Sanjay Swamy

To this end, he collaborated with a familiar name — Dhanashree Pandit-Rai. The Mumbai-based singer is among the foremost exponents of the thumri. “Perhaps, it can best be compared to the jazz form in the Western genre,” she tells us. Pandit-Rai’s voice forms the locus around which Swamy’s orchestration is built.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

Heading east, Holi and Passion eyes create wonderful musical rhythms that put a spin on the old folk music forms from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with a new synchronised Western base. This writer was particularly drawn to Heading east, Skins and Passion eyes that present movement and tempo.

The team for the orchestrations include names such as Sanjay Divecha (guitar), Manas Kumar (violin), Pramod Nair (percussion), Ashwin Srinivasan (flute) and Dutch musician Udo Dimante from Holland. Their finesse elevates the production quality and soundscape.

Pakshee (2019) (left) Saawan and Dhaaga (2022) by Bombay Bandook (right) Raahein (2022) and Tu kaun hai by Shadow and Light

Pandit-Rai explains that all the songs on the album stay loyal to the thumri. “The style is primarily influenced by love, expressed by Radha or Krishna,” the singer elaborates. For instance,  the song Holi, she says, is a play on words about Radha asking Krishna to go easy and not throw colours in her eyes. Another example is Passion eyes, which Pandit-Rai says is an evolution of the old traditional thumri Rasake bhare tore nain, performed in raga Bhairavi.

Swamy adds that the process of creation required unlearning. “All of us had to learn and unlearn the pieces since there is very little of the original form retained in the album,” the 61-year-old musician says, before adding, “It is our presentation of the Indian culture of music in relation,  and in dialogue with the rest of the world.”  

This is not the only project on Swamy’s plate. The composer is also busy with production for The Indica Project, another fusion experiment with American guitarist-composer D Wood. The duo is preparing a follow-up to their 2022 release, Time Travel, he says. “It is a major album that we are working on, and it will come out in March or April 2023,” he reveals. Yet, it is the idea of fusion that enamours the musician more.

Homecoming (2022) by The Anirudh Verma Collective (left) Between Us (2022) by Anoushka Shankar (right) God is a drummer (2020) by Trilok Gurtu

“As  youngsters, we started out as fans of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti, John McLaughlin, Trilok Gurtu,  among others. The objective was always that if the world is going right, let’s see what is on the left,” he remarks.

Log on to; Always Here on 
Spotify; YouTube