Exploring Electronic Music and Creativity with Tarana Marwah (#Komorebi) | Chasing Creativity

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Komorebi means a sunlight that filters through tree leaves which is a very unique.

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: The Japanese have beautiful words for different circumstances and stuff that you would never

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: even dream of thinking in.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: My first concert was when I was seven years old and I was playing a western classical

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: music piece and I've sort of just been doing it since then.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I really love Björk, 9 inch nears, massive attack and radio heads.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: These are my four...

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They're classic.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I do think it's sort of our responsibility as artists to introduce people to a better

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: way of thinking because like we are experiencing life in the same plane as everyone else but

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: we are expressing it.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm an author of a comic now, my own comic which was another amazing thing that we got

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: to do outside of the music with this album.

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So when you're watching a Lady Gaga show live it's almost like you're not on earth.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: My goal actually is to connect with more people and I think pop music does allow

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: a little bit of accessibility versus like experimental music.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean look at the growth in the last 20 years in indie music.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't have Lollapalooza 20 years ago and I think more and more people are paying

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: attention and listening and our audiences are growing.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Hi this is Kiran Mandral.

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm back with another episode of Chasing Creativity and today I have with me Tarana Marwa

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: who also goes by the moniker Komorebi and she's an electronic alternative artist.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: She's down here to shoot for Koch Studio and I'm lucky enough to have her in the studio

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_01]: here with me today to talk about her work, her inspirations and her creative process.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the show Tarana.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for having me and for that lovely introduction and I feel really happy

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: to be here today.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so fascinated by the work you do.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I've been sort of following, stalking you for the past couple of days on

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Instancing all your stuff.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: How did this girl from Delhi get into this space?

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It's such an unusual space to be in and

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_01]: at what point in your childhood or in your teenage years did you decide this is where I'm

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: going to be? This is my career and this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Well with me it was a bit of a weird thing where you know how your parents sort of

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: influence your life decisions and in India it's very famous that you know your parents

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: say become an engineer or a doctor.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So in my life my parents really wanted me to realize the dream of being an artist

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: so I actually got into this very early in my life.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: My first concert was when I was seven years old and I was playing a western classical music piece

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and I've sort of just been doing it since then so it's been a really long time.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a long time and it's very interesting and inspiring to hear that your parents put you

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_01]: towards this.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: But you know music, you think classical Indian, you think Bollywood singing, you think

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_01]: very you know the try and test that everyone's gone but a lot,

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: electronica and the performance space that you're in.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: That's completely new and unique.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_01]: What was your first introduction to this?

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: So I bought a laptop in college with my own money. It was like the first couple of times

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that you know I'd done a gig and I decided to save my money and purchase a laptop

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and laptops have DAWs which are digital audio workshops. You have like Logic Pro, Ableton

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and things like that.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And I used Logic Pro to make sort of like I started making songs on my own at home in my bedroom

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and I was like 18 at the time and one of my friends actually suggested that I should release

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: the music that I had put out in my laptop and I was like very hesitant towards it.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I said no, this is not something I'm interested in.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather do like I want to do film scoring not get into indie music

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and then I went ahead with the idea because it was a good idea and it just blew up sort of like

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: it just mercurially just rose and became a whole thing and it was received very well.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So then I just kept going from there and I also listened to a lot of electronic music

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: so I think that's sort of where my journey as an electronic artist started.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So who are your inspirations in this space?

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I really love Bjork, Nine Inch Nears, Massive Attack and Radiohead.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: These are my four.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're classic.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, these are all like classics.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Electronic acts, yeah.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So the back in the 90s, Electronica wasn't really popular, popular so to speak.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And okay that you love them, it is something that inspired you.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: What was your first introduction to it?

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean the sense that I can create this music, I can do this.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I can make the same kind of music.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think every person, whether they're an artist or really doing any kind of job,

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: they go through phases with artists that really inspire them.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And I had a really long phase with Bjork and Lady Gaga and I used to love the fact that

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_00]: you know they would create a separate avatar for their performances.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that escapist and sort of fantastical element in what they were doing

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: really inspired me because I always wanted to get away from, I found real life very boring

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and I don't like you.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I never felt in tune with where I was and what I was doing

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and I wanted to do something slightly out of the box and slightly larger than life.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So that phase I had was with Bjork and Lady Gaga when I was like, okay, I love this.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: No one is really doing it in our country and I wanted to be someone who could maybe

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: introduce audiences to something like that here.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So tell us about your name, Komorebi.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: It has a beautiful meaning in Japanese.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll leave it to you to tell us what it is and why, what made you choose this name?

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It Komorebi means sunlight that filters through tree leaves which is a very unique.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: The Japanese have beautiful words for different circumstances

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and stuff that you would never even dream of thinking.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And I found that entire phrase really beautiful.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: This was the same friend that told me to release my music

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: was the same person who found the word for me.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I decided to go with it.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was always in love with Japanese culture, with anime,

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: with their scoring for films.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was always inspired by that.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted it all to sort of like come together and become a part of one big thing.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So that was how it happened.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And you mentioned anime right now.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Anime is like huge.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean even in your performances and your alternate personas,

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: you tend to draw on that.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So how do you build these personas?

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you sort of sit and plan them out?

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you get the costumes?

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, how does it work?

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm very strange to this.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So just take me as a dummies guide.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Creating this.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It's definitely something that requires planning and vision.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: But I would say that the artists that I look up to do it so effortlessly

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and have really paved a path in that sort of way.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I wanted to build on my strengths and influences

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: because they always tell you to write what you know.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is something that I was good at.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I was a gamer.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I was into comics.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I was into watching animated films.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So for me, this was very like it was close to home

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and it was something that I enjoyed.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So I wanted to keep doing what I enjoyed and what I was good at

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and bring that into parts of my personality into my work.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's sort of where I was like, okay, let's bring these two worlds together.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Tarana as a performer, Tarana as a stylist,

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Tarana as a musician.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's put it all into one big thing and make it an indie act.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Lovely.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And you were always very sure that you were going to stay an indie act.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the space you wanted to be or you did explore other options earlier.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew I wanted to do music and I wanted to do all things music.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And I wanted to be a film scorer.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And the indie stuff just happened by chance.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it happened by accident actually.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And then it did really well and I started enjoying the other...

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like you have different parts of your brain are being employed

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: in different parts of your music.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So as a film scorer, as somebody does ad film work,

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: as a voiceover artist, as an indie artist,

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: it's good to sort of have different parts of your brain

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: that you can access and really like,

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: exercise that part of your brain and bring the creativity onto paper

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and onto stream.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like I want to have different options for myself.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Lovely.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Tell us about playing at Lola.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh my God, Lola was the best gig of my life.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It was really well organized.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It was the most exciting gig because the acts I was opening for on day two

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: are just magnificent.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: There was Anushka Shankar, Sting, Keen

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and grown up listening to these artists

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: then finally played the same stage as them.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So it was like a dream come true, a dream realized

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and the amount of planning that went into our set,

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_00]: whether it was the costumes, the set design, the visuals.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I had a string quartet playing with us live

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and training them and then getting the band together

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and playing...

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It was just...

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: It was like the best possible version

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: of what I wanted to do happened that day.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was really, really exciting for me.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: When you play live, a lot of it...

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of what you do feeds back from the audience.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you think the audiences here are ready to accept things that they

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_01]: are not familiar with?

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Are they ready to take experimentation, something

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_01]: that they've not seen before?

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Or do you think they're resistant to something that they're unfamiliar with?

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the answer to that is really complex because

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: yes, now is the best time to possibly do something like this

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_00]: because 10 years ago or 20 years ago,

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there was a landscape or any platform available

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: for an artist to do anything out of the ordinary.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Though you will find those pioneering artists who went against that

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and did their own thing regardless

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and they're very brave, all the artists who did that

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and they sort of paved a path for us to do that.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, yes,

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_00]: people are resistant to what's not familiar

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: but I've never been one to be afraid of what people think.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And I also kind of believe this is now going to a slightly more spiritual

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: space and outside of the material space.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I do think it's sort of our responsibility as artists

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_00]: to introduce people to a better way of thinking

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_00]: because we are experiencing life in the same plane as everyone else

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but we are expressing it.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's sort of like we have a responsibility to talk about things,

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: to change the way things are doing, the way things are now

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and to sort of introduce people to what we think could be

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: a futuristic or a better way of looking at music or life.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it's a huge burden to carry and it's scary

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think it's necessary.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the mindset an artist should have, ideally

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: because it's not all about likes and views and fame and things like that.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That should always be an accessory

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: or something that adds on to what we're actually trying to do.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: You just released a new album.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a huge mammoth project, I believe,

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: collaborated with over 100 people and 100 other artists

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and it took a while to put it together, six years?

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Six years, six years.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Tell us a bit about the project.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So my album is called The Fall

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's entirely based off of a story

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_00]: that I wanted to write about a space traveller

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: who's exploring the cosmos and then she crash lands on Earth

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and then she explores Earth with her, she has a pet owl.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: This is a very strange world that has been created,

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: no sense is made here, why is there an alien traveller with an owl?

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to explain the idea.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's fun, it's fantasy.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I wanted to match, the idea was to match

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: each chapter to a single on the record.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So there are seven chapters in the story

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and then there are seven singles on the album.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was amazing because I was acting as my character

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: whose name is Kianne.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And so there were costumes, music videos,

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: we got to work with Unreal Engine for one of the music videos

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and we were one of the first indie artists

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: to do a virtual production set.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So to put that together, it was insane

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: because we had like 200 people on set

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: creating a physical environment for us

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and then a virtual production in the background

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: like matching lights and creating the environment

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: that we wanted for each shot.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So stuff that has done, projects that have done that

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_00]: before are like Mandalorian.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's really, it's a large scale.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So for me to be able to have that opportunity

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: as an indie artist was insane

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and it happened by chance.

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_00]: The director had come for one of my shows

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and he said, let's do this, I'm tired of doing ad film work,

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to make another five star ad.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I want to express my creativity

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and it was a nice way to work with them and media monks.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm an author of a comic now, my own comic

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: which was another amazing thing that we got to do

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of the music with this album.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it was received really well

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's a heartfelt project.

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It's all from my heart, it's about my life

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm very happy that it's been realized

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: as something, as a dream of mine.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01]: How did you create this project?

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: What was your process like?

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It took you six years, obviously it's large scale

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_01]: to put it together, took you all this time.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01]: But to create the initial draft from where you built it on.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So what were your inspirations for that

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and how did you go about writing

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and building up this music, etc.?

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean the inspirations musically,

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I think what I really enjoyed about the artists

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: that I was inspired by was that they had a really cool

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: visual element to their releases.

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: If you guys have heard of the gorillas,

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I love that they've created characters

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: like Murdoch and Noodle

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and how the characters are the ones singing the songs

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and it also comes from a space

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: of me not liking to be in my own video.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't like to be on camera in particular.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it's not something I enjoy per se

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: but whatever you grew out of that sort of thing.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And I started basically trying to build characters.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: We created a 3D version of Kianne

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: who was talking about the releases

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and the entire social media campaign was done through her.

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, and otherwise it's the same people

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: that I was discussing earlier

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: like Bjork and Lady Gaga and Grimes

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: because all of these women had such a strong

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_00]: element of fantasy.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I love that Lady Gaga has all these costumes

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and she has a different get up for every show

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and she's a fabulous performer.

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So when you're watching a Lady Gaga show live

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: it's almost like you're not on earth.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And that was the whole theme

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_00]: like the general theme of the record

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and why I decided to do something slightly out of the box.

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Lovely.

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of performers, they have an alter ego

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: that they call upon when they perform

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody who's completely different from whom they are.

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you have something like that?

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean who I am on stage,

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I often find even earlier today

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: when I was meeting people here at the podcast Backrooms

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll often find that people say that

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: they can't recognize me from one show to the next

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and that they can't recognize me

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_00]: from one interview to the next.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's very much by design

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: because I like to create characters

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and sort of express myself through those characters.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's kind of interesting and mysterious

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_00]: that you never really know the real me

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and you'll never really see the real me

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's very much on purpose

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: because like I said, I'm not the same person

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: at home in my pajamas eating junk food

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: as I am on stage performing in front of thousands of people.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So I have to separate the two characters for sure.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's no way they can really merge maybe someday.

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: You came down to Bombay for a Coke Studio shoot.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Tell us about it.

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_01]: What will we be seeing Tarana is?

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: In Coke Studio, it's a very interesting project

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_00]: that we got to work on

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and I am working with a Marathi group of people.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm producing a Marathi song for Coke Studio

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and for me, that's been a really big challenge

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: because obviously the music influences

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I have have nothing to do with India

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but because I've been writing in Hindi as of late

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_00]: in the last couple of years,

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: for me this was a welcome challenge.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like an opportunity to learn about the environment

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: you're based in

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and there is sometimes a disconnect between Indian artists

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and where they're living, especially in this country

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_00]: because you'll find people living in Mumbai or Delhi

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: but they're singing about experiences

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: that may be happening to an alien in my case

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_00]: or someone living in London or the States.

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So projects like this actually allow me to integrate myself back into where I live

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think just as a pure, as an identity crisis

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that one faces living in India

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: being a younger person and trying to fit in,

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that this is something that gives me the opportunity

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to reconnect with who I am as an Indian

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's very important as you're getting older

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and trying to understand what your place is in this world as well.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a cool way to reconnect with that

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and the singers are fabulous.

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I obviously can't give their names here

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_00]: but you're going to love the song

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: because it's a really well written song

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'm very proud of the collaborators I've worked with.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And Marathi is not a language that's familiar,

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: you're familiar with?

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_00]: No, which is why I'm producing the music and not singing.

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It might have been a disaster otherwise

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: but yeah just did you have to understand

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_01]: all the lyrics and translation?

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah and I had to be taught

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: what they were singing about

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00]: but I think the theme of the song is very universal

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: so that way it wasn't a problem.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_01]: If you had to bottle whole your kind of music

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_01]: into a specific genre, what would you call it?

[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Well I would have said electronic

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: but right now the space I'm venturing into is pop.

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm taking a creative shift

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: because my goal actually is to connect with more people

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think pop music does allow a little bit of accessibility

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: versus like experimental music.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think the pop elements will allow me to connect with more people

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's sort of a goal that I've had as of late.

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I really want more people to be able to come and listen

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and understand what it is we're trying to do

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_00]: but I'll always be honest to whatever creative calls I want to make

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: so pop doesn't necessarily mean commercial,

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: it just means popular.

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Internationally you have these wonderful stages

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and the visual effects of the performances.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I've just recently been seeing Anima.

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's like a next level altogether.

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you think we will see something like that here in India?

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely you will.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean look at the growth in the last 20 years in indie music.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: We didn't have Lola Palooza 20 years ago

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think more and more people are paying attention and listening

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and our audiences are growing.

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean it happens at a slower pace than we'd hoped for

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's happening and I think that impatience and arrogance

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_00]: also comes from youth.

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like we're all in our 20s, we want immediate results

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and the thing is that things happen slowly but they do happen

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's like going to the gym you have to be consistent

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and then you see results a little later.

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't wake up and be muscular so it's the same logic.

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_00]: India is taking a little bit of time but it's happening

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's really cool.

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Like there's a really cool new wave of music

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: that is erupting right now in India.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's a very exciting time to be an indie artist.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Lovely.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_01]: In terms of music, what would you think would be your ultimate ambition?

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh that is a very deep question for 5pm.

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_00]: With one coffee, two coffees.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_00]: With three coffees now.

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: My ultimate goal with music is to reach as many people as possible

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_00]: with the most authentic expression of myself and to have them connect with that

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_00]: because I've seen that when I sing about very, very serious topics

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_00]: about my life whether it's my family or my pain or my happiness even

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_00]: there are people that reach out to me and tell me that it gets them through

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: the similar situation in their life and I have always felt that that is far more

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_00]: rewarding than money or anything like clothes, brand associations.

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_00]: That's all really nice but connecting with your fans is another kind of joy.

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_00]: It sort of refuels the need to keep doing something as difficult and challenging as

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: being an artist so for me that's my goal.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Lovely.

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_01]: What about the Indian artists from India?

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Any of them that you look up to or admire?

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many I look up to actually, I don't know where to begin but I really like

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I really love Tajdaar Juned.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I love Raja Kumari though she's not living here but I think what she's doing is really cool

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and how she represents our country is really cool and people in my space I really like Mali.

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I really like Kamakshi Khanna.

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I really like the F16s.

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_01]: You know for a young person trying to get into this space I mean if somebody is

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_01]: interested in electronica and interested in creating music what would you tell them

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_01]: what are the things they need to keep in mind and how do they build themselves towards

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: a career in music?

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Hmm I would say that number one is the support that you're looking for.

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_00]: There's always a period of doubt because artists are very, there's a narcissistic streak in every

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: artist because we think we're the best and then we think we're the worst.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And it happens 10 times a day.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Oscillate a large and that's very tiring actually and a lot of times you end up

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: looking for validation for reassurance and I think the biggest thing to remember here is that

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_00]: even if you don't have, if you don't receive that from the outside world, I'm not saying you

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_00]: won't but if you don't believe in yourself because I think believing in yourself and having

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: faith in what you're doing and remembering why you're doing it gives you a lot of strength,

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_00]: inner strength and power.

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that inner strength is something that you have to cultivate if you're an artist

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_00]: because the outside world is very difficult and harsh to navigate.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't have faith in what you're doing and you don't know that

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't know why you're doing it, you're not, you don't care about it enough

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and you're not, you don't develop thick skin then this world is going to eat you alive

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and you can't allow that to happen because your art is bigger than you are.

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So you sort of have to step outside of your ego and remember that your art is like

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_00]: way bigger than you are as a whole, as an entity or art is the biggest thing.

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So have cultivate inner strength is what I would say to the younger lot is something

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I wish I could tell myself 10 years ago that be stronger.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, be stronger.

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_01]: That's very important and I love the fact that you said your art is bigger than yourself

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: because very often I think it's creative people we tend to

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_01]: enmesh ourselves with art which is also important but we enmesh ourselves to a

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_01]: degree that it becomes very personal, the acceptance and the rejection.

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_01]: But somebody who creates on your own and makes your own music, does your own lyrics,

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_01]: does your own sets, whatever, when you have to collaborate how easy or difficult is it for

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: you as an artist?

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it depends on the collaborator.

[00:24:04] [SPEAKER_01]: That's a very honest answer.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I myself find it quite easy because I do think that I get a little myopic

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_00]: when I'm working on my own.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like how when I don't meet my friends for a long time and I'm not social,

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I tend to like spiral and I get into my head a lot and then when you meet a friend,

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_00]: you get an outside perspective.

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's the same thing with music.

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: You meet another artist and they bring in their own world and that is really good for the music.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It's healthy for the music.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So I quite love collaborating with other artists and I do it a lot with my own work as well.

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_01]: You've done it for your album as well.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I have Easy Wanderlings, Dhruv Vishwanath.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It's actually a really long list but lots of people that came on board and they were very eager

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_00]: to be a part of it and that made me feel really nice and it's always worthwhile to just pick up

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: a phone and dial the person you're inspired by and just be like,

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_00]: hey, would you like to work on a song?

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And nine out of 10 times, you'll find that if you ask,

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll actually get what you were looking for with that.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So the scene with the indie music artists are a collaborative, happy space and there are no

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_01]: voodoo dolls being created and things being stuck into each other.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I wouldn't say that the scene is devoid of competition.

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_00]: There is competition but if you go with good intentions then the other person sometimes

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_00]: also melts and realizes that the intention is good.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that it doesn't happen but I have cultivated a creative space with the collaborators

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: where I've tried my best to shield all of us from that energy.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It's important to do that because you can get competitive.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I feel competitive a lot sometimes so it's a human tendency so it's best to try and be a little

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: ahead of that, like try and control that.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: What are any of your most favorite places to play at?

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I love Zero Festival in Arunachal Pradesh.

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a gorgeous area. It's cut off from everything civilized.

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just in the middle of a valley and it's almost like you're playing in nature

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and I had to get to Zero by using three modes of transport so it was like a flight,

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_00]: a train and by car and it takes an entire day to get there.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So it felt like I think maybe because the effort put into just reach the venue was so high,

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_00]: it felt like a reward when we got there.

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's a really Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast in general, if you go there you'll see how

[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_00]: beautiful India can be as a country so it was really fun to play there.

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Lovely. What's coming from you next?

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Well I'm still scoring for, I'm doing scores for OTT, Netflix and Amazon so there's

[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a really fun show coming out soon called Dabba Kartel and I'll be doing music for that

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and with my own stuff with Komoribi, I think what I'm going for with this next record is

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: going to surprise everyone because I'm sort of reinventing a lot of what I've been doing.

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sort of really just flipping it over its head and it'll be really,

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_00]: it'll be really interesting to watch me doing a completely different genre in music so that's

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_00]: my goal. I love the fact that you're experimenting and you're not content to

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_01]: sit on something that you're popular for already.

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: No because then you won't grow and you don't challenge yourself and it just,

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_00]: it tends to get all a little boring, it tends to get boring for me so lovely. Wish you all the best

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Arunachal for whatever you do and looking forward to seeing your stuff, the Koch studio

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_01]: that you're working on and the shows that are coming up all the way best.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for having me, thank you for letting me be here and have these amazing

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00]: discussions with you. All the best.