Sandeep Chowta is only the second Indian to break into the US Billboard charts with A Foreign Affair, his collaborative venture with American band Spyro Gyra. The music composer talks to The Guide about the album and working with the Jazz-fusion legends

It's a collaboration that couldn't be short of a magical sonic alliance. Jazz-fusion legends Spyro Gyra and India's musical maestro Sandeep Chowta have come together on the band's newest album, A Foreign Affair. Chowta has written and co-produced a sublime composition, Khuda on the album. After weeks of ruling international charts (including a debut at #2 on the US Billboard Charts), the album is set for its India release on October 29. The Bollywood music director tells us more about the collaboration.

Bollywood music composer, Sandeep Chowta

What brought about this collabora-tion with Spyro Gyra?
I've been a fan of Spyro Gyra's work since I was in school, back when people were listening to Abba and Boney M! About eight years ago, when I started working on my album Matters of the Heart, I met musicians in Los Angeles and New York, one of whom was Spyro Gyra's keyboardist Tom Schuman, one of my favourite musicians. He performed on a track on my album, and later, so did Jay Beckenstein and another band member.


Grammy Award-winning band Spyro Gyra

We became friends and stayed in touch. Then, one fine day, Jay asked me to write a song for them. They liked the first track I sent but said, "It's very Spyro. We want something that's very you." Khuda was the second track I sent; they fell in love with it and with Arijit Singh's vocals on it.