Happy chords and smiles made up for a blissful evening at Five Mad Men on December 3 as Ankur & The Ghalat Family took centre stage. Fans gathered in front of the stage as the five-man band performed their originals while interacting with the audience. Although songs like Yaaron and Khamoshi made it to their playlist it was Dil beparvah that stole the hearts of the audience. Not only was this gig a successful one but was also a step forward for the live music scene.
The Telegraph caught up with Ankur Tewari before his gig that evening.
Good to see you after a while. Have you ever had the chance to go around the city during your tours?
Not much, we come here, we hang with friends and we don’t really know where we are and I love the people here so that works.
How does a student from hospitality become a musician like yourself?
I never graduated from hospitality. I tried but then I dropped out. I felt like it was probably one of the hardest industries. During the pandemic I think they were impacted the most in terms of an industry. I realised soon after I started studying that I am really not the personality type. People in the industry are really amazing people, especially in the subcontinent they go through a lot and are really married to their job.
So hospitality was not my cup of tea, literally. And music is something that I have always been playing since school. I didn’t really think about it, just that I didn’t know anything else so I kept at it. I never thought too much in the future to calculate it. The career happened itself... I didn’t really think. I just followed my gut and in some point in my life I took control over it.
How is it different to produce something for a film compared to when you’re making your own songs?
The only difference I see is that when you work for movies you work for a brief but when you’re writing songs for yourself you’re writing songs for yourself. It is kind of harder for briefs because it is probably like acting because you have to adapt to a character, become that personality and write and understand the situation that the story demands. Apart from that I don’t see any difference. I won’t write a song differently because I am writing for a movie.
The audience had their phones out to record the band performing
Being an indie artiste, where do you stand on music labels?
Music labels are great. The idea of supporting any kind of art form is amazing and I feel like it’s a fast evolving title. Music labels are really finding themselves for what they really are. From old school or what they used to be when music labels started to what they are now. Roles are changing and things are changing fast. But anyone who supports any kind of art and puts money in it, I’m always for it.
In an interview once you had mentioned that indie musicians are fearless...
I think all musicians are fearless. They are! Because you are not feeding into anyone’s vision. You are kind of independent in your thought and feeding into what you are feeling. That way you are fearless. When you work on a project you max out your imagination and creativity but still try to feed an idea. Marry your idea with another. You are on your own so follow your gut.
I don’t see a distinction between indie and mainstream. Just that mainstream makes money and indie doesn’t make as much.
Your song Shehzaada Shehzaadi came out recently with a collab with Snafu Records (a label that uses AI to extend their reach). How did it feel to work with them?
First I was wondering why they got in touch with me. I had no idea because they are an AI-driven tech label. I was a little apprehensive so I e-met them and started a conversation where I realised they’re not that bad and are really amazing. Their approach is slightly different from how I approach my music. They are more analytics, figures, AI kind of approach. I was thinking why would you do that because while making music I am averse to numbers. They saw it in a different way and their idea was to use the analytics and numbers and see how the work reaches more people. So we tried it out and it worked because the song reached out to a different segment of people which I would not imagine.
Being indie, have you heard of any indie musicians from here?
The Supersonics! I used to love the Supersonics. Parekh and Singh, I in fact made a song with Nischay also long back. There is one musician from Kolkata who is working in Mumbai now, Tajdar Junaid. Neel was also amazing, he’s doing a lot of music... Neel and the Light Bulbs. Kolkata is an exciting place. I would like to meet more artistes from Kolkata and I get excited as well.
What are you current projects?
So I have another single coming out which I might drop in January. Then I have an album which is ready. Just working on the cover design. There are some movie projects, There is Zoya Akhtar’s film for Netflix. I have another single but I don’t know if I will release it soon... I’ll go with my gut (smiles).
Speaking about albums, Adele launched her new album and put the shuffle option off. Do you think the concept of albums is a thing of the past?
Don’t care! Artistes are putting their music out anyway. Even if it wasn’t a thing artistes would be putting out albums which is commercially viable for them. Artistes and musicians want to portray what they are feeling in the way the know best. You hope people will listen to it your way but it’s up to the listeners as to how they will perceive it.
Pictures: Rashbehari Das