MUMBAI: Delhi based fusion band, â€?Advaita’ is set out to roll out its debut album this February. The album will be launched under EMI music label, which will look after the distribution of the album.
The band started working on the album in 2007 and came to Mumbai to record the album at Yashraj Studios. They are currently working on the technicalities and mixing of the album and it would be sent to UK for mastering.
The yet unnamed album will contain ten tracks in indo-fusion genre. Although Chayan Adhikari, the western vocalist of the band stresses, fusion is a too broad term to define our music. Whenever there is amalgamation of Indian ragas and western music we term it as fusion music. We have been very experimental when it comes to fusion music….
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The album is a stepping stone for the band as they have been playing for a while now and needed a way to present it to the audiences. While we are performing live, it is difficult to present what we want to the audience because of many factors. Launching an album is a two way process where as an artist we need to reach out to the audiences and audiences get a taste of our music. It gives us a platform to showcase our entire plethora or repertoire to the music lovers. We want the fusion as a genre to evolve and get recognised….
The band has often being criticized for their experimental music. Many think it is easy for us to get audience as we have Indian vocals but I disagree as we have to cater to different tastes. When we have hardcore western music lovers they say we are messing a bit too much with the Indian fusion and classical lovers believe we are experimenting a bit much with the Indian ragas….
Chayan believes the independent music scene is evolving and would get better in the coming year. The scene is definitely better than when we started five years back. There are many fests, gigs and platforms all over India today to showcase our music. Although we cannot say it is at its peak but there has been an upward curve over the years….
The band has always been firm when it comes to playing original music. There are many bands who play covers initially to get recognised but we have stuck to playing only originals. Many a times, the youth expects us to play covers but we don’t go out of our way to cater to their needs. Our target audience could be any one from a school going kid to a grand parent to youngsters…. The lyrics are usually penned by guitarist Abhishek Mathur and Chayan himself.
The band which was formed in 2004 and Chayan joined it in 2005 and has been an active member since then. I saw the band for the first time when I was a school boy of 17 and had a pre-assumed notion about a band and didn’t have clue that such music even exists. Later, when they were looking for a vocalist, they called me for auditions and then there was no looking back for me. It has been a great learning experience for me as Ujwal and Suhail from a Hindustani classical background and other band members have come from other bands…. Chayan had recently rendered vocals for Bollywood film, â€?Sorry bhai!’ composed by Gaurav Dayal.
The band â€?Advaita’ constitutes of Suhail Yousuf Khan on Sarangi, Ujwal Nagar, Hindustani vocalist, Abhishek Mathur, the guitarist, Anindo Bose plays Keyboards, Chayan Adhikari sings western tunes, Aman Singh Rathod on drums, Gaurav Chintamani as base guitarist and Mohit Lal on tabla.
The band had to approach many labels before striking a deal with EMI music. Labels are not very open with the concept of launching a independent music album. However, there are some who are now open for doing so and they have initiated separate branches to cater to such music away from the mainstream….
The album will be launched in Delhi in February and the band is planning a 10- city tour in India to promote the album and is looking for funding for the same. Seeing at the response of their first album, the band will also be launching their second album.
â€?Advaita’ was recently shortlisted for British Council’s Soundpad in March 2008 for a project exploring the art of studio production in music. The other bands selected were Medusa (Bombay), Swarathma (Bangalore) and Indigo Children (Delhi). Advaita will soon be collaborating with top UK music producers John Leckie and Dan Austin as a part of the international project for British Council.
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