Independent music heads towards mainstream

Artist Tirthankar Poddar, more popularly known to listeners as 2Blue, has been on India’s music scene for several decades now. As his latest effort, he sang the Indian Post anthem, “Aaya Aapka Daakiya”, which was played on January 26, 2022, India’s 73rd Republic Day, as a backdrop to India Post’s return to the annual parade at Rajpath, New Delhi, after 17 years, with a well-deserved focus on women empowerment.

The India Post float showcased their women employees alongside a traditional red-letter box, now commemorating 167 years of service. The moment of national pride was aptly described by Swati Pandey, the Postmaster General of the Mumbai region, as: “Nothing is more empowering (for us) than a postwoman leading from the front.”

Orchida Mukherjee

So, too, it was behind the scenes as the person supporting India Post’s initiative was composer/lyricist Orchida Mukherjee, a Postal Assistant in the Circle Office at Kolkata, who tracked 2Blue on January 11 and spoke about wanting him to sing “Aaya Aapka Daakiya” by sharing her composition and lyrics [Kholke darwaza dekho aaya aapka daakiya]. In working overnight, 2Blue sent across a demo through email to Mukherjee. Over the next 36 hours, with Johaan John Thekkan handling production, the product was ready and the rest, as they say, is history…

2Blue w/ Johann Thekan

Meanwhile, for those yet uninitiated with the talent of 2Blue, he was born in Agartala, but is currently based in Mumbai, and his musical career speaks of an intriguing story: until 2014, 2Blue served as Vice President of an IT company but, more importantly on his creative side, he moved from fronting rock band Vayu to going solo. In all this, 2Blue’s career has largely been defined by his live performances and, with it, 2Blue is also a writer, motivational speaker, and an actor…so far!

Even by residing abroad, what remains within Indians is nationalistic fervour and so it is with Singapore-based Druv Kent as, also for Republic Day, he re-launched a song from 2019, the easy listening, mid-tempo sounds of – and the inspirational –  “Hindustan Meri Jaan” which, says Kent, is “a song to the country of my birth – India – that still defines who I am every day”. With music arrangements and composition by Kent, he has co-written the lyrics with Hina Joshi, resulting in this superb multi-lingual song.

Druv Kent

For those not aware of Druv Kent, he was born and raised in Kolkata, went to boarding school in Dehradun, and attended college in the U.S. As a child, Kent trained in Hindustani vocals, drums, and tabla; however, Druv’s ear was always drawn towards Western sounds. “My heart was in vocals and percussion,” recalls Kent, “but I played guitar and keyboards more as compositional tools rather than for performing purposes”. In 2012, Druv sang for a Bollywood song with Agnee, the Pune-based Hindi rock band (“Paa Paraa Paa” from the soundtrack of ‘Aalaap’). Apart from music, he had an interest in strategic and financial consulting, culminating in Kent becoming an investment banker in Singapore, a city where currently resides.

Meanwhile, in continuing with the India theme, a quartet with the unlikely name of Groovedarshan released their debut single, “Namaste”, on January 28. Based in Mumbai, the band consists of Aditya Ashwath (guitar/bass/vocals), Pankaj Tak (guitar/bass), Shabarish Garg (percussions/drums), and Yash Chittal (guitar/bass).

Groovedarshan

In discussing the evolution of ‘Namaste’, co-founder Aditya Ashwath, and the member behind their music production, lyrics, and vocals, explains: “As the word and its gesture are widely used throughout the Indian subcontinent as a form of greeting, acknowledging, and welcoming, inspired the group to name their debut release as ‘Namaste’ and celebrate a new beginning to the sonic and visual world of Groovedarshan.”

In describing the song as an amalgamation of Psychedelic Rock, World Fusion, Jazz, and Blues, Ashwath adds: “It is a groovy collage where the bass section drives the mood of the song while the vocals, guitars, drums, and sonic gestures help in bringing out more colours as the song progresses.”

“’Namaste’ began as a crazy journey with the boys,” adds drummer Shabarish Garg, “[in] exploring world music. It started as a week-long experiment of staying together, and jamming, and the song is basically the result of the madness we had.”

In complementing his fellow members’ sentiments, guitarist/bassist Yash Chittal explains: “’Namaste’ reminds me that it’s about the journey and not so much about the destination… like a road trip that the band took inside a room and travelled through ideas and feelings to finally reach this song.”

To bring Groovedarshan’s musical vision into reality, required recording, mix, and master engineer Sundaresh Sankrith assisting the band to move the song demo outside a laptop. “With his musical sensibilities, technical inputs, and work ethic,” acknowledges bassist/guitarist Pankaj Tak, “he created a very comfortable environment for us to work in and helped us push ourselves in different capacities during recording and composing.”  Regarding the uniqueness of the artwork, where the art concept, cover design, and visuals have all been created by Tak, he explains that “it creates a landscape which is surreal, out worldly, and abstract [but] yet grounded. Along with the cover art, I also designed [a] few posters [as] the team helped bring this song to life.”

Aman Singh Gujral

The band members have all been playing with each other in different combinations across various projects since 2018 but, it all culminated after spending a week together at Mumbai-based Adagio, an outlet for the like-minded promoted by Aman Singh Gujral, which resulted in the formation of Groovedarshan. The group played their initial gigs in Mumbai itself, at venues such as The Quorum, Veranda and, of course, Adagio. In their individual capacities, the members have performed live at The Quarter, Levi’s Lounge, VH1 Supersonic, Sofar Sounds Bombay, and Sofar Sounds Bangalore [Bengaluru], among other venues.

“Namaste” is certainly a worthy hear as this largely instrumental song has an amalgamation of sounds, but with a common thread: it is immediately listenable.

So 2Blue, Druv Kent, and Groovedarshan may have diverse talents, but their underlying themes remain the same, which certainly augurs well for a healthier – both physically and musically – India!