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Two to tango

Photo: Murali Kumar K.

BEGINNING Electronic music in India is still in its early stages

Priyanka and Arfaaz grew up in musical families listening to a cross section of music from rock and heavy metal to classical and Electronica. Before joining hands to form the Electronica band “Tempo Tantrick”, they experimented with other genres of music. For the uninitiated, Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music. It uses instruments such as synthesizers, drum machine and sequencers etc.

Arfaaz says: “I worked with many bands in Bangalore including a small stint with the Galeej Gurus. It was in midst of a project titled “Maximum Pudding” that I met Priyanka. I was listening to a fair bit of electronic music and was getting influenced by the same a great deal.”

Priyanka made a transition from bathroom singing to creating music. Arfaaz says: “Though our tastes were very diverse to begin with, when we met two and a half years ago, we were both learning more and were keen on experimenting with electronic music, which is a fairly new genre in India.”

The duo say that electronic music is still in a nascent stage in India. “It has seen some growth in the past few years, but has not reached anywhere near the levels that it is used in making music in the United States and the UK.”

They blame the club owners for the lack of information about this genre in India. “If you go to any club, they will play foot-tapping electronic music. The selection of music has a lot to do with the lack of knowledge about this genre.”

Arfaaz quips: “Over the years, acceptance has increased, especially in Delhi and Mumbai. It is still not very high in Bangalore.” The duo feel that the ban on live bands is ridiculous and has resulted in a depletion of the musical talent in Bangalore. “When I came to the city 15 years ago, I was taken aback by the amount of talent that the musicians in the city had. Rock concerts used to happen at Cubbon Park almost every week. All that has changed, so has the city,” says Arfaaz.

He adds: “I was in love with Bangalore, when I first moved in from Mumbai. I liked the relative silence, the relaxed and brilliant people. Things have been going steadily downhill over the past few years, the traffic and the crowds. The recent attacks on women are also part of a very disturbing trend.”

Priyanka agrees saying the city has become very intolerant in many ways. Even within the industry, people make a constant effort to bring people down. It may be true everywhere, but is not very helpful to the cause of making good music.

Their musical interests and influences are manifold and varied. Arfaaz likes listening to everything from Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Sound Garden to Prodigy, 2 Pac and Massive Attack.

“I grew up listening to Jackson and I also like many Beatles tracks. My interests keep on changing and evolving. I was always a closet fan of electronic music also.”

Coming from a family of musicians, Priyanka also grew up listening to a lot of different musical styles. “I listened to a lot of music, especially after I inherited my brothers collection, there was jazz, rock, metal everything. I began to listen and follow electronic music in the late 90s.”

They feel that the internet has helped them gain a better perceptive of music being played across the world. “People usually put up good music on the internet. It helps improvise our own music a great deal.”

Apart from making music, the duo like travelling and are planning to attend a music festival in Ladakh early next month.

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