Pleased to hear!

Amarjot Kaur

Looking forward to the weekend already? Well, you are advised to keep your hangover-remedy kit ready, for this Friday and Saturday, the intoxication levels won’t just be measured by the number of glasses you have downed, but the number of tracks you tripped on! At the two-day Indie Fest taking place at Whistling Duck, Sector 26, with Prateek Kuhad and Aditya Balani as the main musicians, it seems like Chandigarh has finally discovered refuge from the ‘Sufi nights’ at local pubs. And, the line-up also includes indie bands and artistes Parvaaz, Shantanu Pandit Komorebi by Tarana Marwah, Akash Vincent and Red Mawkin.

Knowledge sake

Indie music or Independent music (often shortened to indie music or indie) is music produced independently from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.

Good note

Nipun Cheema (a city-based musician) and Amber Mehrotra (the owner of Whistling Duck), share that the event was organised keeping in mind Chandigarh’s youth and music lovers. “While Prateek’s music is very sincere, and organic, Balani’s borders on the lines of electro pop and jazz, so it is a very interesting line up of singers and song-writers,” shares Nipun. While the tickets for the show are priced at Rs 500, Amber shares that the sole purpose of the event is to offer good music experience to the city’s audience. “We do not make much profit from these events since 30% of the profit goes to the government in the form of entertainment tax,” he shares. Also, the festival features interesting designs by Paul Syng who splashes some views of the city’s architecture while celebrating 50 years of Le Corbusier’s architecture.

Jazz it up

Aditya Balani

Aditya Balani is a composer, guitarist, singer-songwriter, music producer and educator, who started his musical career in 2002 as a guitarist and songwriter with bands like Incognito, Advaita, Artistes Unlimited, Crimson and Think Floyd. Having performed at festivals like the Delhi International Arts Festival, NH7 Weekender, Jazz Utsav, Congo Square Jazz Festival, Shisha Jazz Fest, TEDx, Aquajam Festival, TaBlu Jaipur and Literary Fest, Aditya already has a jazz album, Answers, to his credit. He shares, “This album, Constants and Variables is very organic. I have been working on it since October or November last year. Though I have done a lot of instrumentals earlier, I wanted to do something different,” he says. Aditya, whose brother Tarun Balani is also a jazz musician and his cousin, Gaurav Balani, who plays bass for Parikrama shares that he would love to make a band with his brothers someday. About his influences, he shares that he is particularly fond of Death Cab For Cutie, Local Natives, Radiohead and Coldplay.  “I am presently working on two compositions called Need my Time and Barking Guns,” he signs off. 

Tune into folk

Prateek Kuhad 

With the release of his debut album In Tokens & Charms, Delhi-based singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad has firmly established himself as one of the frontrunners in the Indian independent music industry. Prateek, with his unique blend of minimal, folk arrangements and pop rock melodies, effortlessly captures life’s complexities in his songs. He has performed at venues across New York, Prague, New Orleans and India. Prateek has played at festivals such as the Bacardi NH7 Weekender (2012, 2013), Ziro Festival (2014), VH1 Emerge (Opening set for Alt J) and more. “Well, I started playing guitar when I was 16 and was always sure that I wanted to pursue it as a career,” says Prateek. He shares that he doesn’t necessarily brackets music into categories and would be open to playing for Bollywood just as long as he gets creative liberty and satisfaction.  While listing his influences, Prateek shares that he is rather fond of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. “The album,” he says, “is a collection of ten of my favourite songs that I have been writing since a long time.”  

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