The Big M Careers unravels yet another unconventional line for quirky musicicans.  Kirti Tarang tells you how some have put those vocal chords to be used as good as an orchestra ! Say hi to A Capella..

We all know a guy, who sits in the centre of our college canteen with his guitar and plays his way to popularity. We just hate him; as we can’t play with anything but ourselves (no pun intended!).

Apparently, there are takers for this talent of ours. The sounds, which we vocally produce like they do in Tata’s Docomo ad is a full-fledged genre in music – A Capella.

A Ca… What?

Penn Masala, the world’s first and premier Hindi a cappella group, was formed by a group of students at the University of Pennsylvania. Formed in 1996 , they have been featured in the soundtrack of American Desi (remember the zingy 'Aap jaisa koi?') and have released six full-length albums.

A Capella music is a form of group singing where vocal harmonies are used in place of musical instruments. To put it simply, it means singing without instrumental accompaniment. It literally means ‘in the manner of the church’ in Italian pertaining to its origin in church music & chanting, without instruments.

Does Whistling count?

Yes it does. According to Neuman Pinto, band member Choncorde, “Any sounds vocally produced can come under A Capella. From the kick of a bass drum (which comes under an art called ‘beat boxing’) to reproducing a violin or trumpet part.”

How to begin?

Pinto points out, “If you are talented in this genre, you should waste no more time waiting for opportunities to arise…. go out and look for like minded people and start creating your own sound. Take an old classic and do it in A Capella. Create something new, practice hard. Practice it in the streets…. you will notice how interested people are in what you are singing.”

The Cheat Code

Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City; in addition to original vocal music, the group also performs a cappella covers of pop songs.

Pinto candidly shares his cheat-code with The Big M readers, “When you form a group, make sure that each of your members is bringing something new to the table. Every character in your group has to ooze  personality. For instance, in a band setup, you wouldn’t want the guitarist to sound like the keyboard player, similarly, in A Capella you don’t want everyone to sound like a lead vocalist. When you are singing the part of an instrument….. be that instrument.”

Is there any Future?

Based in Israel, The Voca People group (consisting of five men and three women) is an international vocal theater performance combining vocal sounds and an acapella singing with the art of beat-box. It boasts of over 6 million youtube hits in a few days right after their first performance on national TV.

In the United States, A Capella music is really big. With the new TV series Glee that emerged in the last year it is getting even bigger.  So, for many people it didn’t surprise when Pennmasala; an A Capella band of University of Pennsylvania performed at the White House on Diwali. Though the band members are of Indian origin; in India it still needs time to reach that level. Yet, the future is bright too as a lot can be experimented in India with A Capella; we can merge it with local musical styles to create the appeal we want it to have with the masses.

Watch Out!

Unfortunately, it’s tough to sustain an A Capella group because of the time, effort and dedication involved. Unlike a band of any other genre, it’s difficult to easily replace a member, especially if you’re a small unit. ‘Chonchorde’ was one of India’s best before they split. “Everyone has their own aims and goals in life. That was what went wrong. Members of the group reached a point where their priorities changed. They had to fulfill their individual dreams.” Pinto elaborates.

Hey where are the BABES?

Except for the ‘Voca-People’, all the major A Capella bands are all male bands. For Pennmasala and Choncorde, it was a conscious decision. Pinto, a band member of Choncorde, reasons, “Girls complicate things. I am saying that the quality of music would not  have been affected but it would have changed the atmosphere and jokes for sure.”

Get inspired

Here, take a look at The Big M’s favorite A Capella Bands and their youtube links:

• Choncorde
• Pennmasala
• Voca people
• Rockapella

Article by Kirti Tarang

Piya Sukanya

The Bombay Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s initiative towards revival of bandstand culture in the city has been gaining momentum since its beginning in February.
The weekly affair at the Hanging Gardens, Malabar Hill, where every Saturday between 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, young and talented musicians of Mumbai play their original compositions, has created quite a buzz amongst music enthusiasts in the city. The Big M is proud to be associated with this movement to bring out talented and budding musicians and give them a platform to reach a larger audience in the city.
As part of our special feature covering the ‘Revival of Bandtsand Culture’ initiative, we bring to you few of the performances held here in the month of March.
6th March ’10: As the sun set marking the beginning of a lovely Saturday evening, it was time for two hugely talented artists – Pia Sukanya and Anushka Anand to step on stage and take the eagerly awaiting crowd on a nice little musical journey. Pia Sukanya the first performer of the evening crooned compositions that everybody could relate to. Her ‘Boxes on a string’, was about moving out from her cushy apartment. ‘Just Routine’, was a memorable love song in which she sang of the simple gestures of her lover, which made her feel special.

Electro

The guy sitting next to me found her long skirt and styling to be a reminiscence of the eccentric singer Phoebe Buffay , from the popular sitcom ‘Friends’. At the mention of this, Sukanya laughs saying, “Never got that one before! I admire that character and I am a nomad too!”
I could not resist my curiosity when I saw one of the French tourists present there taking photographs of Sukanya and blushing whenever she looked his way. On my questioning Arnaud, the French guy, he said “I think Pia is a Rock Princess telling us a musical fairy tale.” He found the songs based on her personal life quite intriguing and Sukanya strikingly beautiful.
Sukanya’s songs were blended with strumming of guitar strings by Sanjoy Das. What distinguished this guitarist was the fact that he could play Raag Jhanjat on his Spanish guitar during one of Sukanya’s songs. Had I not seen him play it myself, I would have assumed it to be a Sitar playing the raag. It was indeed a rare feat. On enquiring Das informed me that his guitar wasn’t one of those ordinary assembly line ones, but made exclusively from the wood of North American forests, hand-crafted at Mexico.

A Sploosh of Acoustics

Rahul Pandey

After Sukanya, came an equally talented Anushka Anand a member of the band ‘Noush like sploosh’, accompanied with acoustics. She could play her Banjo, blow through the harmonica and sing at the same time, just like Jim Carey’s character from the movie ‘Mask’. The tall, lanky and chic singer swooned the audience with her catchy numbers.
There was an elderly gentleman who was wheelchair bound, yet he and his wife found the performances at Bandstand pleasant enough to come there every week from Tardeo. The gentleman said that it reminded him of his heydays; when Pt. Ravi Shankar carried out recitals early in the morning at The Gateway of India.
27th March ’10: Two weeks later, on March 27th, rock band ‘Coshish’ added to the now lengthy list of artists performing at this venue, as it gave the crowd a taste of some Hindi rock. Though, a fair amount of credit for getting the crowd in the groove also goes to the cheer-leaders who the band had brought along. Well, don’t get too excited. The cheer-leaders here are not the ‘short skirt babe’ type; but, a bunch of ‘Coshish’ fans who follow the band wherever it performs.
“I call them the Coshish Brigade”, corrects Mangesh Gandhi, the lead singer of the band. “Your readers can also follow us on Myspace for videos and Facebook for updates and joining the Coshish Brigade” he adds enthusiastically.

Coshish

“You spell ‘cool’ with a ‘c’ and hence ‘Coshish’ is with a ‘c’ as we are so cool!” Gandhi added explaining the detour from the conventional spelling.
In the rest of the departments the band is pretty conventional, delivering what you expect. A bunch of four long haired guys: Srikant Srinivasan (lead guitar), Anish Nair (bass guitar) joined by Humza Kazi (drums) and Gandhi (lead singer) to whom you have already been introduced.
During the performance, the band was joined by Kaushik Ramchandran, a self-trained classical singer from ‘Paradigm Shift’, a Mumbai based band. The alaaps of Ramchandran blended well with the sound of Coshish and the crowd loved every bit of it.
It seemed that the quick thinking and on-stage improvisations succeeded in connecting with the crowd. And this is probably what made the band a choice of Radio-Mirchi. Yes guys, the band got an opportunity to perform on this stage after crossing Radio Mirchi’s battleground.
So, next Saturday, if you feel the need to unwind and soak yourself in some great original music, feel welcome to take a walk at Hanging Gardens.

What is in it for The Big M readers?

Well, if you always felt that you had the talent which can be appreciated beyond the four walls of your bathroom too. Then here is your chance to do the dance, I mean song. Call up Kavita Sharma, 022-22693896 or mail her at ks@bombaychamber.com, and get a chance to do a ten minutes opening act next Saturday or perform in the Grand Finale.

Article by Kirti Tarang

Kirti Tarang finds out how legal (or illegal) is the common downloading and uploading regime of Music on the Internet.

On September 5^th, 2009, The Economist Technology Quarterly carried the story of Jamie Thomas-Rasset. Rasset, a single mother from Minnesota, was accused of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa in 2005. In 2007, the jury found her guilty and awarded statutory damages of $10,000 per song to the record companies.

In June 2009, Rasset was found guilty again in the second trail for the same case and this time the damages rose to $ 80,000 per song.

One of the record labels’ lawyer admitted that even he was shocked. What’s ironical is that had Ms. Rasset stolen 24 DVDs from a music-store, she wouldn’t have faced such severe penalties.

This is not the only example. Last year saw three big court cases- two of them in the United States of America and one in Europe- where music industry lawyers wrestled with the accused of online piracy. This included the case concerned with Pirates Bay, one of the world’s largest file sharing hubs. The music industry was triumphant in all the three law-suits.

These three trails urged us to take a look at the domestic situation. As in a very melodramatic court-room scene I could see myself being prosecuted for my massive uploads and downloads, along with all my friends. I wanted to check and refute or confirm my fears.

Indian Law and Online Content Sharing

Say NO to music piracy

Loaded with questions, we got in touch with Ranjana Adhikari, Legal & Tax Counselor at Nishith Desai Associates. The conversation was an eye opener!

“A suit for infringement can be filed against a person for online piracy, when such unauthorized person does anything, the exclusive right to do which vests with the copyright owner.” These rights are granted under the Copyright Act, 1957. Adhikari elaborates, “Under the Act, the copyright owner, inter alia has the exclusive rights to reproduce and store the lyrical and musical content in any medium by any electronic means and to communicate the works to the public.”

This means if you decide to download/upload ‘Dil to Bachcha Hai ji’ on You-Tube, legally you can be sued by the right holder. Uploading, downloading and storing of such infringing content by an unauthorized person on any peer to peer network or a website shall amount to infringement of the copyright.

Jeez! Scary facts. Well, the only curtain of protection now was the law enforcement in India; the laws and the loops.

Adhikari was a bubble buster here too. “T-Series had moved the Delhi High Court against You Tube and its parent company Google India for allowing a You Tube user to post content from T-series’ repertoire on You Tube. Instead of suing the user who had uploaded the content on the site, T-series sued Google and YouTube. Major revenues of T-series come from manufacturing and selling DVDs, etc. of copyrighted music. T-Series claimed that the display and distribution of songs for free caused them financial losses. The court granted an interim injunction in favor of T-series and gave time to the parties to negotiate a settlement” she informs.

The Pirate Bay

Okay, so the tussle for now is between the giants. So does it mean that the common net-savvy music lover, who shares music for non-commercial purposes is safe from the claws of law?

“The Act does not differentiate between commercial and non-commercial copying of copyrighted material where the remedies, reliefs or penalties are concerned. Irrespective of the motive behind the illegal copying of the material, in case of infringement of copyright under Section 51 of the Act, the right holder can sue the infringer and claim for reliefs like injunctions, damages and accounts for profits,” Adhikari clarified.

Dr. Venkat Iyer, Barrister-at-law, Senoir Lecturer, University of Ulster, mentions ‘Fair Use Provisions’. According to Iyer, “Copyright Act lays down a number of exceptions to the rule against infringement.” These exceptions are:

• For research and private study.
• For criticism, comment or review.
• Use of lecture by pupils for instructional work.

However, the unauthorized use of copyrighted material should be restricted to reasonable quantities.

How fair (or unfair) is the law for non-commercial downloads and uploads?

Be safe than sorry

“I think everyone is entitled to sample music”, mentions an online content provider. “I loved how Radiohead gave away one part of ‘In Rainbows’ album for free, and people who liked it, would automatically buy it. I feel music should be offered free, and if the person likes it he would pay for it.  However there are a lot of people who abuse this, especially those Indians who love free stuff. I like the way iTunes handles this, providing cheap music to those genuine music lovers who wouldn’t mind spending a little”, he elaborates.

Lessons for the Future

As they say, “Say No to Piracy”. We suggest you buy original music, and with so many options available today, we’re sure it won’t hurt your pocket much. At the same time, downloading still remains a good option with a number of bands and music labels giving out free downloadable versions of their releases on their websites.

The amended Section 79 provides for certain safe harbor principles that should be followed by the intermediaries. Ideally, the intermediary should

• Only provide access to a communication system over which third party information is transmitted or temporarily stored; or not initiate or select the recipient or select / modify the information in the transmission.
• Observe due diligence while discharging its duties.
• Remove or disable access to any information, data or communication link controlled by it upon obtaining knowledge or upon being notified of the infringement. Since the standards of due diligence have not been defined under the applicable laws, it could be assumed that reasonable industry standards should be followed.

Thus, creating and maintaining a system where others may post pirated music content may not attract liability whereas actively participating in and encouraging the piracy generally would.

• The recent amendment to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 has introduced immunity for ‘intermediaries’ from liability arising from any third party violation of any law subject to certain conditions.
• The essential element which needs to be proved in order to pin liability on an intermediary is control. The erstwhile Section 79 provided this immunity to ‘network service providers’ with respect to electronic messages.
• However, this has been extended to intermediaries whose definition has been widened through the amendment and now inter alia includes any person who provides any service with respect to electronic records.

• There is neither a statutory definition nor any consolidated law addressing the issue of online piracy in India.
• Some provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 broadly cover the law on online piracy in India.
• For websites where music content is stored, it can be challenged that since the infringing works are communicated and displayed to the public on the website platform, the website also independently infringes the exclusive rights of the right holder and is liable for direct infringement.
• For websites which act like central directories, it can be argued that even though the website may not actually make the music content directly available on its site, providing assistance in locating unauthorized copies of the music content, links to download sites, server space, or support for sites that do the above may ‘contributorily infringe’.

Article by Kirti Tarang
Courtesy: Gowree Gokhale (Partner, TMT & IP Practice Groups)

Aamir Khan is not the only one who went home grinning after 3 Idiots. With all that Boman Irani bashing, finally, our parents have decided to support us in whatever WE choose as our field of endeavor. The Big M knows that you want to cash on that before they change their minds.

So, we decided to present a ‘hatke’ field as OUR CAREER OF THIS MONTH – Sound Engineering. To give you an accurate account, we decided to jam the studios. Ravi Pratap, a lecturer at SAE Technology College and an assistant sound engineer in Spectral Harmony Studios; along with Prithvindra Paul, a freelance in the field of audio post production, were our mentors.

Who is a Sound Engineer?

The sound engineer plays a major role in the music industry. The main job of the sound engineer is to shape the sounds and tweak them accordingly so that they sound nice, polished and enhanced. For example, if you want to brighten up the vocals or create space between the instruments you know exactly who to look out for. Sound Engineers come in many guises and none of these are mutually exclusive, a good sound engineer will have a balance of most of these skills.

A Midas X18 - The mixing board allows the sound engineer to mix the various sounds - guitar, bass, drums, vocals - so that they are in balance

A Sound Engineer is not a DJ or Music Composer

Our mentors couldn’t have emphasized more that people have a misconception that by becoming a sound engineer they can be music composer. A sound engineer deals with the technical aspects of the sound. Paul adds, ‘when we say technical, people think of DJ. A DJ mixes compiled music, whereas, a sound engineer makes music out of raw sound.’ Wow! That sounds creative. In geeky terms, a studio is the lab and a sound engineer is the scientist who experiments with various sounds to enhance the creativity of a composition.

Can I be a sound engineer?

If you have an ear for different types of sounds and fair idea of how they react with each other, plus an appetite for the nitty-gritty of music, then, according to our mentors, you can be. “Youngsters aspiring to make a career out of this field should have an ear for different genres of music. As they say, the more the better. Moreover it is not only important just to listen to music but also hear between the lines to understand the intensity …for example, the timbre of a certain instrument and how it is tweaked according to the nature of the song”, illustrates Pratap. Apart from having a sensitive ear, a sound engineer should be able to nurture interpersonal relationships and should be socially active. In the words of Paul, “if you want to be in the industry, you have to be the industry.”  A good engineer will be able to mix a variety of different styles well. A good sense of pitch, timing and rhythm as well as a knowledge of electronics and acoustics works in your favour.

So I have the talent, but how to go about it?

Live sound engineers make sure that the instruments and vocals at concerts blend together

Pratap suggests that it is always better to have a personal home setup which requires a good configuration PC, a pair of good speakers, a decent entry level sound card and a pair of speakers or headphones. If you have enrolled for a course in a particular institute they provide special placement assistance to the candidates. If you have not done a course you can directly approach the studios to start off. Many institutes have sprung up in recent years which provide specialized courses in this field, SAE being one of the leading institutes.

Show me the money

Paul informs that with a plethora of channels and broadcasting stations coming up in the industry, there is a huge potential and demand for such a job. Salary ranges from 15000-70000 according to the level of skill and the quality of work and experience.

Article by Kirti Tarang

Sufi

Bollywood composers are churning out chartbusters by weaving sufi’s melodious flavour into their songs, but what makes it so heart stirring over other genres? Kirti Tarang finds out..

Last year many songs trekked into our I-pods, in the hopes of winning our hearts. Some won; and then, they lost their throne to the new arrivals. But ‘Iktara’ from ‘Wake up Sid’ stayed. I wonder why? It’s not chic like Katy Perry’s I kissed a girl nor is it groovy like Black Eyes Peas’ ‘Boom-Boom Paw’. Yet, I loved it. So did the guy upstairs, who hitherto always gave me a headache with his loud psychedelic music. The question is how can one song appeal to people of such diverse tastes?

“The song has an honest appeal. Amitji (Amit Trivedi) and Javed Sahab created an intoxication typical to the genre of Sufi ghazal,” explains Kavita Seth, the mystic voice of Iktara. Oh yes! Sufi. It is the unique flavor of this genre which lingers in Seth’s voice and doesn’t leave us alone. This is not the first time; every time a song of this genre appears in mainstream Indian music scenario, we just get hooked by it and can’t stop humming it. Whether it’s Kailash Kher’s “Allah ke Bande” or Rabbi’s “Bullah ki jana main kaun”, Sufism always has a mesmerizing impact on us.

Kavita Seth delivered an unforgettable rendition of the heart warming sufi number, "Iktara" in the 2009 Bollywood hit "Wake Up Sid".

Guess what? We are not the only one, the Iktara enchantress went through the same phase too. “Growing up in Bareilly, gave me a chance to visit dargaahs. The qawalis sung there penetrated my soul and remained as a part of me,” she elucidates.

Indeed! The Sufism is penetrating. Today, Sufism has penetrated into the cultures of various regions like Turkey, Indonesia, Arab, Africa, Bosnia and even Britain to give us the New Age Sufi Music. Composers like A.R. Rahman, Pritam Chakraborty, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal Bhardwaj and Salim-Sulaiman have themselves not been able to resist its mystical hymns and have often weaved in Sufi tunes in Hindi movies.

The Indian Scene

Mestro of Sufi - The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Tabla-guru and Sufi singer Salim Allahwale informs that dargahs were the origin point of Sufi music in India. He refers to the text of kasas-ul-ambia (stories of ambias) and continues, “Ancient India was a land of magic and mystique. Although at that time Islam didn’t have high regards for music, Sufism became a spiritual branch of the religion. It became a path leading to euphoric unison of the seeker and God or dhikr (also transliterated as zhikr) through poetry and music.”

Mixed-up? So was I. Thus, Allahwale simplified. “Ever seen a village girl balancing five pots of water on her head, fodder for barn in one hand, a stick in another, walking through cobbled streets, chatting animatedly with her friends? No matter how engrossed she is in the gossip, the pots are well balanced. This is the essence of Sufi music. Embracing the world and balancing the connection with God.” Perhaps, this is the reason why everyone is able to relate to this music and it has won hearts across the borders.

This explains the reference to a superior power in every Sufi composition. “Qalam” Allahwale corrects me, “not composition.”

In fact, like we first have drinks, then snacks, followed by soup leading to main course and finally dessert; similarly, in traditional Sufi first Qol or qawali is sung, then hamd, followed by naad sharif leading to man qabat and finally ruhani ghazal. However, ruhani ghazals, qawalis and fusion are popular form of Sufi music these days.

Rahat Ali Khan has created some unforgettable sufistic verses

“This adaptability helps youngsters to relate with it”, quips Anuradha Singh, a Sufi-Kathak dancer of international repute, “and that’s why, Sufism is never old, its always hip.” Kavita Seth recalls on same lines, “When last year I performed at Mood Indigo, IIT-Powai, I was approached by the students exclaiming that the show should have been titled as ‘Rock night’ instead of ‘Classic night’.”

What lies ahead?

These days we find even college rock-bands trying their luck in experimenting with this genre. The question is: Does it work? “Yup!” informs Anshu Awasthi, a student. “Here (in Delhi) we have a rock band, Advaita, its lead singer often sings Sufi numbers too (and) it takes the concert to another level. Sufi rocks!”

Article by Kirti Tarang