Together, they rock

Mona

Ukulele in his hand, as Atul Sharma hums...

Nanhi chinti jab dana lekar chalti hai

Chadti diwaron par, sau baar phisalti hai

Man ka vishwas ragon main sahas bharta hai

Chadkar girna, girkar chadna na akhrta hai

Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti

Koshish karne walon ki haar nahi hoti

... even as Shivani and Sharang join in! 

Now that’s a first — a husband, wife and son as part of a band and taking literature forward, adding some lilt and rhythm...that’s Red Brick House Band for you!

Famous composer Atul Sharma, who’s given hits like Yaar Bolda, Mitraan Da Naa Chalda and 

Duppatta Satrangi has been making music with the who’s who of the Punjabi world for as long as four decades; with a wife and son equally inclined towards his vocation, it was only about two years back that that three of them started playing together. 

First tune

“Mum and I would often show up home at the end of the day pretty morose (both of them architects) and dad always came to our rescue,” says Sharang. As two of the other members — Atul Gupta and Abhijeet Swarnkar (members of Sharang’s alternative rock band Harmonic Friction) — joined in, they feel fit enough to take on Bulleh Shah to Brecht and the Beatles, and make their ‘kind’ of music!

What’s novel, you would ask... but you have to listen to them rendering Amrita Pritam’s Mein Tenu Phir Milangi to feel the magic they create. “Life is a red brick house made of the five elements — earth, water, fire, air and sky or space — and that’s our music, taking up pieces, at times prosaic ones too, from celebrated authors and mystics and giving it a new spin,” shares Atul, who adds that when they started making music, it was largely to satisfy their creative faculties.

Passion comes first

While the head of the family has been trained in music and is the only field he’s ever worked in; Shivani is an interior architect and so is Sharang, an MSc in Construction Management from UK. Atul Gupta is an entrepreneur and Abhiheet is working for a US-based recruiting firm. All pursuing their profession and their passion — the Red Brick House band!

“Atul ji expects perfection, but all of us are strongly opinionated and don’t shy away from speaking our minds. Between fighting and squabbling, we have an amazing time; we let the best idea win,” says Shivani.

While years on, Atul is still in awe of his wife’s adaptability to move from western to classical to back with total ease, Shivani loves Sharang’s honesty and sensitivity towards his music. Picking out the best from each, you would see their unique pieces, such as the Beatles Guru Dva and Sahajo Bai’s Ram Tajoon Pai Guru Na Visaaroon / Guru Ke Sam Hari Ko Na Nihaaroon. “The primary thought is the same — to put the guru on a higher pedestal than god, who left us in the world only to be guided by the guru. The thought and the music run parallel in our compositions,” avers Atul Sharma.

You can enjoy some of this on Wednesday, 7 pm, at Bonanza of Mystic Music, which has been put together by Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi at Tagore Theatre-18. 

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