In his recent album UP , Karsh Kale reflects on his 20-year career as a musician. The Indian-American not only wears many hats — composer, producer, tabla player, drummer, DJ — but also successfully straddles the worlds of classical, Western, Hindustani, rock and contemporary music, while finding time to collaborate with other artistes, and be a parent.
The British-born, New York-raised-and-based producer has, in the past, worked with international icons, including Sting, Herbie Hancock, Anoushka Shankar, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones. Karsh, who has released six solo albums and many other collaborations, live projects, EPs and remixes, says he’s “a huge fan of albums”, and that’s part of the reason why he stuck out in the industry for so long. In an interview, Karsh talks about why it’s important to listen to the voices inside you and why he’s a gamechanger in the industry.
What is the new album all about and when did you start working on it?
I started work on it about a year after my last album Cinema (2011) came out. At that time, I wasn’t even sure whether I wanted to do another album, because the music industry was changing — people were into singles, YouTube, EPs and SoundCloud... For me, though, it has always been about the album. I listen to albums from beginning to end, because that’s the intent of the artiste; not for people to listen to just one pop song. But there are two reasons as to why I took so long: one, I wasn’t really sure whether the album itself was worth pursuing, and then I was also doing Coke Studio , The Dewarists and different one-off tours. But at the same time, what I learnt from doing all of those things is that the reaction is equal to what you put in. So, if you put one song out, people will react to that song for a little while and then they’re on to the next thing. However, an album becomes something personal for people. And two years ago, I heard the new Pink Floyd album. They released it as if they had completely ignored what had happened in the music industry. That once again inspired me to go back and say, ‘you know what, it really doesn’t matter’.
So, are you old-school in a way that you listen to albums on vinyl records?
Yes, I do. In fact, last year, I bought an old record player and we’ve been collecting vinyls at home. Artistes back in the 70s, 80s and even 90s tended to think of an album as an entire journey and a story. You know, the first records that I bought were Michael Jackson’s Thriller and The Police’s Synchronicity . This is important for my daughter as well, who’s 15 and inundated with pop music. She is listening to everything that’s on the charts. It is important for me that she also listens to the oldies. She loves it and knows the difference between her Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift albums.
How is UP different from your other albums?
I never really took a break from 2001, when I put my first album out. And almost every other year, I had something to do. I would take five to six months to record an album, and then go through the whole process of touring and putting a new album out. That cycle started to become slightly redundant. I also started changing as an artiste, because you always stop listening to the voices around you, and you hopefully start listening to the voices you’ve developed inside as an artiste. That’s why I stuck it out.
You divide your time between Brooklyn and Mumbai. Do you face an identity crisis as to where you belong, or are you a citizen of the world?
It depends on what time of the day you ask that question. Sometimes, I feel incredibly empowered and very much a part of the world. I don’t feel attached to one particular place or say that I’m an Indian or an American first. Maybe, I did when I first started, but now that I’ve spent time in Japan, India, Australia... I realised the similarities we have. The music that I make is about bringing people together, or diverse things that otherwise don’t really belong together. That’s the ideal answer. The other part has a lot to do with inspirations. Yes, of course, it’s incredibly confusing, much as going back and forth between Mumbai and New York. But, more so, because of what I choose to do as an artist: I’m a tabla player, a DJ, sometimes, I’m playing dubstep in a club, sometimes I’m playing very Pink Floydian-type concerts… and I tend to get lost in that as well... I do wake up some mornings asking myself ‘what the hell am I doing?’ It’s scary. But the way I deal with that is to make music.
Do you find it hard to be a working father?
I’m very, very, very lucky to have a family that has always been supportive. And, my daughter is the first person to say ‘go, you have to go do this’. This is something she wants to do in her life right now as well. We talk about it when I come home: we talk about the time we spend apart and how that plays out and how that affects us.
Who are your inspirations — music and otherwise?
Sometimes it’s people, and sometimes it’s the things people have said. People like Bruce Lee have been a huge inspiration. Simply because of the way he explained how one should be navigating through the world, when he said, ‘Be like water’— which is a song on my album as well. Water can pass around something but it can also crash into something. Of course, people like Zakir Hussain and Peter Gabriel and Sting; they are gamechangers. Things were never the same after them.
Do you hope to be a gamechanger then?
In a way, I don’t think there was anything before me. Whether I thought I was or not, there was a point, for instance, where I really felt like, maybe my time in America is over now. And then, all of a sudden, I was invited by the White House to perform. Not just because I’m an entertainer, but because of the cultural impact that my music has had on Americans. A year later, one of my albums was up on the wall at the Smithsonian Institution. If your stuff is up on the wall, you’ve been accepted into the cultural fabric of America. And when I’m doubting myself, these moments remind me that all the work I’ve put in over the last couple of decades is paying off now.
What has changed in the 20 years of your career?
I do so many different things: being a composer, producer, musician and also a DJ. DJing has started to fizzle out of the equation a little now. These are all the different hats that I wear. It’s taken me years to learn how to properly balance these things. When I started playing in Tabla Beat Science with Zakir bhai , he was concerned about the fact that I was getting into something very difficult. He warned me about the pitfalls of what I was getting into. But, at the same time, he gave me a full blessing and told me to prove everyone wrong...
Does that mean you’re working on another album already?
Well, I’m definitely taking a break. I have a lot of music that I have been working on. Once again, an album to me is like a film. It’s a process: first you have a script, and then you find your actors and location — because in the end, when people press play on the first song, I want to be able to transform them emotionally, by the time they get to the last. That process takes a while. And UP just came out. And when an album comes out, it’s kind of like a pregnancy (laughs). You don’t want to mess it and have another baby right away.
