Fusing techno with folk
Sitting atop their roof, Mahima Dayal Mathur and Azhar Anwar of Basanti and Rahza, the Delhi-based folktronica band, are making the right noises with their quirky soulful music renditions. The duo draws inspiration from poets and singers from all verticals of time — Ghalib, Rumi and Shubha Mudgal to name a few — and amalgamates groovy, electronic beats with traditional folk riffs, on a bed of Indian and Middle-Eastern melodies.
Speaking about the genre of music the band play, Mahima, the vocalist and lyricist of the band says, “The sound is up-tempo, with folk and classical Hindustani vocals. All our tracks are produced, recorded, mixed and mastered at home.”
It is not only their music that sounds quirky; their band’s name too is quite interesting. “The name came about very organically. I was a journalist before we started this band, and I would write for multiple publications under my pen name, “Bawari Basanti”. When I quit my job and made music my career for good, I kept the “Basanti” with me and “Rahza” is Azhar, reading backwards,” says Mahima.
Both Azhar and Mahima were strangers before the band happened. “We met at a bar in Delhi. It was a karaoke night and we wanted to sing the same song, Black by Pearl Jam. That’s how we met first. Then we exchanged numbers and by the next week we began collaborating,” she says. The band’s first gig was at The Gig Week in Delhi, three years back. “It was surprising how confident we were back then. We actually managed to get a lot of people grooving to our music, and that too at our first ever gig. It was a beautiful feeling,” adds Azhar.
The duo makes sure that they do their music production themselves. Azhar, apart from being the guitarist, also produces the tracks. Sharing about her initial days and how she made her foray into music, Mahima says, “I started learning music from my grandmother, when I was 12 years old. I would wake up in the morning and my father would be listening to Kishori Amonkar’s cassettes. During the afternoon, my grandmother and I would try to find the only channel on television that telecast live classical recitals. That’s how my base was built; from one song to another. I still constantly try to gather knowledge from every source I can find. For me it’s a constant journey to find my inspiration for next music creation.” Even though the band is in the ‘studio mode’, quite a few of their tracks are on Soundcloud and YouTube like Sun, Namaste and Choli. Currently, Basanti aur Rahza is busy collaborating with a few international artists. “We are working on collaboration with a French Band called Bo Bun Fever for their upcoming album, Spicy Frog. I will be touring in France, with the band in October. Also, a collaboration with London-based dub artists, Zion Train, is on the cards and will be releasing shortly. “So a lot of work and good music in the ‘folk-funk’ wave will be created,” promises Mahima.