BICKRAM GHOSH ON HIS NEW ALBUM WITH SONU NIGAM

An album with Sonu Nigam, a music company to call his own and a project with Hollywood percussionist Greg Ellis — Bickram Ghosh tells about hitting out on a serious note.

What sparked this album with Sonu Nigam?

I met Sonubhai while recording the song Dhundo for Ashoke Viswanathan’s Gumshuda. There was a strong connection. He was looking at entering new territories and, career-wise, I find myself in the same mindspace I was seven years back when I was doing classical music and wanted to expand. After a few phone calls with Sonu, we started talking about an album. Both of us felt that the time we have as artistes has to be utilised. It’s not about success or having 12 films in the kitty but doing substantial work that’s not just for us but also for the cause of music.

What is the album about?

It’s a world music album. There are strains and ideas from almost every possible world music genre we do — Sufi, Latin, jazz. It’s ethnic sounds mingling with niche, semi-popular electronica elements. Sonu is doing the melodies and song compositions and I’m designing the rhythms. We’re trying to feature guest artistes on every track. Till now we have Greg Ellis as a guest rhythm player on his drum kit. He has been the main rhythm player for films like The Matrix series, Iron Man and The Wolfman. There’s also Viswamohan Bhatt on his Mohan Veena and Giuliano Modarelli playing Italian guitar. We’ve laid down the structure of four songs and are through with 30 per cent of the album. Most of the work is happening in parts in Mumbai.

How is it different from other world music projects?

My previous albums have primarily been driven by Indian sounds. This time I’m bringing in sounds and ideas I’ve gathered while hanging out with other musicians. World music albums don’t always feature songs and rhythms and are more often instrumental. Here we have songs that are in Hindi, English and even Gujarati. Sonu is trying to get on board some American rappers and African vocalists, too. And then there are floating vocals, minimal words and beats that one wouldn’t expect to drive a song. It’s not about loops but raw acoustic energy.

What about your solo projects?

I’m working on a solo experimental album called Tabla Sphere but my solo work is on the backburner at present. I need to expand as a musician and collaboration is the best way to do it. I started the process a few months ago with Remo and what I’m doing with Sonu or Greg Ellis is far deeper. Greg and I are working on a separate project called Rhythm Voyage. It has Zimbabwean musicians, Sufi and classical singers.