Brother-duo musicians, Aditya Balani and Tarun Balani, tell Chahak Mittal how jazz music is about interpretations and discovering one’s own vibe
Over the weekend, Delhiites came face to face with the concept of a “secret concert.” In other words, fans are notified about the venue and date of the event but are not told who is performing. “This is like a surprise for the audience,” say brother-duo jazz musicians Aditya Balani and Tarun Balani, who founded the Global Music Institute (GMI), and are scripting new ideas for the city’s sub-culture.
Until Friday, those who had registered for the show waited with anticipation to know about the location, which was revealed through an e-mail. Held at the Alliance Francaise in lodhi Estate, the brother-duo and the band Women of the World performed to enthrall the performance.
Aditya, who wears many hats as a composer, guitarist, singer-songwriter, music producer and educator, is always looking to break new ground, seeking to mould his creative expressions. He shares the idea behind opening up the GMI: “Tarun and I had gone abroad for our higher education in music. We realised that there weren’t any good schools for music in India. Hence, we decided to start a college for music in India to teach rock, pop and jazz and to bring music to a higher level in the country. That is how GMI began.”
He collaborates for their Gliding Arc project for the secret concert with brother, Tarun, who has collaborated with a number of indie artists like Chayan Adhikari, Sanaya Ardeshir of Sanddunes, has given the hit jazz album, Sacred World (2012), which was said to “point to the future of jazz in India.” His music and artistry has been described as “nothing short of remarkable,” by AllAboutJazz magazine, USA.
As young India is grooving on peppy numbers, item songs and loud Punjabi lyrics, other genres are loosing some of the much-deserved attention here. Aditya reveals how he has been blending different tunes to make people get attracted to jazz and other music genres too. He says, “From my end, I am doing a lot of mix-ups and blends of electronic music, pop, rock, and different kinds of beats so that it could also catch audience’s attention. But since the masses are choosing that, we can’t really do anything about the popularity of such songs. We can’t change someone’s choices.”
While Aditya is working towards making his music more inclusive yet maintaining his jazz factor, Tarun believes that it will go on until “promoters, record labels, radio stations, big brands are present. They promote this kind of music since it comes from big production houses, no matter which genre, American, Pop or Punjabi. Hence, it is anyway going to get more listeners and followers than any other style of music. For instance, if tomorrow morning the hit radio station 95 FM or Red FM starts playing all the indie bands from India, young people will start following that.
“I feel, the more independent artists come out and make it accessible to people, the more it will eventually balance out,” he adds.
We often see musicians and artists collaborating with each other every now and then. But ever heard of cross-collaboration in musicij Well, Aditya did exactly that with the internationally acclaimed Indian poet, Sudeep Sen. He shares how interesting it turned out to be, “We got the idea of collaborating for an album, where he responded to my work and I did to his and created a combination from that. This is called cross-collaboration, where he wrote something based on my music from the album Answers, and I took some of his poetry to add lyrics to that.”
Many jazz classics feature vocals, but do lyrics also mean anything to these jazz loversij They may mean something to some extent, but the essence of jazz is only in its improvisation and instrumentals, as Tarun believes. He explains, “lyrics are very important. I had used them in many of my projects. Though with my jazz set-up, I do not have a lyrical base. The beauty of jazz is that it is improvised and instrumental, which makes every jazz concert night different even if the same tunes are played. Generally its not like I prefer either one. I feel lyrics are very important too in terms of communication as they convey specific emotions. I’ll like that song with lyrics if I agree to them,” he adds.
However, jazz is more open to interpretations, it doesn’t directly convey a feeling. He says, “If I am creating music for a soothing landscape, with my beats or chords, it becomes abstract and there is more room for interpretation. For someone the same instrumental music would sound melancholic, for someone else, it might sound happy. And this is what I like about instrumental music, it isn’t direct. It lets you find your own ecstasy.”
Aditya believes that both lyrics and instrumental have their own plays and merits.
Millennial fans are flocking to music fests and live performances. How has such a change come about thoughij There was a time when concerts never even existed, radio would play songs as a part of their ‘special’ programmes. For Aditya, “Festivals facilitate different types of arts. It’s a platform for various kinds of people to explore and check out new trends. Even if they know a little about jazz music or any other genre, they attend such fests, explore and enjoy. Today, it is not just about one artist performing a lot other things added to it.”
As the duo continues to collaborate for their Gliding Arc projects performing with various artists, their life, travel, relationships and a passionate approach towards music remain their greatest inspiration. Much like following an endless list of jazz artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown.