season 1.

How do you produce it..Budgets, sponosors?
Producing this has been a lifetime of my studying, learning & understanding of all my engineering, conceiving, conjuring & production skills coming together. They have all been tapped into & put together to produce what I believe has the potential to be a very unique & interesting show. This series has the backing of a highly efficient & talented crew comprising of an Executive Producer team, "iDreamzzs", who does the live switching/editing, streaming, encoding etc, along with my live sound engineer Sigmind Quadros, who does the live mix, ensures top notch audio quality to the stream & makes sure that the tech riders of each of these artists are met with all the gear and instruments provided by our partners. Also 2 young musicians & producers Nischal Chaubey & Adrian Fernandez who don the roles of tech assistants are the hands and legs of this show without whom the show would just not work. Just the research, trial & error & execution required for such a show has been so rewarding that we all thrive in the knowledge share & the DIY nature of it. Our main sponsor is Harman Professional solutions

The difficulties being a producer?
Everything about the show has been a huge learning curve. I had to take a call on whether to use the sponsorship monies towards hiring the right equipment & a professional crew needed to pull this off or to buy the gear and learn how to do a #LiveConcertStream with a skeletal crew myself as the former had no direct advantage except the launch of 7 songs for me.
I consciously chose the latter which meant researching, learning & figuring how to do everything right from lighting, camera work, switching, encoding, streaming on my own and then figuring a crew which would learn to do this with me & work through the trial & error. We finally bought all the equipment including lights, stands, chroma, cameras, switcher, encoder etc., & fixed my studio space into a shooting floor with all the audio video treatment needed. Then we created a design, look, feel, tone & the content needed to produce a show of this nature with this crew along with paid consultations from experts around the world who do such shows. I spent 3 months scouring the internet figuring compatibility, requesting demos, commissioning & buying the right equipment with zero tolerance error cos the budget restrictions meant that I couldn't afford to buy the wrong gear. The hard work paid off & I have put together a unique show which could become a way of life with me henceforth & right now I could give a master class in streaming anything!
My influences for the same are PhotoJoseph, Snarky Puppy, Sofar Sounds, Cercle & locally our very own Coke studio. All in all it's been a very rewarding experience and the very fact that in 9 episodes with 3 of them being completely trial & error ones, we have managed to pull off what generally takes an entire television network and channel to figure, I'd say we are in a good space right now with the merits far outweighing the difficulties!

How has been the response to the show..Views, Interactions..etc.
The response to the show is amazing. All our partners are very happy with the visibility and the interaction is top notch. Subscriptions have gone up on my channel and the comments keep us going and the best part about the internet is that anything you plant there, grows!

Plans for season 2?
Season 2 will see us going into product placements and endorsements and an upgrade into the content where I'll be calling singers, musicians, & artists to guest & collaborate with me on an original composition of mine which they will perform live with me & the in house band. This I believe will be the turning point of this property and if all goes well I see myself producing original Indie content and becoming a force to reckon with in the music field as a composer, producer & artiste.
I would love to be filling in the Joe Rogan, Jimmy Fallon space in our country with an extension of "The Circuit", currently on Thurdays to an alternative "Celebrity Circuit" on Wednesdays and also "Circuitry" featuring DJ's & Live Electronica artists on Fridays. Given that I have had first hand experience of working with Shekhar Suman on Movers & Shakers ( Sony Entertainment Television) for the same, I hope & pray all that experience comes in handy!

What are your future plans...songs ..album ,shows,etc..
This whole program has been conceived to release one original song, every week, constituting albums of work & eventually boosting the Live stage gigs which I'm prolific for. I met Prasoon Joshi on a flight who remarked that in India one has to constantly churn to be relevant. It is true for himself, Javed Sahab, even Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy & A.R. Rahman. Therefore I believe I have produced a platform which lets one churn at the economic & efficient best of oneself. I look forward to associating and acquiring more business partners onto this IP. Here on it is all up to the almighty. Praise the Lord!

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The Trance Effect

As the song goes,
"Its alright, no more pretending.
Just ride without no worries
Its alright, don’t hide.....
Just free yourself and let it dance...."
Trance Effect, the Indie Pop Rock band from Nagaland takes us on a nostalgic journey through their music.They want to use their music to spread the message of positivity and overcome the hard times that people,specially the younger generation are going through with their music.Music really can heal the soul. We meet up with Trance Effect to know more about the members and their music

Give the readers a brief introduction of the members and how it all started.
We are a band from Nagaland. On Vocals, we have our dynamic and compelling performer Iuli Yeptho. Sosang Lkr on Drums, a quiet but an expressive player who never fail to capture the right beat at the right time. Temsujungba on guitars, the bigger than life character and an outstanding showman.Tako Chang on Guitars, his unique approach to music sets him apart, drawing more into melodies and catchy riffs. Imnamaong Imchen on Bass Guitars, with his experience for performing life music and minimal playing adds just the right amount of colour to make the audience groove into the music.It was in fact our bassist who came up with the idea of the band. He was keen on making music in a band and sounding like no other,but honestly it’s because we came together to make music that all of us enjoy- I guess you could call that our secret ingredient.

Can you name the Biggest influences of the band. What inspired you guys?
We are influenced and inspired every time when we see a great live performance. It was the love to perform live music and create music that drew us into forming the band, it motivates us into putting in the hours until we get the music straight. We grew up watching our local artists and bands perform, they’ve had quite an impact to all of us.

How would you guys describe the bands sound? How are you guys different from other bands in the country?
Well,we would describe our sound as somewhat of a melodic approach to the Indie genre of music. We're all from different musical background and genre but the love to create beautiful melodic music brought us together.

The bands Name 'Trance Effect' how did it come about? What is the story behind the bands name?
Well, we wanted a name that would set a difference to the music scene in the country, that's why the name Trance Effect, which is a more melodic off shoot from Techno or House music is what drives our music even though we don’t have a DJ in the band. So, we named the band Trance Effect.

About the journey so far,how has the experience been?Tell us about you favourite gigs and festivals?
We'll,so far we've had a few gigs and played at festivals like Orange Festival in Dambuk, The Drift Music Festival in Guwahati but yes every gigs would be considered as the best because of all the different venues and different crowds. It helps us to make a beautiful story of our musical journey.

Tell us a little bit about your single ' Stop Pretending' what inspired the song?
The song was written by our vocalist and it talks about the struggles and hardships a person faces in life. It talks about trying to Stop Pretending to be something one is not and to have a positive view on life. Well if you guys haven’t listened to the song then you can just stream it from all the steaming platforms like Apple Music, JioSaavn, YouTube etc

Any upcoming release,if yes give an insight on what's next for Trance Effect?
We're working on our EP right now and yes Hopefully, we may have it completed by the end of this year and also a music video along with it.

Lastly, any message to the readers and your followers.We’d just like to say be who you are, be original and just spread love. With our Dedut EP coming out you are going to see a different side of us. So, let’s go on a musical journey together. Thank you for your support, we love you.

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Since 90's

Music bonds people together.Here are Five guys who came together because they shared a common bond in making music.What started out as a church worship band has now become what is known as the band 'Since 90's'.
The group are making their mark in the music industry of North East with thier catchy guitar riffs,Exceptional vocals,incredible drum beats and sensational bass lines.Here is something for the readers to know more about the band.

1.Share a brief Intro,a little bit about the band,how it came about, who you are, where you're from?

Hello, we are Since90's, a Rock band from Dimapur, Nagaland, consisting of five guys who share a common bond in making music of our own and more importantly we just love playing music together.

Before the Band thing happened, we were strangers club together in a worship team and there was no looking back from that point on cause we clicked instantly, we loved the friendship we had so we decided to form a Band, a band we believe to be rooted in brotherhood.

2.What sets you apart from other bands of the state and country?

There are alot of incredible Bands in the state and we look up to most of them even now and we are still in the process of learning, to find our own foothold, taking in advices and creating our own music as we continue to grow.

3.What kind of Genre do you guys play?Give an insight of how you guys compose your music?

We can be considered an Alternative Rock Band from the way we sound yet we tend to switch our sound every now and then but that's the closest we can get in terms of genre.

Composing our music is quite intriguing because all the band members contribute in the process so we don't have a rigid system when it comes to compositions though we remind ourselves not to be forceful in finding the melodies, riffs, tunes etc. So that the music we create remains genuine.

4. What are your major influence as a band?what inspires you guys?

The first thing that influence us as a band is our faith and the belief we share together beyond the music. Apart from that we are heavily influenced by bands we grew up listening too including the oldies and not forgetting our own local bands and musicians.

We are inspired to go further by the people surrounding us, supporting us every step of the way, we are very fortunate to have such a close tight knit family.

5.Can you guys share to the readers about your single "Against my vices"?what the song talks about?

'Against my vices' is the first song we wrote together and the song talks about the human side of us with our fast pace lifestyle we tend to forget that we all have a constant war going on inside of us and we burn ourselves out trying our best not to become the person we hate simply put it's about owing up to our past mistakes and forgiving ourselves and others. Our new song 'Leave It On The Line' is a continuation of this song since they draw inspiration from the same source.

6.How has the journey been so far?Are you guys planning on any future releases?

The journey so far has been great, we never anticipated that people will notice us the way they did and we are truly grateful for everything.

Yes we have a new single coming out with an EP as a follow up soon.

7.Lastly,any message to your followers and fans.

To the people who has been supporting us since day one we are very grateful for all the love you have shown towards the band and we will surely continue to churn out good music for everyone, thank you all so much.

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Return of the Aryan

Sadasivan KM Nambisan better known as Sadu is a singer, composer, lyricist and producer and founding member of The Aryans one of the biggest indie rock bands India has produced. He learnt western classical piano under keyboardist V C Varghese and Hindustani classical vocals under Pandit Brijmohan Dixit. He got his first opportunity to play keyboard at the age of 19, with an orchestra at the local Durga Pooja festival. Sadu then went on to play in a several orchestras before starting to play professionally with the Sargam Musical Group of Madhya Pradesh. In 1998 he along with D J Narain and Jai Walia formed The Aryans. The same year they launched their first album on Polygram Records. Ankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra became a super hit and they have never looked back since.

Here Sadu talks to RagatoRock about his eventful journey and passion for music.

Tell us something about yourself.

My name is Sadasivan KM Nambisan but professionally I am known as SADU. I was born on 7th September in Kerala, till I was a teenager I grew up in Ooty, and later on in Madhya Pradesh since my Dad was with the defense services, he was transferred regularly. My academic qualification is Master of Science in Organic Chemistry with specialization in Environment science, I am a half scientist. Also in sports I have clocked 10.69 seconds in 100 meter sprint and won bronze medal in the all India inter university championships. Then finally I shifted to Mumbai to pursue Music.

When did you get interested in music?

I started of my music career in a small town with an orchestra group but was keen in making my own songs hence shifted to Mumbai in 1996 and met DJ Narain & Jai Walia to form Aryans . Universal Music formerly known as PolyGram launched us with our first sound track album for the movie, ‘Ankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra’ starring Shahid Kapur, which was an instant Hit in 1999. Then followed ‘Yeh Hawa Kehti Hai Kya’ in 2000 & ‘Dekha Hai Teri Ankhon Ko’ in 2003, all blockbusters, and then poured in extravaganza of awards - MTV, Channel V, B4U, ETC and what not.. We then grabbed lots of concerts all over the Globe. Me and DJ released ‘Hai Dil’ with Times Music & ‘Kehta Hai Dil Yahi bar Bar’ with T-Series in the year 2006 and 2009 respectively. They did Ok but then we had our own commitments too.

Is that when you decided to go solo?

I own a Pharmaceutical Company named Sadu Pharma, Time passed by we kept on doing concerts. Then I released my first solo of two Ghazal-Rock singles with Times Music in 2015. It did pretty well, the music was an amalgamation of guitar, drums & ghazal written by Jigar Muradabadi. I started a video production company ‘Seventh Angle Production’ and later on ‘Sadu Music’, the Music Company which is specifically and only for Independent Music Releases. I am a Singer, Composer & Lyricist and it's easy for me to produce songs. My production is in full swing. I am planning to release 10 to 15 Solo Pop-Rock mesmerizing and amazing singles every year. To start with am releasing 2 singles in 2019 under my music label.

What do you think of the independent music scene in India?

Indian music scene is quite dim, I mean music should not be imposed on you. For the last 70 years we have been strictly forced to listen to film songs. All through the years the ways and means of music exposure and platforms to exhibit or showcase any kind music was either radio or television, which were primarily dominated by playing film songs.

Indian audiences have been deprived of exposure to the wide spectrum of music which could have been commercially viable. In fact the Indian flavour and essence of musiclike folk, sufi, classical & spiritual music is not getting the recognition it deserves. The British left us decades ago but unfortunately we Indians are carrying the hangover of still being slaves mentally and accept everything we've being served.

Why has India not produced any great independent artistes, compared to the West where music is propelled by musicians and bands?

Talking about Rock and pop stars of the west look at Bryan Adams, Dire Straits, Queen, Eagles, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna, George Michael, John Bon Jovi, what tremendous attitude they have in their songs. India saw a few bands and artists with attitude in the late nineties and early 2000, Lucky Ali, Silk Route, us The Aryans, Euphoria, Parikrama , Falguni Pathak, Daler Mehdi, Sukhbir, Ali Haider, Nazia Hassan are few names who started and created new west kind trend of pop-rock culture in India but faded out getting over shadowed by film music.

What are your views on cover and DJ versions of popular hits?

People climb on cloud nine and glorify themselves when they do an elegantly safe job COVER of an already hit song again. Plagiarism, brother it's a copy. Singing an old song out of passion in a bathroom is fine but any commercial usage leads to a challenge and disrespect to the original creation and creator. I will definitely call them spineless, that's the reason I started off this paragraph with 'people' and not singers. It's as if you are putting your name plate on somebody else's home.

Dressing up to the best and shooting a music video of a copied song shows how desperate they are to achieve temporary success. These shortcomings never stay for long. I always say 10 claps for your own song is way better than ten thousand claps for a cover song. Sing and enjoy your own song. According to me if you can't create music you should Quit, you should do a job elsewhere.

It seems that is what people want, so what then is the way forward?

I should say Indians are possessed and obsessed by films and its songs. There's more in store. It's high time to overthrow the prejudices made by few individuals of riding films on songs, unaware of the later consequences on the original music. It's unfortunate that lot of independent musicians have not been recognized and given worth as they deserve, avenues and careers of lots of musicians have been shattered by this trend in the last few decades. I would request all aspiring young musicians of India to come out in full bloom with their original music whatever genre it may be - instrumental, folk, songs, ghazals, plays, qawwali, bhajans, rock, pop and let the world know you.

What are independent artistes doing about this and will it really make a difference?

I do know a few upcoming artists with immense talent who are swimming against this worse tide and fighting the whirlwind, good luck and God be with them, I am optimistic and anticipate a great lot of change in Indian Independent Music. I also expect that the audience realizes, accepts and chooses independent music as mainstream music and not film songs.

What is your advice to young and upcoming artistes?

Now since it's digital music all over, there are more options to showcase and sell your music I invite all good talents on floor. My advice to youngsters is to not make music on demand or for others, make your music with passion without any restrictions for yourself and enjoy it, the world will enjoy with you. Make your own way and do not flow with the river. Never make or do music for bread and butter. Till the end of this planet music will be created and heard but the spine and Essence is simple melody and nice lyrics.

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Championing Women Power

Shahin Badar is a versatile Award winning Singer/Songwriter, acclaimed worldwide for her vocals in The Prodigy's banger, 'Smack My Bitch Up', and made her legendary. She has collaborated with various world renowned producers across the world covering music genres like EDM, Trance, House, TripHop, Pop, Sufi over which she implemented her production ideas. Her collaborations includes the likes of Indian Ropeman, Bobina, Gemini Brothers, Noise Control, Doug Laurent, Kaya Project, Gio Makyo, Jah Wobble, FX, Fraser T Smith, Twista and Juliet Lewis and many more. She is also credited with successful albums like 'Laila' and 'Destiny'. Recently my vocal Chants of 'Smack My Bitch Up' got sampled by USA Rapper ASAP Ferg for his single 'Floor Seats', and also in a series BALLERS starring Dwayne Johnson. Both hugely successful in USA.

Shahin Badar's vocal contributions feature in over 50 international film and TV soundtracks like the UK Music Hall of Fame, the Lara Croft Tomb Raider:2, Charlie's Angels, Scary Movie 2, Closer, US sitcoms North Shore and Kevin Hill, and Sky News broadcasts. She has also sung in Bollywood movies for A.R. Rahman in Zubieda & Yuva, Dhai Akshar Prem Ke to name a few. Raga to Rock caught up Shahin Badar during her stay in Mumbai to find out about her Remix versions of 'Jaag' and her future plans.

Tell us about your song 'Jaag'
'Jaag' is an edgy and hypnotic song about women empowerment, that revolves around awakening one’s resolve for independence, breaking the shackles of misogyny and appeals to the listeners to move forward without being tied down by age-old customs and norms.I have released 4 Remix versions of my single ‘Jaag’, the remixes have been produced by world famous EDM Producers like DJPodje from Ireland of “4SuMotion”, he has produced the Vocal & Dub Mix. The 3rd remix has been produced by UK DJ & Producer Juttla and the final track is also produced by UK based Kaya Project.They have done a fantastic job on the remixes.

Tell us how do you use your work for the empowerment of women ?
To me basic core of humanity is understanding and respect. All my Music videos have a message for women about her Power, Strength, Belief, Struggles and Guidance, who continues to fight for her rights through peace, understanding and knowledge.and that is what I am trying to spread to the world.

Who inspired you to be a Musician?
My mother is my inspiration, she trained under Naushadsaab and Emdad Khan Sarangiwala. As she was not allowed to pursue music as a career, it was passed on to me! My mother also writes Ghazals as a hobby, she has penned two of my tracks "Laila" and "Jhoom Jhoom" on my debut album.

Give us a few names and experiences with the legendary Artists who you have worked with?
I have had the pleasure to work with several Legends, all were unique. Its honour to work with Hollywood Music composer Michael Dannah for the film, 'The Hulk', I shall always remember the way he greeted me. A.R.Rahman was a little shy but a wonderful person to work with, we had some great laughs. Above all great respect goes out to our legendary big beats man Liam Howlett, when recording my vocals for 'Smack My Bitch up' it was truly exceptional.

How does it feel being called the voice of The Prodigy?
You made me smile, I guess the chant on 'Smack My Bitch Up' has left it's mark in the history of EDM music. A great honour to be associated with The Prodigy. At their concerts, to hear the fans sing along to the chant with such devotion is unbelievable, used to brings tears to my eyes. The Prodigy fans around the world are No.1 and I love their humility and crazy energy!

How do you feel with the loss of Keith Flint?
It just does not feel the same without Keith Flint. May his soul rest in peace.

Why have you not sung in Bollywood soundtracks?
I have recorded three tracks with Oscar winner A.R.Rahman. My vocals featured on the track, 'Dol Dol' on Mani Ratnam's film Yuva and I also delivered alaap chants on the back ground score of the film Zubeida. I am stil waiting for Azizi to be released. A fine track produced by Rahman and written by Mehboob.I would like to do more work. Over the years, I was extremely busy taking care of my parents. I haven't had much chance to take time out for myself until now, I am also hoping to work with some cool Music Producers from India this year.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
Would love to continue with my travels around the world, meet beautiful people who will keep enriching my life with their knowledge of grace and kindness. Rest we hope, depends on the Almighty's Good Will.

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The Bollyboom Story

On the eve of the 8th year of Bollyboom concerts, we caught up with Mr. Manuj Agarwal, CEO, Percept Live, to share his views on the journey so far, Artists, and his competition.

How has Bollyboom progressed over the years?
Bollywood music has been a vital part of every Indian and by combining this with the beats of Electronica, state-of-the-art production, SFX, and the best of Bollywood Artists we knew we could offer a brand new BDM twist and create a unique Live Entertainment experience for the huge numbers of Bollywood music fans all across India and overseas.

Bollyboom was launched in 2013 and featured legendary music maestros Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Salim-Sulaiman, Shveta Pandit, Shraddha Pandit, and Shadab Afridi who set the stage ablaze with their foot-tapping, head-banging music specially created to the infusion of electro beats of DJ Lloyd, DJ Nik & AJ, and Acid. Over the years we chose the most popular
Punjabi Bollywood / Pop Artists like Guru Randhwa, Diljit Dosanjh, Honey Singh, Badshah, Amyway and many more who are immensely popular amongst the youth.
Seeing its growing popularity, Bollyboom evolved into multiple formats. We launched Club formats which ensured a national reach and also gave us an ability to introduce and promote young upcoming Bollywood DJ talent pan India.
A pioneering initiative saw us take over popular traditional Indian festivals under the Bollyboom banner and create a brand new revived experience for the youngsters who were already used to celebrating festivals such as Holi, Valentine’s Day, Baisakhi, Friendship Day, Christmas and New Years Eve with popular Bollywood music. ‘Bollyboom’ is the ONLY all
India and even International brand in this space.
We have also produced and launched many successful International Bollyboom shows across Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, South Africa, Singapore and more. In fact Bollyboom Valentine’s 2020 is all set to rock Dubai with Indian pop-rock band Sanam ft. Sanah Moidutty Live on 14 February 2020.

Why have you repeated the star artist Diljit Dosanjh again this year?
This isn’t a repeat artist show but a continuation of the Bollyboom Multi-City India Tour 2019- 20 with Diljit Dosanjh that we had announced earlier in October 2019. The enthralling multi-city pan India tour with the popular Punjabi heartthrob kicked off on 9 November 2019 in Pune and 23 November 2019 in Bengaluru to great success and we are now ready to rock Delhi on
2 February and Mumbai on 22 February, 2020.

Diljit Dosanjh is a remarkable and versatile artist who wowed audiences at the primary Bollyboom editions as also fans around the globe all through last year. Diljit Dosanjh has seen his popularity graph soar not only due to his powerful and foot tapping melodies but also because of his memorable and impactful performances in the Bollywood film industry. We are super thrilled to have him on board as part of our Bollyboom Multi-City India tour. The Pune and Bengaluru shows were a massive hit and we are thrilled to bring him closer to his fans across the cities of Mumbai and Delhi therein offering them an incredible opportunity to witness his electrifying performance live and up close.

Bollyboom has many smaller artists performing during the year; this is more a branded event rather than a Festival? Your view...
The scale and size of Bollyboom cannot be replicated across every metro or town as it wouldn’t be feasible given the limitations across India of infrastructure, venue availability and access, permissions and increased costs translating into expensive tickets for the guests. However given its growing popularity we had to ideate and create new sub formats such as mini Arenas, Pop Ups and Club formats which not only ensured a greater national reach, but also gave us an ability to introduce and promote young upcoming Bollywood DJ talent pan India.

Bollywood Music has been a lifeline of India for ages now. Every Disc, Lounge, Club, Wedding, Birthday Celebration prominently has Bollywood music being played in its original & remix form. Percept Live’s Bollyboom events offer an extra edge – not just the variety of both established and new, upcoming Talent across cities, but also an intrinsic mix of the best of live
entertainment elements spanning live percussionists, exotic live performers, curated F&B and above all, a safe, secure, seamless experience for all attendees making any Bollyboom show a success time and again.

How do you look at BollyBoom as compard to the other 'Bolly' events?
Having the ‘first mover’ advantage with Bollyboom certainly gave us an edge compared to many other ‘me-too’ Bollywood live event shows that popped up after Bollyboom’s launch in 2013. Bollywood music infused with the beats of Electronica is a phenomenon that's become only more and more popular since inception and has become the number one music choice of
the youth today. And proof of this is seen in brand Bollyboom’s phenomenal growth over the past 7 years across India and overseas.
We also undertake a lot of research, given the dynamic pulse of the millennials. Over the past 7 years we have continuously innovated, tested, experimented, and introduced newer and multiple variants recognizing the potential of Bollyboom across India. Bollyboom offers not only the latest trending artists and tracks but also an amorphous blend of Trance, House, Hip
Hop, Electro Funk, Synthetic, Pop, Club Music, Techno, Trance, Hardstyle and Dubstep to keep up to step with whatever is trending and popular with our fans. Our focused dedication towards delivering the very best is how we have remained successful and grown versus a sea of impressionist Live Entertainment options available in the market today.
Our brand name and credibility has also certainly helped - Percept Live has been instrumental in blazing trends in the music and entertainment industry since decades and fans know that any Live Event IP from the Percept stable offers a unique, state-of-the-art, guaranteed VFM experience. We already had a huge fan following with the youth across India & overseas
courtesy Sunburn, and another IP from our stable in the live music space carries the advantageous stamp of credibility and authenticity for our fans.
Going ahead I see Bollyboom growing massively to tap many more markets across India as also overseas. We are already working with top talent and in future we will add many more prestigious names to this roster. Plans are afoot to create a curated Bollyboom show which will travel globally like ‘Sensation’. Besides that our calendar will expand to have at least 200 events pan India and overseas annually.

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Nuka Blazes New Path

Anushka Manchanda had taken on the new avatar of Nuka, when she launched her debut single' 'Don't Be Afraid', is out with a searing new track, 'Ayo Burn', which is a scathing, no holds barred comment of the things that have been happening in the country in recent times. Nuka has been many things as Anushka. She came into prominence on one of India's first reality shows. She was picked from among thousands of aspirants to become a part of the phenomenally successful all girl band, VIVA!. This led to her being signed on as a VJ with Channel [V] and assignments with various TV shows including Fear Factor and MTV Stuntmania because of her passion for motorcycles.

From there on Anushka moved on to playback singing, first in South films under music director Yuvan Shankar Raja and then on to Bollywood with leading Music Directors like Vishal-Shekhar, Sandeep Chowta, Anu Malik, Eshaan-Shankar-Loy, Salim-Sulaiman to name a few. She was is now blazing a new path in her new avatar and it is everything she stands for.

Who is Anushka - Singer, Actor, Producer?
I am an evolving artist, refusing to be put in a box. Being a singer, an actor, a producer, a director, an editor..these are all different vehicles of my expression. In this moment, I am proud to be one of the voices of India, out on the street with my brothers and sisters, working hard to protect everything my country stands for.

How did you become a Music Producer? How did InkInc come about? Are you also a stake holder?
I got irritated at having to depend on other technicians to create what was in my head. So I took a music production course. IncInk is the lovechild of Navzar Eranee, the seed of which was sown when we all gained access to some of the best talent in the country, through a project we were working on. No, I am not a stake holder.

Who is Nuka? Why another identity you are already famous as Anushka Manchanda?
Nuka is who I really am. An artist producing art without any adulteration or censorship. With Anushka Manchanda I have done work for years on films and projects with other people. I wanted to separate the two, only to make it easier for people looking for the art or music I am making now.

Do you like to produce Music in English language? Do you play any Instrument?
I think in english and I write best in english too. I play piano.

Tell us about you song 'Ayo Burn', what is your statement/message? Any other info you would like to share?
I say pretty much everything I am feeling in the song! There is so much apathy, and things have been bad for a long time..but today I feel a new ray of hope. The youth is out on the streets. People are listening. This song is meant for those still sitting on the fence. We need you. And we need you now!

Are you sending a message to the current Political establishment?
This song is being sung to people like you and me. It’s for us to take responsibility. If we sit back and let all of this stuff happen to us and the people around us..then are we any better than the ones causing this?

Would you venture into Politics?
I’m not politically motivated, never have been, although I am paying more attention to what’s happening in the country today.

Whats your next song/album?
I have a track I’ve produced for Kaam Bhaari which you will hear soon.

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Flying Solo - Shitalchandra Kulkarni

One of India’s leading guitarists, Shitalchandra Kulkarni is the front man of renowned rock band, Tungstn and brand ambassador for Ibanez Guitars. Over the past three decades he has been a composer, producer, performer and teacher with body of work including live gigs, albums and various projects ranging from personal, to festivals, films and corporate events.

He recently released his first solo album titled, Endless, which is a bold departure from the conventional in that it is a completely instrumental one. It is also a testament of Shital’s self confidence and belief in his ability to hold the interest of his fans and audience.

Shital picked up his first guitar at the age of five and fell in love with the instrument and over the years his favourite guitar has been Ibanez. His first band Tallfathins won the all India Live Wire band contest at the IIT Mumbai Festival in 1990 and his second band Tungsten, later Tungstn with trimmed lineup, brought out two albums – the first a self titled double album and the second titled, Jumpstart.

Shitalchandra is an ex music faculty at Flame University and he also runs the Institute of Modern Music, which was founded by his father Suhaaschandra Kulkarni a well known accordionist, back in 1965. He set up his own studio, Chords India, in the early 90s and worked on over 400 commercial titles but for some years now he has been using it for only his personal projects.

Here Shitalchandra Kulkarni talks to Ragatorock in this indepth interview, about his passion for the guitar, the independent music scene and his musical journey through the past three decades.

When did you decide to be a Musician?
I had a musical background and I came from a musical family. My father is a professional musician. His principal instrument is Accordion, and music was always in the family, and from the time I started understanding that I am completely drawn towards creativity and playing, music is what I decided I want to dedicate my life to.

If I have to go way back, I started learning the guitar when I was in 5th standard, performing for school gatherings, competitions, imitating label songs was my first ladder, that which I continued for few years and this initial learning, studying, progressing years gave me an insight that I am meant to be full time in music- in all departments.

Tell us of your style of Guitar playing? Your favorite Guitar players & influences in your music?
It is very difficult to self analyze my playing, I have never done that, I always followed my instincts and spontaneity than the technique but of course I tried to polish my skills and playing techniques, and handling the instruments from the sound perspective is of utmost importance to me, and the way it is heard.

Guitar, as an instrument has various styles and has been improvised by various players. Imitating is fine initially, but finally the player grows only when he imitates himself and that’s exactly what I have tried to do over the years. Trying to imitate what plays in my head and unfortunately after playing for decades I have still not being able to achieve that.

But yes like all guitarists I do have my influences which start way back from my school time.
To name a few, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie van Halen, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Steve Lukathuar, R.D.Burman, Yanni to name a few.

Tell us about your latest Album?
My new project, a instrumental guitar album is called ENDLESS. This album is going to be released by songdew.com in three parts over the next one year. The first part consisting of six tracks has just been released last month.

Its a new thought I feel of replacing vocal by instrumental notes and improvisation. Every track is shaped with a fixed composition with a canvas of production giving the listeners a surprise elements everytime they listen. Every track has been thought with some context keeping a certain vision and emotion in mind. For example -

Super Ride talks about a drive , about a skilful ride,
Dark Street- talks about anxiety to fear to rise,
Run For Cover- talks about speed and chase,
Water- different expressions of water in classical manner,
Take Me Through- Chemistry between guitar and EDM,
Beat The Heat- Full on groovy and rock and roll.

The entire album's composition, production, sound design, and playing is done by me taking the support of my two ace engineers Mr. Gaurav Korgaonkar for music synthesis and Mr. Shridhar Deshpande who recorded all guitars and mixed the album.

The album was mastered by Mr. San Page at Page Productions. The entire album is recorded and mixed in my studios - Chords India, Pune.

ENDLESS is an album which will redefine instrumental music and people who even don't listen to instrumental music or guitar oriented music can also enjoy this project.

Why did you want to make an instrumental album?

I was always vocal composition oriented person, right from the beginning of my career, I always did vocal music where guitar played the role of accompaniment but parallelly I always thought that the way I handled my instrument, I could do more than just the supportive role. Instrumental music, instrumental pieces, colouring the pieces or the solos was always my parallel musicianship, that made me write lot of instrumental germs as scratches which eventually I have produced them to some extent in ENDLESS. I always wanted to do an instrumental act where I could get the freedom of play but discipline of composition and that was my main drive to do instrumental project.

While being a full time musician how did you manage all your other activities?

Well that's a good question because managing domestic and professional life is always a challenge Though I am full time into music I always worked for myself and on four fronts, Teaching, Studio work, Music Faculty at FLAME UNIVERSITY, and Personal projects.

Finding time, making time, giving priority, forming an Agenda, financial aspects and food, to creativity doing a balance of all this, is always tough. Still since I call myself a professional musician I have always tried to streamline all my musical responsibilities backed-up with musical academics and my personal life too.

Sure...not that I was 100% successful, but yes with few highs and lows.

Tell us about your studio and institute?
My institute - INSTITUTE OF MODERN MUSIC was started by my father Suhaaschandra Kulkarni way back in 1965. We have a huge curriculum of 5 grades per instrument backed-up with certain syllabus for every grade right from the base to advance level. We are teaching guitar, mandolin, piano, keyboard, accordion and drums and we have a very specific system of teaching every student individually and each student is given separate scientific training - right from scratch.
For more information on institute please check the site - www.instituteofmodernmusic.in
And do check the youtube channel for the way the students are trained.

My Studio - CHORDS INDIA is basically designed and equipped now to do my home productions and my home work. I started my studio way back in the early 90s and did commercial work for more than 400 titles till 2007 and since then this Studio is used only for my work. My studio is equipped with a lot of Analog and Digital and DAW systems to see to that I can capture the sound which sounds right to my ears.

Share your journey from Tungztn days?
It was a combination of struggle and party time for about more than 15 years. We released our debut twin album called TUNGZSTEN in 2000, followed by multiple concerts, serious ups and downs, change of line ups, change of thought and pattern of music till 2007. In 2007 renamed the band as - TUNGZTN with a trimmed tight trio line up. Worked on new material for the next 2 years, followed by 2 more years recording the material in the studios… released the album - JUMPSTART in 2013 and disbanded in December 2015, before releasing our first Hindi single SOCHNA MANA HAI. This was the story of Tungztn with a span of 15 years, in short.

What do you think of the independent music scene in India?
If you ask me, independent music, indie artist or bands have always been through their struggle and tough times to show their existence. Its been a debate over the years that the so called Independent music scene is improving, is promising, is more engaging but according to me I really never understood all this because except the few artist here and there most of the artist had a rough ride and tried hard for the ends to meet, because other than Bollywood Music Industry there is no other revenue building music industry which gives a concrete platform to display skills and art and compositions which can be a mode of survival.

Hobby is different but settlement and getting repaid for your passion and fire is different.

Until and unless people and powers recognize the need to display the skills of independent artist in the coming years, the acceptance is not going to build and in turn give it a status of an industry.

What is your advice to young and upcoming artistes?
Imitation is ok to begin with but be yourself and get married to your own emotions and skills to display your creativity.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
More settled, more watched, more heard, more followed, more earned...hahahopefully to see a bigger recognized Indian independent music industry.

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Magic on the Fretboard - Claver Menezes

One of the India’s foremost guitarists and ardent supporter of independent music, Claver Menezes recently released his latest album, ‘Diverse Delusions’, featuring various singers from all over the country, giving it as the title suggests, a diverse and eclectic musical experience.
Comprising of 19 tracks, it has some of the most illustrious singers featured on each track including Sherrin Varghese, Suzanne D'Mello, Uday Iyer, Sidd Coutto, Gary Lawyer, Temeer Chimulkar, Sujit Kumar, Ashwini Torvi, SiDD, Shawn Pereira, Nitish Roque Pires, Christina Andrew, Sukhbir Kalsi, Neha Gandhi, Riyaz Qadir, and others.
Claver took up the guitar when he was twelve and a year’s time started performing on stage. He was just 14 when he formed his own band ‘Rust Angels’ in 1992. Rust Angels performed in various college shows, gaining in popularity and reached the ‘Live Wire’ finals at the IIT Mumbai Mood Indigo Festival in 1993. He was highly influenced by Joe Satriani and soon came to be recognized as one of the top rock guitarists in Mumbai, for his distinctive style and speed on the fret board.

He started his record label Hangar Records in 2000, to as he says, ‘keep rock music alive’. In 2001 released an instrumental album, The Unborn Recital, on which he brought together some of the best guitarists in the country. In 2002 he came out with his next album, ‘Screwed’ which featured songs by some of the best bands in India. Rust Angels disbanded in 2004 and Claver set up his own studio to concentrate on his solo projects and in 2005 scored the music for the film, ‘Sacred Evil’. In 2008 he formed the band Zedde, playing numerous gigs and shows across the country. Claver released his first solo instrumental albums ‘Crooked Ways’ I & II in 2018.

Here Claver Menezes talks to Ragatorock about his musical journey.

Tell us something about yourself.
I formed my own rock band 'Rust Angels' in 1991 practicing and playing cover versions of Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Metallica, Megadeth, Wasp, Anthrax and many more. The band gained in popularity and attained prominence among the young college-going crowd. We performed at rock shows across colleges and also entered the finals of Live Wire (IIT, Mood Indigo) the next in 1992.

Zedde came to existence in 2008, which was one of the popular bands I was with. We made a lot of original music together and we saw great appreciation for it. Our song ‘Mumbai’ won the prestigious ‘Anthem of the Year’ title at the world’s largest indie music awards: AVIMA 2010. The video for the song frequented all popular music channels, including VH1 and MTV India, and climbed to #1 on the YouTube India charts within 24 hours of upload. The ‘Best Band’ at ArtistAloud.com Awards 2010 and the regional championship at the Hard Rock Rising 2012 challenge followed. As part of Hard Rock Rising 2012, Zedde made it to the top 10 from amongst 12,000 bands worldwide.

When did you decide to be a Musician?
There wasn’t a particular event or a eureka moment for it. My entire family was into music, and that already gave me a taste and music came to me naturally.

Tell us of your style of Guitar playing? your favorite Guitar players & influences in your music?
Joe Satriani's style of music has been the most significant influences in my style. Every good song influences me. I love 21 pilots and how with just 2 people they create magic on stage.

Tell us about your latest album?
I have been wanting to make this collaborative album for a really long time now. Putting out 19 songs in one album took a lot of efforts, but now I take a sigh of that sweet sweet relief and happiness. The album is essentially me collaborating with various singers. Each singer brings in his/her quirks in their songs. Of course you could go listen to them on all music streaming platforms.

While being a musician you were also a working professional, how did you manage to do both?
During the day I used to go to the office do my regular day job, and during the nights is when I used to work on the album, and of course the weekends were entirely dedicated for this as well.

Tell us about Hangar Records? the whole journey?
I started a recording label called Hangar Records, and brought together the top guitarists of the country in 2001 for an instrumental album, 'The Unborn Recital (FOK II)' and a video featuring all the guitarists were also produced and released. The participating guitarists in the album were Li'l Finger, Ravi Iyer, Sarosh Izedyar, Paresh Kamat, Dhruv Ghanekar, Warren Mendonca, Suri Sequiera, Chandresh Kudwa, Edwin Fernandes, Sushil, and Randolph Correia.

The very same year Hangar Records recorded and released another album, a non-instrumental this time, called 'Screwed' which other than my own band Rust Angels featured other rock bands Zero, Sceptre, Thor, Fate, Psychomotor, Kinky Ski Munky, AFS, Freedom, and Morticide. The reason why Hangar Records came into being was to keep rock music alive.

What do you think of the independent music scene in India?
I see a lot of music festivals happening in India but I hardly see any indie rock bands playing anymore. It only disheartens me to see no independent rock musicians being pushed on any of these platforms. I see a lot of heavy rock music or pop rock playing these days but nothing which can be considered as the middle ground of these two sub sects.

Why has India not produced any great independent artistes, compared to the West where music is propelled by musicians and bands?
In the West music is their job, where they are paid handsomely for their music / performances. Whereas in India, rock musicians are paid peanuts or worse, not paid at all. So they either give up or they start playing for Hindi film industry.

What is your advice to young and upcoming artistes?
Do your undergrad in whatever interests you and then do an MBA. Hahahaha.

- Stanley Paul

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Straddling Indie and Bollywood - Mohan Kannan

Mohan Kannan is a name you will find on both sides of the Indie/Bollywood divide. A versatile musician, singer and composer, Mohan started off as the lead vocalist of one of India’s best known rock bands Agnee but he has a background steeped in classical music, as his mother is the well known Carnatic vocalist and violinist Vasantha Kannan. He is an accomplished mridangam player and has won the prestigious Palghat Mani Iyer award for the Best Mridangam Player three times.

Kannan’s entry into Bollywood came about when he was approached to sing ‘Khanabadosh’, a song composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for the 2009 film, London Dreams. Since then he has sung in several films and worked with some of the biggest names in Bollywood including Amit Trivedi, Abhishek Ray, Pritam to name a few.

Here Mohan Kannan speaks to RagatoRock about his musical journey and how he is at home with both Indie and Bollywood music.

What is the pressure you had to handle when you entered the Music Space given the success of your mother in Carnatic music?
The pressure of becoming a full time musician had everything to do with making it work as a profession and justifying it as a financially viable proposition actually. I remember telling people at work, “As a successful musician, I can make as much in a day as we do in a year”, just before I quit.

My mother’s knowledge and the teachings she passed on to me (and continues to do so) only helped in making me understand my own benchmarks for quality, and she is still the first person to listen to all my compositions and tell me what she honestly feels (and it’s not always a good comment J).

Do you go to her with your new songs or compositions for advice?
Ah, as I said, I do! I remember I had composed for Abida Parveen to sing (for a tv show that unfortunately never got made) and because I’m such a big fan of hers, I went overboard in trying to impress her. My mother heard the scratch and told me, “It’s the fault of Ragas...they’re too limited for someone as talented as you to express yourself well with just one. No wonder you had to go to so many different ragas to make this song”. I remember getting off the phone and immediately deleting the composition. The next one I composed was a lot more honest to the song itself and to the meaning I had to convey. I never played the first one to anyone else.

What is Mohan Kannan's trick to look effortless on stage?
Being effortless sometimes just happens (when it’s a good day on stage), but that is not as often as the days when it’s a little bit of spontaneity and a little bit of practiced performance. After my third show with Agnee in 2007, I realised I was worrying too much about the way my performances “looked” or “sounded” and was allowing that worry to mould the way I behaved. I was trying too hard to be a “rockstar” and my music was suffering. My friend, Priya, pointed this out to me after a show, thank God. I then started behaving as I normally do, and started enjoying the music and reacting to it on stage like I would in my living room. And I’ve realised that honesty always works and music is such a powerful medium that audiences will get drawn in to an honest effort much more than to a convoluted effort to try and impress them.

You have been performing on stage with Agnee for years? What made you jump into Bollywood Live Shows? Should we be expecting new collaborations for these performances?
It’s been over 12 years that we’ve launched Agnee and we’ve performed many shows across India. We’ve grown to learn that we are called to perform our songs like, Aahatein or Sadho Re or Kabira or Manmaani etc and no one expects us to (or wants us to) perform Bollywood for them. And we wouldn’t have it any other way for Agnee.

However, in these last twelve years, I’ve also sung over 50 songs in Bollywood and would love to showcase those live too. Koco and I realised that these songs don’t necessarily fit in the Agnee brand of sound, and so we decided to set up a different act for my Bollywood songs. There will be a few collaborations on stage for sure, we already have a much larger team for this act that we call “Mohan Kannan Live”, and this will also be the platform for a lot of my solo compositions to be performed live once they’re released.

How do you describe the Mohan Kannan Live shows to be different from the current Bollywood shows?
I hope to bring a holistic experience with audio, video, lights and performances on stage, so that everyone gets a larger than life (or, as I like to call it, “Larger Than Live”) experience and every show leaves them wanting to come for the next one.

Any tips for budding artists as to how to perform effortlessly on stage?
Just what I learnt myself… Be as honest as you possibly can.

How did Wahi Hain Raaste come about?
Shirin, who is a rockstar and works with Shankar Ehsaan Loy, called me one day and asked me to come record the song. Once I went to the studio, I learnt it was for Panga. The song is a beautiful composition, and as is the case with every one of their compositions, so rich in melodic content. I was super happy to sing it. I had to go back to record a few parts again for pronunciation, and that’s when I met Javed Akhtar Saab for the first time. It was a pleasure working with such stalwarts as Shankar Mahadevan and Javed Akhtar and a wonderful learning experience...I hope people love the song in my voice as much as I loved listening to it in Shankar’s voice!

- Stanley Paul

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Making her "Break Through”.

Kashmira Khot recently released her debut single “Break Through”. It’s a mixture of pop, grunge and rock vibes. This song is about changing your vision and dreams, being afraid of it, worrying about the pain it causes, and yet again, asking someone to wait on these fears,while you face these changes for good. R2R gets to know about the artist and her music better

Tell us how this song came about?

It’s a funny story, actually. Sometimes while dreaming at night, I hear some specific words or sentences and then they stick with me for a few days. If they keep lingering too much, I just note them down, hoping that makes them go away, because so many times- they don’t even make sense. This one time last October, a dream I had left me with a sentence “Water to my tears” and I’m like, “Goddamit! This doesn’t even make sense! Why does it keep ringing in my head?” So I wrote it down. Later while practicing some songs on the guitar, I was playing around with chords and I looked around Notes on my phone, and it showed up. And out of nowhere I sang, “Give water to my tears, the wells have gone dry” And that’s how the first line was written. I don’t even know how to explain how the rest of it came right out in a flow. It’s crazy how Fate works- because if I hadn’t opened that Nonsensical line on my phone that afternoon, it would’ve just been one of my “Lines I heard in my Dreams” notes.

What does the song mean to her?

I wrote this song in October, while making major decisions for myself, while changing how my life was, how I was by nature, while finally being my own person.There’s a lot of things we all have to change about ourselves, knowingly or unknowingly. I believe we have to be in charge of who we are and try to be a better version of ourselves, everyday. Improve ourselves, for our own sake, if not for someone else. To be your own parent, your own guide, your own friend- to hear yourself out- for once.This song means the World to me. It’s a conversation- between you, and the person you were. It’s close to me because I think when we’re changing ourselves, we mistake ourselves for being easy to Break-apart. Changing is a tough process and it is NOT weak. It’s also tough to Love and Embrace your new self. This song is to go across those barriers and come out stronger and better. Chorus goes:“And everytime I close my eyes, another scene plays onA dream that never left my back, but never came trueSo maybe I’ll let go for now, I’ll leave my pain to youSo when the time is right I’ll know that, I have to Break through” (Where “You” is your old self, that you’re afraid of losing.)

What's your music background and influences?

I’m a singer-songwriter with Indian Light-music vocal training since I was a child. I've been learning the guitar since the past 2-3 years. My interest in Western music as well as writing grew in my process from childhood to teenager. My major favourite bands include Pearl Jam, Queen, Pink Floyd and artists like Steven Wilson, Celine Dion, Adele- no specific type. I was very lucky to have found the company of friends and family who brought me where I am today. “Break Through” is just the beginning, and the best one I could’ve asked for. There’s still a lot to learn, and I’m all for it!Special Thanks to Mayank Katare (Producer and Guitarist for “Break Through”) for being patient and investing time and effort for this process.

We wish her all the success on her musical journey.

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Straddling Indie and Bollywood - Mohan Kannan
Making her "Break Through”.

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Venues

Best Jazz Venue in India

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.

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