Catch new property that puts the spotlight on up-and-coming indie artistes

Karma Sherpa

Mumbai is teeming with young and budding musicians. Perhaps, one could even say, young artistes arrive in the city at a higher frequency rate than Harbour line trains do at Andheri station. In view of this, students of a music school have come up with a new initiative called Sounds on Fleek, which is dedicated to showcasing upcoming musicians. We ask electronic music producer and composer Utkarsh Amarpuri, 25, who has organised the event along with Ishaan Mehta, 26 - what the name means. "We were trying to think of words that are in. and we saw that 'on fleek' is something people are using a lot so, went ahead with that. It basically means sound on point," he tells us.

Utkarsh Amarpuri

Getting the act together
Ashutosh Phatak, the founder of True School of Music, music producer and multi-instrumentalist, shares more about the initiative, "To be able to play professionally, one has to play in a professional setting and that was what spurred this idea. So, they musicians will be playing in front of friends who they are comfortable with, but the setting is professional. Since the initiative for this came from the students - they were keen to work around a platform, that they can call their own - I wanted to encourage them," he says. "Young musicians need a platform to play original music without having to worry about money and that's what lies at the crux of this idea," Amarpuri adds.

Ashutosh Phatak

For Amarpuri and Mehta, the biggest challenges impeding the event were all financial in nature. "We are hoping to attract young people and so we had to keep a bunch of things in mind. We had to request the venue to organise for a different menu with affordable food. It was difficult to get sponsors. In fact, at the moment, we are solely relying on what we collect at the box office. The other big challenge was getting onboard a big name without having the money to actually afford them. Thankfully, Koniac Net (headlining act for the event) agreed to do this pro bono, which was a great relief," reveals Amanpuri.

Debanjan Biswas

What's in store
The audience can expect a set by Debanjan Biswas, an engineer-turned-musician who's also an award-winning guitarist, singer-songwriter Karthik Rao's an act by Kathmandu's band set-up Kaafila, and Karma Sherpa which will include original pop songs and a few covers of Nepali folk songs.

"I am hoping to create a positive atmosphere with my music. I think my music can speak better," Biswas tells us laconically but humbly. Karma, on the other hand, gives us a peek into life in rural Nepal. "Nepali folk music makes the use of instruments such as the sarangi and a percussion instrument called madal. The songs are mostly about nothing in particular and more like something one can sing while cutting wood in the forest. I will be doing covers of songs by Darjeeling-based artiste Bipul Chettri, but I am also working on originals with Nepali folk influences," he shares.

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Karthik Rao

What's a madal
Rhythm is essential to Nepalese folk music. They use a hand drum called the madal, which aids in rhythm-keeping. It is also their national instrument. Ranjit Gazmer introduced the madal to Bollywood music, when he started working under RD Burman.

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