Beyond the norm

When you are in a band, there is a strong tendency to pigeon-hole yourself into a particular genre. Which is why many musicians in the City are opting to be a part of music projects, which are time-bound and experimental, rather than cloistering themselves under a particular banner.

While such collaborations for a specific time period or event aren’t unusual, there has always been a slight favouritism towards the band culture. But some musicians like Aman Mahajan have been doing this for years. The pianist, who’s working on a project called ‘REFUGE’, has collaborated with numerous other musicians over time and says that the audience is more than willing to stray away from the lines. “In my experience, audiences are quite interested to see/hear what new musical projects or collaborations can bring. As the improvised music scene in India is quite small, the relatively niche audience we have is always on the lookout for more. It’s also a matter of the depth of involvement during a performance, as an audience picks up on these things very directly,” he explains.

These improvisational musicians have the freedom to explore, which is why an increasing number of people are taking to it. Nikhil Vaidhyanathan, a drummer, has been working with different projects for the last two years. “Hearing ‘Hey, I have a project for you’ sounds much less intimidating than ‘Hey, let’s form a band’. There’s so much on the line when forming a band which makes it scary, whereas these short term projects really cut off a load on you and the people you work with.” He adds that forming a band is really important but after a while, you’d naturally want to take some time off. “I saw my musicianship grow a lot while working with these short term/one time projects,” he adds.

Anisha, a vocalist, is working on her latest project and is looking to collaborate with musicians from different backgrounds like EDM, rap and jazz. “When you are collaborating, it’s easier to experiment with different sounds,” she says. Aman has done similar work and says, “Almost everything I take on is a musical project (with the exception of some session work); there’s no single band I remain associated with apart from my own project, ‘REFUGE’.”

Explaining the concept behind ‘REFUGE’, he says, “It is a set of musical themes I’ve composed over the years. I’ve performed this music in a variety of musical configurations, though most commonly as a jazz trio/quartet.” Apart from this, some of his on-going projects include ‘Mystik Vibes’ (cross-culture), ‘No Hero’ (multi-genre), ‘The Radha Thomas Ensemble’ (jazz) and ‘Krishna’s TempleRock’ (Carnatic music in a modern mix).

“For me, some of the most memorable collaborations tend to involve my own compositions. My most recent collaboration of this sort was with Japanese saxophonist Yuichiro Tokuda; we travelled to a few different cities in India with a band, performing each other’s compositions,” says Aman. Another one that stays with him is a project from last year called ‘Pathways’, a collaboration with NYC-based Serbian vocalist and songwriter Aleksandra Denda.

There are also many projects that are theme-based and act as tributes. Mohammed Uvais, a musician who began working on projects recently, is holding on to five right now — ‘Banned Medicine’, ‘Dark Light’, ‘Distortion Culture’, ‘Jazzed & Confused’ and ‘Naad’. “‘Dark Light’ was my first collaboration to play psychedelic progressive rock music; ‘Pink Floyd’ and ‘Porcupine Tree’ tributes. ‘Banned Medicine’ is the latest project where I put together various artistes for a ‘Bon Jovi’ tribute,” he says. Since these musicians don’t spend much time with each other, jam sessions can become problematic. But, “All the musicians come prepared and spend quality time in getting to know the overall sound together rather than learning parts,” adds Uvais.

Aman says that practice sessions can be challenging but it’s nothing that can’t be handled. “There is often the challenge of learning new material with just a few rehearsals and not much time to prepare. But this is all a part of it. In these situations, if we can focus on listening to each other, and the overall sound/expression, it all goes okay,” he explains.