MUMBAI: After making its debut this year with the album ‘Udaan Instrumental’, band Udaan is all set to spread its wings.
Udaan Instrumental is a unique band which features some extraordinary blend of the musicians who are visually impaired. The kind of music the band plays is super-hit and evergreen Bollywood melodies.
Says the director of the band Deepak Govind Soni, “Our band was formed in 2005. We were all basically students of School for blind and a bunch of us were interested in making music. We wanted to make a living out of this profession and earn name for ourselves. Hence we came together to form a band. In Dec 2005 we gave our first performance in Mumbai.”
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The band originally comprised 25 members over the years, which has now increased to 40. “We need more members to handle the daily workings. Hence we included more members.” Most of the members of the band are trained musicians and few are still learning.
The band plays Bollywood cover music. “In our gigs we generally play Bollywood music. Though we would soon start playing our original work as well,” Soni says.
The band had launched an album earlier this year with T-Series. “The album did very well and we very appreciated.” Talking further about his big break Soni added, “It was Bollywoodstar Salman Khan who heared us first. He was very impressed with us and without us asking he called up Kishan Kumar from T-Series. We were called for an audition where in along with Kishan Kumar T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar was also present. Our work was well aprreciated and we signed a deal with them.”
He says, “T-Series has been very instrumental in bringing out the album. Not once were we made to feel that it a favour done for us because of our impairment. They were thorough professionals. They have been kind enough to provide us with also helped us with every kind of support including the required publicity and our album was launched on Febuary 13th 2009 amidst heavy presence of media. Actor Aftab Shivdasani and singer Abhijeet was also present during the launch. I would specially thank singer Abhijeet for his support. He has always been there to help us. He has also provided us with shows during Durga Puja festival,” he adds.
Talking about the problems that the band faces while making music, he opines, “We do not face any such problem while making music since we are trained musicians. The major problem that we face is fund allocation. Even though people like our music they offer us to play for charities. There is a different category demarcated for us which is not fair. Offer us work because we are talented not because we are impaired. We feel differentiated.”
The band is also very geared up to bring out its next album but is facing monetary crisis. “We want people to acknowledge our talent and give us work. Music is our bread and butter, we want to make it a money making proposition for ourselves as well as for people who would be investing in it. We do not want to play for charity,” he concludes.
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