Tipriti TIPS Kharbangar, the vocalist and guitarist of blues rock band Soulmate, talks to Discover India about completing 15 years in the Indian music scene, her love for her hometown, Shillong, and how travel shapes her music and work.
From starting as a home-grown blues band to performing the world over, take us through the journey of Soulmate.
We started out in 2003. That was 15 years ago! There wasn’t really an independent music scene in India then. We (Rudy and I) played a few shows in and around Shillong as a duo and then we decided to hire session musicians to back us up on bass and drums. That’s when Soulmate came into being. We recorded our first album SHILLONG and then, we stepped out of the city with the help of friends like Vijay Nair, the late Kiran Sant and late Amit Saigal. The fact that we produced our own songs and also that we were a blues/blues rock band made quite a difference. Soon, we found ourselves holding regular gigs at pubs, clubs and festivals in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and later, all around India. Organisers got familiar with the fact that we drew in a crowd of both young and old wherever we played. It was good for their business, it still is. Then, we went to the United States in 2007.
Talking about 2007, how does it feel to be the only blues band that represented India at the International Blues Challenge?
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2018-Ausgabe von Discover India.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2018-Ausgabe von Discover India.
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