When music takes precedence over language, do the seven notes take on a new meaning? This fusion group has the answer
When music takes precedence over language, do the seven notes take on a new meaning? This fusion group has the answer
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AS notes from the soothing folk-rock song The Sound of Silence by American duo Simon & Garfunkel fill the room, an Indian vocalist duo hums Kailash Kher's Teri Deewani, creating a segue for the two unlikely compositions to merge. A few more seconds into the medley, and oddly enough, it doesn't sound out of place. "The Sound of Silence has a philosophical connotation and Teri Deewani leans towards the spiritual. It's interesting how a song from the '60s and another from the 2000s have used similar notes," says Ronkini Gupta of The Kheyaal-e-Jazz Projekt, a group of six musicians that blends Hindustani classical forms and popular jazz, ahead of an upcoming performance.
(Top; clockwise from left) Nitish Ranadive, Arohi Mhatre, Anup Satam, Ronkini Gupta, Adinath Patkar; a performance in Pune
Formed in 2015, the fusion group has brought together the bandish, thumri and tarana forms of classical music with diverse western melodies including Norah Jones' Don't Know Why and several of Amy Winehouse's songs. The Mumbai-based group has also performed original compositions, and its single Ritu Basant Ki won the Artist Aloud Music Award for Best Composition in 2016.
"Indian singing has a singular melodic structure, whereas western music involves harmonising. Both Arohi and I hail from a Hindustani classical music background and have shared a similar approach to music," shares Gupta, referring to her vocalist partner and friend Arohi Mhatre, as she speaks about the group's genesis. Mhatre and Gupta are winners of singing reality shows, and their chemistry is palpable in their music. "Complementary singing requires vocalists to be in sync, something that only comes over a period of time," adds Gupta.
Unlike most other fusion sets, the instrumentation of Kheyaal-e-Jazz is largely Western, with Anup Satam on the guitars, Adinath Patkar on the keys, Suraaj Parab on the bass and Nitish Ranadive, who plays regularly with Sona Mohapatra and Armaan Malik, on the cajon. "When Arohi and I decided to harmonise, we thought why not have hands that would give our music a more western touch. It began to take shape with regular jamming sessions," says Gupta, who arrived in Mumbai from Jamshedpur as a student of mathematics at St Xavier's College.
"The college is inclined towards the arts. It opens you up. I became actively involved with the Indian Music Group [a student association for Indian classical music]," says Gupta, who was one of the lead singers in a Broadway show that travelled to Europe, the US and Middle East, before she returned to Mumbai.
For the Friday performance, listeners can expect Adele's Rolling in the Deep to meander into a Mohammed Rafi tarana, based on Raag Bhairavi. "Music is one entity and genres are just different forms of expressing it," says Gupta. "It's fascinating how every piece of music that exists, is born out of the saat sur."
On: November 12, 7.30 pm
At Harkat Studios, Bungalow No 75, JP Road, Aram Nagar Part 2, Versova, Andheri West
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Cost : Rs. 413
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