a song for my choir, The Capital City Minstrels
This clip was a learning aide I made for my Delhi based choir, The Capital City Minstrels. I sang and recorded all five vocal parts of a rare, 16th century composition, "O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem"
At the time of recording this, none of us could find this music in any recorded form, and it existed only as a musical score. It was surreal listening to pages of music from five hundred years ago come alive in my studio as i sang and recorded this.
as a soloist, singing "Glocca Mora" from Finian's Rainbow
My granddad gave me a wonderful gift at the age of three – a mini harmonium with multi-coloured keys. On it I learnt to play my first tunes from memory, by co-relating notes to colours.
As an early teenager I discovered my mum's hawaiian guitar and got proficient enough on it to audition at the All India Radio and get myself recruited as a regular paid live performer. My performance fee, each time i was summoned for a broadcast, was roughly equal to my NTSE monthly scholarship stipend in school!
my musical journey...
With the School of Planning and Architecture came my college rock band “The Architypes." I joined as keyboardist, discovered a world of rock and metal and the joys of belting out the soprano screams in Deep Purple's Child in Time !
as keyboardist with Indian Ocean during my student years
I performed as a soprano and a soloist with a number of choirs and ensembles including The Capital City Minstrels and The Neemrana Foundation.
my beautiful pre world war II Niendorf
Then followed an invitation to join the newly formed band "Indian Ocean", now considered one of the pioneers of fusion rock in India, as keyboardist.
A few gigs later I was faced with the choice of dropping out of archi school, packing my bags, leaving with Indian Ocean to record their first album in Calcutta, or finishing my final year thesis and graduating as an architect. I opted for the latter.
EXCERPTS from "Leaving Home", and a Q&A session by Indian Ocean
I also studied the piano under Mr. John Raphael, a brilliant jazz pianist.
in my mumbai studio
I owe my proficiency in sequencing and programming and my knowledge of the science and the technical aspects of sound and audio to my partner CB, genius, polymath and tech wiz, the solid rock in my life, my work, my music.
I eventually studied operatic vocal performance under India's best known soprano, Situ Singh Buehler, and with Korean tenor Mr. Hur Chull Young.