Downtown funk

(left to right) First row: Stephen Fernandes, Soha Koradia, Annika Nair, Shriya Rao, Nathan D’souza. Centre: Divisha Khandelwal, Sana Lamba

In 2011, Stephen Fernandes was working as a vocal coach at Cathedral and John Connon High School. In the time spent teaching children music, he came across musical talent that was hard to ignore. It was that thought that led him to create the SoBo House of Music in 2014, dedicated to nurturing young talent. In 2017, musician Bradley Tellis, who was once a part of the band The Colour Compound, decided to join Fernandes.

"Both of us grew up making music together. When we started the school, our aim was to give young artists the space and opportunities we didn't have," Tellis told mid-day. While they started out with 70 students almost a decade ago, they now tutor around 500 children starting from the age of five. Six of these students are now featured in the EP titled Dance With Me, produced by the school's instructors - the co-founders, along with Garth D'mello and Nathan D'souza. It's the third in a series of four children's music EPs, in collaboration with Platoon Music, an Apple-owned artist services and music distribution company, and Tiger Baby Records.

Garth D'mello, Bradley Tellis and Anaisha Chaudhary

Described as a "dancefloor euphoria", Dance With Me is an amalgamation of the teacher's musical influences. However, as Fernandes says, , "It's the girls who are the stars of the show." The girls-Divisha Khandelwal, Annika Nair, Shriya Rao, Sana Lamba, Anaisha Chaudhary and Soha Koradia - bring in their unique voices to the disco-funk melodies.

Each girl has performed a single on the EP. One of the singers, Khandelwal, is only 11 years old. And there's more ahead; both Rao and Lamba are currently working on their individual EPs. The production involved six months of intense work, involving writing and composing the music. Tellis didn't deny that it was a challenging process. The production involved constantly improvising the melodies to suit the singer's vocal range and tone.

When asked why they chose to create music reminiscent of disco from the 70s, D'souza says it's because the genre has something for everyone. "I think that everyone loves disco, and especially as people rediscover old classics, everyone would enjoy the nostalgia." But Dance With Me is not your usual disco album. It combines Hindi lyrics with the tunes that emerged from American subcultures. D'souza says, "We wrote the songs first in English, and then added the Hindi parts. We weren't sure of how it would turn out. But the girls pulled it off."