‘Primarily a self-taught guitarist, but first a teacher.’ – that is how city musician Sanjay Kumar likes to describe his body of work. The 27-year-old lead guitarist of the Raghu Dixit Project believes in exploring myriad avenues before it gets too late. FOI, his recently formed solo entity is the result of the ideology. The debut album was released in December last year, and a series of interesting projects are in the pipeline. FOI happens to be one of the few instrumental bands in the city. The band has no set band members in place, and is rather open to getting fresh talent together for each gig. Amid preparations for a forthcoming UK tour with the Raghu Dixit Project, he shares the inside track with us...
“Raghu Dixit's music is popular world over. As a band, we've been lucky to strike a chord with people from different age groups and communities through our music. The upcoming tour will see us perform a host of new tracks and a few signature RDP numbers,” reveals Sanjay, about the much talked about tour. While the industry is largely ephemeral, Sanjay believes creating unique and authentic music is the only way to be able to hold one's ground and move forward. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why he chose to start an instrumental band. “People are used to listening to vocals and that's really not a bad thing. But, through this offering, I'd like people to embrace the magic of rhythms and notes, which by itself can be soul stirring. Also, the focus was on giving fresher talent a chance with every gig that I performed, hence I don't think I'll ever have a fixed set of band members playing for me,” he enthuses.
“I was always musically inclined. Despite not hailing from a family of musicians, everyone liked music and I grew up listening to a variety of genres. I started playing the keyboard at the age of eight, and also learnt Carnatic music as a kid. At 14, my friends and I got together to form a rock band titled Atomic Green. Thinking of it, music has always been a part of my life. Much of my learning has been on my own.” shares Sanjay, a BCA graduate, who juggles between the Raghu Dixit Project and FOI. While the Raghu Dixit Project is what keeps the money coming in, FOI is what keeps him occupied when he wants to take a breather. “FOI is what I pursue during my downtime. I am yet to have a full team in place, but the musicians from the Raghu Dixit Project have been generous enough to be a part of gigs whenever I needed them. The idea is to get youngsters and fresh talent to perform live through this, hence I don’t have a set of band members in place.”
A decade into the music scene, Sanjay learnt a lot along the way. His music academy, Let's Make Some Music, which is located in Indiranagar is a concept that arose out of an innate drive to teach music to individuals with a natural flair. "I teach music at the school, and at present there are about 70 students." Prod him whether pursuing music was what he wanted, and he says. “I never wanted to work in the corporate world. I've been performing live since the age of 16, and was pretty convinced that this is what I wanted to do.” And, when he isn't doing that, it's videography for him. "I'm deeply passionate about photography and cinematography. Even as a band (RDP) we travel and shoot extensively. A merger of two of my passions would be great fun.,” he believes.
The independent music scene is growing, and things are certainly looking up for musicians believes Sanjay. “We (musicians) are definitely in a much better space. The country is opening up and welcoming more Indi bands and Indian artistes and that's a great sign for anyone wanting to take music up seriously,” he concludes.
