Donn Bhat has become busier than ever. The release of his album, Connected, saw him touring the country to promote his work, and making it a point to aggressively make it visible on social media. The composer-producer wrote the title song because of his ritual of waking up and reaching for his phone every morning. “However, over the last two weeks, I’ve been on my phone more than ever with the album coming out and promoting it on social media,” he laughs.
His seven-track album charts his thoughts on relationships, modern India, life and humanity. While Donn’s music cannot be compartmentalised to a particular genre, it’s not surprising that his latest offering is a good mix of different genres, and tempos as well. Think the Sarangi used alongside Tibetan bowls; electric guitar with a generous helping of electronica, if you will. “I think my sound largely experiments with mixing electronic and acoustic instruments,” he says, offering a better understanding.
Music was a natural progression for Donn having grown up around music — his father listened to a lot of qawwali, while his mother was religious towards The Beatles and The Carpenters. “My parents were quite encouraging about what I wanted to do. It’s amazing of them to be like that, specially in the early 2000s, since making original music meant dying broke, lonely and an alcoholic,” says Donn. The musician says that he aspired to become a cricketer earlier. but he happily let go of the dream when he picked up an acoustic guitar.
Donn believes that these are very exciting times for musicians who are open to technology and what it can offer them. “Technology in itself can inspire ideas/sounds, which can then be transposed by words,” he says. However, he also admits that with a lot more artistes making original music in the country, there is a downside to it — corporatisation. He says, “The scene has been corporatised. Promoters are interested in profits and aren’t looking at creating an original scene. Original musicians or bands are paid a pittance while the promoters keep their sponsors happy with dumbing down music, to cater to the selfie crowd, who invariably come to a concert not for the music but for just being there to be seen,” he says.
His biggest takeaway from gigs outside the country is always how much they value art and music. “They will support the scene by buying CDs and merchandise even if you offer them for free as a thank you. They will refuse to take it, and will make sure they pay for the piece of work. It’s very encouraging,” he notes. Over more than a decade that he’s been on the scene, Donn has some sound advice to aspiring musicians: “People will tell you everything to become ‘successful,’ but at the end of it, music is not a formula. It’s a privilege.”
