Surreal and soulful!

A clear case of sheer serendipity; Shadow and Light, a contemporary classical music act by artistes Anindo Bose and Pavithra Chari, was formed under mysterious circumstances. A chance encounter made this Delhi duo’s musical journey click. And now, three albums and close to a 100 gigs later, they are all set for their first month-long US tour in the end of March – a   performance starting in Boston for a Hindustani classical festival. In a candid chat, they tell us more...

“We are the only contemporary fusion act in the line-up so we feel honoured to be a part of the festival. Post that, we will also collaborate with the Berklee Indian Ensemble to reinterpret one of our songs. This tour is an opportunity to network and collaborate with people; we want to connect with our international audiences to spread traditional and contemporary sounds from India all over the world,” begins Anindo Bose, speaking of the upcoming US tour.  The intent behind making music is simple – to connect. Confident about striking a connect with the international audience, Anindo adds, “It’s a labour of love and we are confident that people of all ages will connect with our music and be able to relate to our song writing and the narratives we share through the compositions.” The classical duo has performed across most Indian cities, and this year marks extra special for them: as their latest album, Sabar was launched early this month. The album Sabar comprises of eight soulful tracks penned from myriad perspectives on gratitude, grief, contempt, perseverance, inspiration, and aspiration.  The duo has also performed a couple of times in the city. Speaking of their observations about Bengaluru, Pavithra states, “Our last concert was the third in Bengaluru and we really love the vibe of the city! Can’t say much about the traffic though! There are a lot of keen music lovers and they really like to watch live performances and know their music.  Last time, we opened for a set by Ranjit Barot at Bflat and the response was incredible! We ended up being curated by him to headline the Serendipity arts festival in Goa just on the basis of our music and what he felt about our performance.”

Pursuing music was always on the cards for Anindo. He shares, “I was always fond of music even as a child and that led me to taking up music professionally once I graduated. All through my college years I did several gigs and festivals and learned a great deal from it. The music scene has come a long way from how I remember it being in the early 2000’s. Pavithra was initiated into the field through her training in Hindustani and Carnatic classical music. She’s very versatile with genres and vocal styles and that helps create a unique niche for our music as Shadow and Light.”

While music is what binds them, their love for food comes as a close second. “We both love fries and fast food though Pavithra is vegetarian and I’m not. We like watching other live bands and listening to music that has some soul. We also love pizza (who doesn’t!),” quips Anindo. Speaking of what's next, Pavithra concludes, “We also have some more tracks coming up that are in collaboration with Karsh Kale, Amaan & Amaan Ali Bangash. These are very different from compositions for Shadow and Light and we are excited for the collaboration with such talented musicians In another collaboration, we worked with NYC-based guitar player Shubh Saran and his incredible band featuring two of our songs Samay and Viraha. That video will be out soon!”