MUMBAI: Mumbai based composer and multi-percussionist Vivek Rajagopalan is vigorously working on his new album which will have him collaborating with more than a handful of artistes in interesting capacities. Aiming to launch the album around the months of March-April, the artiste is gearing up for a performance in Mumbai. He speaks about his upcoming album ‘Music Prayer Rhythm People’, his much anticipated performance in Mumbai on 12 February, the year 2013 and his plans for 2014.

How do you plan on enchanting audiences for your concert at D’Bell?

It will have a few percussion sounds that I have grown up listening to; obviously Mridangam, being my primary instrument, bass drum, Marathi folk instrument ‘Chenda’ and some high percussion stuff, for all of which I am using looping as a means to create music and mess around with it to produce a sound of my own. I am using looping only to create layers of instruments which I may not necessarily be able to play.

It is not a solo gig; I will have with me Carnatic Violinist- Finix Ramdas and Bass player Shovon Mukherjee. I plan on doing quite a bit of stuff by myself and then introducing the band so that there will be different layers of music. As the concert progresses, the music will also keep developing.

Will you be performing anything fresh?

Some of it is going to be new. It is actually all new in the sound sense. I will be using some older melodies but presenting them differently. Then there are some completely new numbers that I have created.

The thing is I have not played this set properly in Bombay. What I am aiming to achieve by this concert is to give it a different flavour of sound. But I will have to perform to know how people will respond to it. For me, it is going to be an extremely different gig. I am going to be performing solo for about 20-25 minutes before introducing the band, something that I have never done, with all the different percussion sounds.

Will you be coming up with a new album anytime soon?

Yes. It will be a collaborative album. I have released only one single as of now, which is with a Greek singer Veronica Lliopoulou, called ‘I will break cups’. It is a Greek folk song and the English line is a direct translation of it, but I gave it a twist. In fact, it got about 3 lakh views within two weeks of uploading it. The Greeks, in particular, like it because it is something different. The next one is a collaboration with singer-songwriter K.C. Loy. Another one is with a Lebanese singer who is an Arabic classical singer.

Tell us about your band

The band is Vivek, Finix and Shovon. I have known Finix for very long, since we used to learn mridangam from the same teacher. Then he went and learnt violin from L. Subramaniam. Shovon and I were introduced by Finix and he has been playing with me for a year now.

Do you get time to make music?

You have to make time to make music. When you are a chef, you have to sometimes restrict and experiment with things. You may not necessarily hit the right spot every time but the fun is in trying new recipes and challenging the audience. I have been trying to do exactly that. For me, this is going to be a challenge because it is going to be a new fabric of sound that is going to be presented to people.

How was 2013 for you?

It was great. I did a lot of commercial stuff, scored for a news channel called Matrubhumi in Kerala and some radio work for them as well. I performed a lot of festivals in UK including the Shambala Festival, Festival number 6 and others. I am also part of a project called OK World Ensemble which has musicians from Norway, Lebanon, Africa and London. We were touring Spain and Norway, and released an album. In all, 2013 was extremely hectic and creatively challenging.

What are your plans for 2014?

‘Music Prayer Rhythm People’ is the upcoming album with all the collaborations. Not sure if will be typing with a label company right now. I hope to release it by March or April. I am also looking forward to releasing a few videos. One is almost done. I have worked with a shadow puppetry artiste for it. The song is called ‘Chakita Dang’; it is a KC Loy collaboration. It has a very drama theatre singing style and I have put in my beats. We tried and recorded everything in one go; looping, effects and vocal.