Lesle Lewis at the airport, not something we see very often in Bangalore which is why we grabbed the opportunity to get an interview with him his very successful tour for Antiquity’s Club fusion music tour.
Lucky for us, Lesle, one of India’s finest composers and the man behind popular tunes such as Pari Hoon Main, Krishna and Mango Frooti, was kind enough to take sometime off his schedule to have a telephonic interview. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:
You were here for a performance for the antiquity tour. How was the bangaloreans’ response and the whole experience?
“As far as Antiquity tour is concerned, it was awesome since we did a few cities like Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore. The Bangalore response was really great, for a couple of reasons. For one it rained and though it was an open air amphitheatre, everyone sat in the rain and were completely drenched. The audience didn’t leave which as an artist felt good. The crowd was of the mindset that it’s raining, just too bad. Bangaloreans, being used to the rain, unexpected rain for that matter, really couldn’t give a damn. I have a feeling that they just wanted to listen to the music. Another thing that was great was, while playing Krishna, the unplugged version; I witnessed the wildest fireworks display I have ever seen. During the song, a string of crackers were lit and they went on till the end of the song. This was like a fusion of firecrackers and music and worked wonders with the fusion music theme. I was of the impression that the organizers arranged for the firecrackers but they hadn’t.
Another highlight of the tour was that I played a fresh song for the first time in the city. This was something special I did for Bangalore’s audience, specifically in fact for this tour. It’s very difficult to sing with the firecrackers but the experience was overwhelming. Bangaloreans are very music loving and they come in all spirit to concerts. Augustus, the event company pulled off a fabulous job. With the crowd enthusiasm and the cracker display at the concert, I think this experience, was a first.
Is it very difficult to work with artists of different music backgrounds to bring in the whole fusion feel? How do you find your ground at such concerts?
“Well, I started the whole hindi pop genre, from Pari Hoon Main to Yaaron Dosti, after which I started composing remixes which hadn’t been brought into India until then. Then I got into the fusion scene with Krishna and later coke studio. I’m so widely interested in the Music of India, but moving into the various genres is something I had started anyway. I’m in a way a father of all the genres in India, so it’s not at all difficult to find my ground. With coke studio, you can see the resurrection of the live bands scene in India and everyone’s playing live music now, it works wonders. I am the only Indian artist to have done the original MTV unplugged with George Michael and Creed and though the Indian version of it is great as well, I believe a lot of people are influenced by my music, whichever genre it covers. I just fit in and blend in with the concert, irrespective of the artist, the music or the genre since I’m well acquainted with all of them.
When did the passion for music surface and how did you decide to make a career out of this? Did u have to meet a lot of music composers, sign labels and struggle to get to follow your dream?
“I had a passion for music since school, I couldn’t see anything else for myself. Of course I had to do what every musician does and I started from wherever I could get a grip on anything. A lot of musicians today don’t want to play below a certain amount of money and I understand that from a career perspective but I believed that every time u don’t play somewhere u lose something. I used to get Rs30 for a concert and I’ve seen the worst times and phases of music. Today there are pop and fusion industries because I believed in them and had a hard time making that kind of music for the audiences. I had to prove to everybody that fusion could work and then the audiences heard Colonial Cousins and loved it. Everyone cannot see your dream so you create the end product to prove it to them. I’m always looking at where I can take my music from here and having been a trendsetter, its in my nature to keep looking at the next introduction and more music territories to expose. The thing about music is, the more we live with music we realize that we don’t know anything. Music is a big, vast ocean. I’m still exploring it and breaking barriers. Thankfully my passion is recognized and accepted by the audiences. Most of my work has been on the top ten hits and none of it is from movies, or has an actor in the video. It hasn’t been Bollywood centric which in itself was quite a challenge.
How is the Colonial Cousins journey? Tell us a bit more about the collaboration.
Colonial Cousins had to live a hard life and face struggle before people realized what we were trying to do. I still remember a fax from Warner bros was rolled out to us saying, great album, fabulous work, but what is it? This was in 1994 and we had to wait till 1996 to have them understand it through a release. Its always dim hope when you create music and it takes two years to release. But we pursued it and believed in it and it finally worked wonders. We together, won many awards and till day Colonial Cousins stands as one of the biggest bands in India. We experienced the world at a very different level in 1996. Rasool Pookutty was telling me about the times he would hear stories of us travelling in stretch limos and drinking champagne and while he was still chasing his dream and when he won the Oscar the first thing on his mind was the Colonial Cousins, because we had been there, done that. We have done 51 songs in 40 days which is practically impossible but we had to do it. There were no shortcuts either, we would start from scratch if we made an error which is the reason live music is pure music, its one live take. Colonial Cousins are also the only Indian band to have performed at the original coke studio which is a great feeling especially now that it’s such a highly regarded music event.
Being a part of the band Colonial cousins or composing alone as Leslie Lewis? Do you enjoy one more than the other?
“Collaborations are great experiences and for me, as Lesle Lewis, who has done Pal, Pari Hoon Main and Yaaron on one side and being a part of a band on the other, are both equally enriching. There is a lot of music that you cannot perform with certain collaborations so separately we do our own music. Even though we perform together, Lesle Lewis and Hariharan are both a constant in their own way no matter who they work with.”
What do you keep in mind while recording new material or performing on stage?
“While composing music, I create it to shape up with the singer’s persona and character. My job is to make them a star and I fit the composition for the artist keeping their strengths and weaknesses in mind. I craft the song for whom it is made. It is like a tailor-made composition for the artist. I’m a completely made to order composer. Even for brand jingles and advertisements, I always focus on the brand’s target audience and that has been my specialty. I’ve been good at helping brands reach out to their audience and capture their attention which shows in the number of awards I have won from the advertising world.”
Tell us about your upcoming projects and what you’re currently working on.
“I’m currently creating the F1 anthem sung by Daler Mehndi, KK, A.R. Rahman and me. I’m also working on a movie and collaborating with international artistes in the New Year but I cannot share details on the same just yet. I’ve also begun to perform live a lot more after coke studio.”
The music world has been hit by a storm that goes by the name of Kolaveri di. Your opinions on it?
“I haven’t heard Kolaveri yet but I feel there’s something positive, there has to be something about the song for it to have become such a viral. It is however, essential that the artist recreates music with equal or more impact over and over again to avoid being a one hit wonder, only then is the artist enthralling. I do also Wish all these upcoming artistes all the very best, they have and are definitely doing something right, hope they continue to do so.”
