India’s independent musical future just turned brighter

India has truly gained independence… musically. Commencing from the last day of September, right through October, brought total validation as a retro-bar, a festival, an institution, and a musical, all combined to bring independent (“indie”) musical numbers to the fore.

Mumbai’s suburban based retro venue, Door No. 1 — the 2016 brainchild of first-time entrepreneurs Mihir Bijur and brother-in-law Vishesh Khanna — had already begun, earlier in the year, providing an amazing platform for independent musicians to showcase their talent where budding musicians were permitted to bring instruments and perform without inhibitions. Dubbed as the very obvious “Jam Sessions”, these events continue occurring on Sunday evenings. In extending their argument of being a leader in indie talent, the passionate owners curated a resident band, an amalgamation of two groups, to create “Pratham”. The trio of musicians made their debut at the venue on September 30 with renditions of popular indie songs from the 1990s to expected Bollywood hits with a few originals thrown in. A marvellous initiative!

Sunil Sampat is the man behind the NCPA Jazz Collective

However, Door No. 1 was scarcely alone in providing musical independence as, barely five days later, Mumbai-based NCPA focused on jazz with a quartet created by Sunil Sampat, an entrepreneur by profession, but a music aficionado by passion, especially for jazz. The band, known as “Jazz Collective”, consisted of pan-India talent, and featured the extraordinary vocalist Sanjeeta Bhattacharya.

In introducing the “Jazz Collective”, Sampat spoke about NCPA promoting jazz over the past seven years or so with the institution having handpicked the band members. As they ran through the set list, it was clear that each instrumentalist was more than competent, but the underlying thread across the songs was Bhattacharya’s vocal talents — whether singing or scatting — wherein she made the renditions entirely her own. This was especially true on High Wire — The Aerialist, an uptempo song composed by Chick Corea — who is scheduled to perform in Mumbai on November 3 — with lyrics written by Tony Cohan, and on Lush Life, written by Billy Strayhorn in the 1930s, and now considered a jazz standard. Bravo, Sunil Sampat, take a bow!

Rahul daCunha, the man behind #SingIndiaSing

One of the progenitors of the indie movement, Nesco’s annual Paddy Fields music festival which was into Season 3 this year, created the concept of “Jugalbandi: The Classicism Of Folk Fusion” (October 6 and 7). Remaining true to the theme, the eight sets of artistes provided mostly musical excellence, although sound glitches on day two marred performances, and tested audience patience. Nevertheless, the positives arrived by way of the Shujaat Khan and Malini Awasthi combine that featured Awadhi folk music, certainly my musical pick of the festival; the amazing guitar talent of Warren Mendonsa who performed with Amit Trivedi; Rahul Sharma and Gulzar Ganie’s Kashmiri folk that took a complete tangent when Sharma asked the audience whether they wanted to listen to jazz, and promptly leapt into a song that he described as “Blues meets Bhairavi” which, paradoxically, rocked! Awaiting the next effort from curators Atul Churamani, Soumitra Maitra and Anand Prasad.

Last, but not the least, is one of the most remarkable stage musicals that I have witnessed, #SingIndiaSing, an eight-year labour of love for ad person Rahul daCunha that finally made it onto stage on October 12. In containing a social media statement from creators daCunha and Bugs Bhargava on how the so-called reality shows popular on small screen are, in actuality, precisely choreographed, daCunha began to write with further gusto in January 2017 after interacting with event management head Brian Tellis, who also features in the musical.

The result is nothing short of astonishing. Twenty nine outstanding songs created by the extraordinarily talented composer Clinton Carejo — ranging from rock to Carnatic rap, and from R&B hip-hop to Bollywood — spread across a cast of 11 characters, including a quartet of contestants, another quartet of characters appropriately and collectively known as the “Hashtags” (think Twitter here), and supported by a trio who head the broadcast channel — Indus Creed vocalist Uday Benegal was certainly the pick — all of whom, together, presented the virtual reality show with a clear-cut message: Win at any cost! Brilliant dances, dazzling visuals, intense performances, powerful characters and excellent vocals, all supported by a penetrating script and commanding direction, certainly ensures that #SingIndiaSing is an event of global quality.

By liberally borrowing from the name of a hit song from the 1980s, all I need to add here is that the future of independent music in India has certainly turned bright enough for me to consider wearing shades!

The writer has been part of the media and entertainment business for over 23 years. He continues to pursue his hobby and earns an income out of it.