They are big followers of electronic dance music (EDM) but are bigger on all sounds “Indian.” Anil Prasad and Rohit Gandhi aka Argenil saw no point in being another Hardwell. And what followed will buzz your brains out. They married the surs, taals and alaaps to the buzzing energy of EDM just to get the millennials on their feet. And voila! What they are calling Hindustani house was born. After the phenomenal success of their first single, these Bengaluru boys are now crowdfunding the launch of their brand new desi EDM genre and they tell us just why we need to fuel their dreams.
Both engineers by education, this was never their plan. “Rohit made the first track Tha-di-ki-na-thom as an experiment. It was more or less an overnight eureka moment,” confesses Anil about the track that uses flutes, tabla, and the vocals of dictators of Bharatanatyam dancers. With several hits, even making its way to an American radio station, the duo decided that they didn’t just want to be DJs, but performers – that will probably explain why you’ll see Rohit bring his expertise of percussion, playing over five instruments at a time on stage live, while Anil takes to the console and guitars.
In case you were wondering how the tablas, violins, darbukas, flutes and a cajon box fit comfortably next to their console, their influences could give you a general clue – everyone from The Raghu Dixit Project and Goldfish to most EDM artistes out there. “We use Indian instruments with grooves and scales, which really portray the sounds and vibes we want, while bringing out Indian culture,” says 23-year-old Rohit whose mother taught him the Octapad 15 years ago. His tryst with the local temple’s bhakti group where he was trained to play the tabla, dholak and dhol, further added to his knowledge inventory. Anil, on the other hand, learned how to play the guitar for about five months before submitting to his guru – YouTube. Self taught, the 22-year-old continued on the bass with several bands before teaming up with his pal at Christ Junior College.
The feather in their cap has got to be their first single Tha-di-ki-na-thom. “It even played on an American radio station and someone said, ‘I was cooking dinner and this added flavour to the paneer tikka I was making, as I could feel the vibe. It made me dance and feel good about the place I belong to.’ That right there made our day,” they say.
With big dreams but insufficient finance, they began crowdfunding on FuelADream on which they raised over one lakh out of five lakhs. “We wanted to make the public aware of our initiative and it was one of the very few platforms with zero percent commission – if your campaign fails to get funded completely,” says Anil.
With Rohit being a big foodie and Anil loving to cook, music isn’t the only interest they share. “I usually read, write, take my bike out for a spin, play video games, meet some friends or hit the gym,” says Rohit. “I watch movies and TV shows, follow football and hit the gym. (Rohit said gym too, didn’t he? He’s lying),” Anil tells us. The two are brothers in arms and they have one goal – to make their mark and not just be better than someone who already exists.
