As the next guest in our series of interviews, we bring to you Sanjeev Thomas. Sanjeev owns a studio in Chennai called Rainbow Bridge with its headline band by the same name. Another distinguished honor for Sanjeev is that he has been the lead guitarist for A.R. Rahman in his studio recordings as well as live concerts.

So where and how did it all begin for you?

I was born and brought up in Kuwait where I picked up the Guitar at the age of 8 after some coaxing from my dad. Although I learnt the guitar for some time, there was a lot of theory involved which got me bored and I had left it for some time. I completed my schooling in Kuwait and then moved to Chennai where I completed my degree. Although I was good at studying, I could never really see myself doing a day job.. I wanted to be a rockstar. So after playing the guitar for a few years, I started a few bands such as Buddha Blown and Buddha’s Babies. Then I started my own studio called Rainbow Bridge and the Rainbow Bridge Band started as the headline band for the studio.

How did the band come about? And what is the funda behind

the name Rainbow Bridge?

I started the Rainbow bridge studio around 5 years back.. And since the studio needed a headline band, I formed the band. The name just came from the studio’s name. Rainbow bridge basically stands for all kinds of artists coming down under one roof.

Fusion is too generic a term to classify your music. How would you describe Rainbow

Bridge’s music?

I had a couple of bands before Rainbow Bridge(Buddha’s Babies and Buddha Blown).  Rainbow Bridge started by taking those songs and reinventing them. We do all kinds of music and it would be difficult to classify it into any one genre. This is what we call the Independent or indie rock.

Where is the Indian Rock scene headed? Would it ever be as popular in India as it is in

the west?

Be it India or west, the Indie Rock scene does not have popularity. It has always been an underground movement. However, the west has the infrastructure to support upcoming underground artists. India so far does not have that. So, most of the upcoming artists find it difficult to sustain themselves and end up either going into mainstream commercial music or quit music altogether.

Playing alongside A R Rahman is a dream come true moment for any Indian musician. And

you have been playing with him for quite some time now.  Tell us more about your

experience with the maestro.

Around three and a half years ago I got a call inviting me to work with Rahman on the “Vote for Taj” campaign. It was a shocker for me. Ever since, I have worked with him on a number of projects which include studio recordings and live concerts. Live concerts with Rahman are always great fun because there are a minimum of 75,000 people at any concert. A particular concert I remember was one at Cochin. I had entered in a crane that was high above the ground and balancing ourselves in the crane while playing the instruments was a real adventure.

Being a guitarist it is quite obvious you would have your idols. Could you please name

them?

Having been brought up in the late 70s/80s, I was initially a huge fan of disco music. So I would say, my first influence were the Bee-Gees. Later on I got into heavy/death metal where I liked bands such as Sepultura. . Ony after this did I discover the 70s Rock’n’Roll with bands such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin etc.

Any plans of getting into mainstream commercial/bollywood music?

I am already into commercial music. I do production for a lot of commercial movies and albums in my studio. Although as a youngster I was against pop music, I have grown to believe that no kind of music is bad music. So now I produce all kind of music including hip-hop, bollywood etc. Although I would always have a soft spot for indie rock music as I started off with that music.

What are the future projects, both on your individual front and the band front?

The first thing I am looking forward to is the release of my album later this year. The album will have a variety of genres of music. Secondly, I am looking forward to the world tour with Rahman. I am also doing a lot of projects in bollywood with the likes of Anu Malik and Pritam. Although I have always been a guitarist, I am also looking forward to my career in singing. I am already singing for my own band but I am also recording a few songs that would be released in movies in the upcoming year.

We eagerly look forward to the release of Sanjeev’s album and wish him the best for all his future projects!

For more on Sanjeev’s music visit his myspace page here: http://www.myspace.com/rainbowbridgeindia

Wake

Meherbaan – Instrumental

Freewill

It is always a great challenge for a musician to make his debut with a classic song, which has in the past been covered by many great artists, and turn out a commendable job of it. And if that wasn’t challenging enough, consider a case where the musician himself does the instruments, modified lyrics and in the end launches the song on his own label. This “all-rounder” happens to be Dilpreet Bhatia, a Delhi-based folk-rock singer/songwriter, who recently came out with his debut single, a tribute to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali. Dilpreet is our spotlight artist for the week.

Let us start with a brief about you, your

musical background and so on.

I am based in Delhi, but spent most of my childhood in a small town of Fatehabad in Haryana, Started learning music from my teachers at school there. Performed in school and college fests but never thought that I would take music so seriously. Went to Bangalore for a Software Job and suddenly I started feeling that something is missing out here…I cant live without performing, without music. I came to Delhi and started learning Hindustani Classical from my Guruji Sumitra Guha and kept on trying and trying to do what I love to do, perform where ever I could and write whatever I felt….

Trying to cover a classic, especially by someone like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is always a

high risk venture, with high chances of the song not going down well with purists, fans et

al. Nevertheless you chose to do just that (and did a beautiful job of it, we should add!).

So why Nusratji? And why this particular song?

I must say that I am honored, and thanks a lot for your kind words. I am a great fan of Nusrat Ji…his compositions are legendary. And the simple reason I chose this song was that ‘I loved it’ and I could relate to this song. I was not thinking of any risk when i was improvising it.  I hope you would have noticed that the antra of this song is not what Nusrat Ji have sung. What he has done, is legendary. And lot of artists like Kailash Kher, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and NFAK have sung this song before.  but extending it, writing new antras and giving them a whole tune…ya it may be scary but this is how I feel one with the song and I am honored that people liked this version and I hope that if he(Nusrat Ji) could listen to this song from up there, he wont scold me after hearing it…

At a time when most Punjabi songs tend towards the cacophonous orchestration, it is

refreshing to hear purely acoustic songs which bring out the real beauty of Punjabi Sufi

music. Was the arrangement entirely handled by you as well? And who is the pianist?

Ya, I did the music arrangement, recording and mixing for this song at my home studio, and all the intruments on this song, including piano, are played by me.

Today the easiest path to fame is quite evidently reality shows, and there have been many

who got their 15 minutes (and more) of fame through this. And considering you have good

talent as well, why did you not opt for that route?

I never thought its a good option for me.

This song has been launched via your own private label, Sur & Soul Records. Do you plan

to go big on the labels front, by trying to launch albums of other artists as well, or are you

going to employ Sur & Soul for your songs alone?

Sur ‘n’ Soul Records will not be limited to my songs alone, we have plan to launch other artists as well, mostly associated with hindustani classical. But it will remain an Indie Label.

Needless to say, launching a single costs a lot of money. Is music your sole bread-winner,

or are you employed otherwise?

I am also working as Lead Software Engineer for creative software giant Adobe Systems Inc.

You have come out with your first single now. When do you plan to launch a full album? And is that going to be all covers or are you working on some own comps as well?

The full album is already ready, Its in Punjabi, and songs have been written, composed and sung by me and directed by Leslie Lewis of Colonial Cousins. I have also collaborated with 6 times Grammy Winning Mixing Engineer Ken Lewis for one of songs in this Album. We are right now showcasing it to labels and hopefully it should be out very very soon.

The staple musician question – who are your influences?

Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Ji, Pt Jasraj, U2, A R Rahman and my Guruji Sumitra Guha, have had the greatest influence on me and my music.

A lot of Indian musicians are currently collaborating with international musicians with

great success. Have you explored that possibility?

Yes, I have recently completed recording a song for UK based producer Shammi Pithia, Did one song with Ken Lewis, which is featured in my upcoming album, and currently working on a multiple song project with Canadian band Nawticks.

Next pitstop would be Bollywood we are guessing. Anything on that front yet?

Nothing on that front right now, this Single and Album have been keeping me busy for now, but ya, I am surely gonna give it a shot.
We wish you all the best, and hope your debut album happens soon indeed.
Another spotlight artist coming up your way soon!

The name Amartya Rahut might not ring a bell in most minds. But I doubt there is a person who wouldn’t have heard at least one of his many works on TV, which range from the jingle for Cadbury’s Perk to Colors Channel Signature Tune to his award-winning Punjabicized version of Jingle Bells created for Nickelodeon. His religious views, as per facebook, is “John Lennon is God”. That gives a general idea of how committed this guitarist-composer is to music.

Amartya’s first shot to fame was his fusion band in early 2000s, OM, which he formed with the now-famous Amit Trivedi and three other guys. He did his Bollywood debut last year with Aagey Se Right, but it unfortunately didn’t attain success in spite of being a good album. The man is currently busy with the works of his new band Nine which debuted at the Kala Ghoda Festival on Feb 12. We decided to catch up with Amartya aka Bobo and get his story for our readers. Read on then!

Let us start with your pre-OM days. Your

musical upbringing et al.

I have been a professional freelance guitar player from my school days in Calcutta… Have played with some of the premium bands of that time… Namely Shiva, Fifth Dimension, Asteroids, Cactus, Paras Pathar….

But personally I have always wanted to compose original songs and ideally wanted to do it on a national platform and not be restricted to any regional space… So shifted base to Mumbai in 2000.

In Mumbai started off with whatever little work I would get initially in advertising… And the struggle which I guess every migrant in Mumbai faces in our industry….

How did OM come about? The five of you are seemingly people from different

backgrounds, both geographically and musically.

During my initial advertising days in Mumbai I started working with Amit Trivedi (Dev D/Aamir)… He used to be my arranger for all my advertising sessions… His friends were Sriram and Ram…and one fine day we got together and created Om… We were pretty lucky I must say to get times music to spend on our album pretty much as soon as we had started the band…

I have read you as being credited as composer for OM in many places. Just want to clarify

whether it was entirely your effort, coz in at least a couple of songs (Baadal and Tum Tana

especially) I have got an improv sort of feel.

My part in Om was being the composer and guitar player for the band… Sriram composed a few tracks on his own… Amit arranged all the songs and Baadal was a traditional piece which we jammed on…

Om was formed in 2002. I believe you came out with the album some time in 2004. And

after such a brilliant debut nothing was heard of Om again. What happened? Is there a

possibility of a reunion in future?

Unfortunately, after the album released, although we did get decent response, our personal goals seemed to be pretty individualistic…as for myself I was already composing on a regular level for premium mainstream advertising commercials, Amit the other key member of Om was working with me… Ram and Sriram had full time corporate jobs… So it fell apart… And now it seems pretty unlikely that there will be a reunion…

Coming back to your individual exploits, after your stint with Om you were lying low, at

least to the public eye, till Aagey Se Right came about in late 2009. What were you doing in

this long hiatus?

After Om, I scored the music for for 2 Marathi films for a friend of mine , director Bipin Nadkarni… The National award winning Uttarayan and Evdhasa Aabhal… I got the State award, Zee Alfa award, and the V Shantaram Puraskar for the above films…

Along with all this my advertising stint continued on a regular level… Personally I love composing for ads… As the time frame is limited, the money being good… And the job, very challenging… One needs to be on his toes everyday to score advertising music…

Along with advertising I do a lot of television work as well… The channel signature tunes of Colors and Real have been composed by me. Last year, ‘KHATRON KE KHILADI”, “CHOTE MIYAN”, “BIG BOSS” AND “NATIONAL BINGO”etc…

In 2009 I did Aagey Se Right… Again for a friend of mine from my advertising background, Indrajit Nattoji… I still wish the music had been promoted a little… There was almost zero publicity as far as the music of the film was concerned…

What other Bollywood projects have you got coming up?

Currently, working on a couple of film projects …but no point in naming them now…as I have realized one simple thing as far as feature films are concerned…till they release one never knows what the outcome is going to be…because it is a big affair and I guess there are lots of variables attached to a film…so, being a little superstitious about it (hehe)..

Congratulations on your debuting your new band Nine at the Kala Ghoda festival. Tell us

more about the band. When is Nine’s official album going to hit the shelves?

Currently I am occupied working on the band Nine with two extremely talented and dear friends, Neelesh Mishra and Shilpa Rao… Nine was completely Neelesh’s idea…I am simply composing the songs and creating the music to his thoughts….. And things are shaping up well… Hopefully this year the album should release…

To be parting on a light note, mind telling us the history behind your famous nickname

Bobo?

As far as Bobo is concerned…a very strange uncle of mine (this is the story passed on to me by my dad), had this brilliant idea of naming me Bobo when I was a baby…and its stuck till date (hahaha)…

Whoever I meet for the first time, I introduce myself as Amartya…by our third meeting he starts calling me Bobo…so that’s a comic tragic affair I have to live with I guess!!!

Well here is wishing Amartya all success with his upcoming Bollywood ventures, and Nine. As an ardent fan of OM I do sincerely hope that a reunion of OM happens in spite of Bobo’s misgivings! We shall be back with another artist soon. Below are some videos of Amartya’s past works.

Piya by OM, reproduced with the artist’s permission

Amartya’s rehash of Jingle Bells for Nickelodeon which won the Promax 2009 award for best music

A Condom awareness ad with music composed by Amartya

The creature shown in figure below shares its name with a certain mental condition. What?

Earlier it was a story about A and an old woman. In 2006 Y said the earlier story was bullshit and said the real story was about B. What?

A.

B.

Answer in comments.

This is the logo of an annual event, a competition rather, instituted in 1996. What event?

Answer: The world air guitaring competition.

Virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin performs and discusses her theremin, the not-just-for-sci-fi electronic instrument that is played without being touched. Songs include “Autumn Leaves,” “Lush Life” and David Mash’s “Listen, Words Are Gone.”

The theremin, the first electronic instrument ever invented, was on the brink of historic oblivion when it was rescued from obscurity by director Steven Martin’s classic 1994 documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey . And while a few brave souls have sought to master this temperamental instrument since then, none have done so with more sly effervescence than Pamelia Kurstin.
From the rock-steady composure she assumes behind the instrument (necessary lest her breathing drive the sensors out of tune), one might presume a shrinking conservatory personality, but a quick glance at the MySpace page or website of the self-described “bird-punching rollerskating thereminist” will quickly dash any of these quaint notions. Far from being a quirky curiosity, however, Kurstin is a sensitive, emotional stylist capable of coaxing sublime melodic content out of an instrument usually doomed to B-movie sci-fi soundtracks. (And her walking bass imitation is pretty cool too.)
Born in Los Angeles, Kurstin currently resides in Vienna, and performs with acclaimed eccentric rockers Barbez, among many others. Her latest solo CD, Thinking Out Loud, was released in 2007 on John Zorn’s legendary Tzadik label. She’ll bathe your dog and give you a haircut (”if you’re daring,” she warns) in exchange for a six-pack.

Vishal Vaid and his band explore a traditional South Asian musical form in this mesmerizing improv performance. Sit back and let his music transport you.

About Vishal Vaid

Vishal Vaid brings a modern perspective to the traditional music of India, creating melodies that evoke his culture’s past while shaping popular music’s future.

Vishal Vaid has trained in the traditional art of ghazal (an ancient form of poetry, often performed in song) since he was three years old. Today, his performances blend Eastern and Western, ancient and contemporary to create spellbinding music. He has performed throughout the world, appearing on television shows in New York, London, India, and Morocco, and has worked with renowned artists Anoushka Shankar, Bill Laswell, Michael Franti, Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz. He had in fact sung in MP’s last album Hello Hello

In addition, he provided vocals to the electronic-oriented band Bhoom Shankar formed by Karsh Kale and credited with beginning the popular genre of music known as Asian Massive within the electronica community.

Got this question from another quizzing site.

What is this? (remember there should be a musical connection)

Answer in comments.

Answer: This is Spinal Tap, famous as the name of the fictional heavy metal band which was also subject of a mockumentary titled “This is Spinal Tap”. Cracked by Debasish, Mahesh, Kaushik.

This 1974 R’n'B album was in news again sometime in the last decade. Fundae.

Answer in comments.