Side Partition: Asian band making magical music

THE FULL-TIME PROFESSIONALS AND PART-TIME BAND CAUSING A BIG NOISE.

THE era of live bands returning to the UK scene has resulted in exciting acts like Side Partition.

The upcoming seven-piece band, formerly known as AlphaNomega (A&O), specialises in commercial music with an Indian subcontinental twist.

Having first come to prominence on BBC4 reality TV show UK’s Best Part-Time Band, they have since kicked on to make a name for themselves as a formidable live act able to incorporate diverse influences including pop, rock, funk and jazz.

The London-based musical maestros have been able to balance diverse careers with creating music and delivering unforgettable live sets.

They have a number of live dates on the way, including performing alongside chart-topping artists at the free Newham Under The Stars event in Central Park in East Ham, London on August 17.

Eastern Eye caught up with band members Vidushi Pradhan, Shouvik Ghoshal, Ranit Shail, Rajit Shail, Priyesh Shah, Zohair Abbasi and Agrim Ganti to find out more...

What’s the story behind Side Partition and the band’s formation?

In terms of the story, once upon a time two brothers, Rajit and Ranit, and their friend Shouvik, got together to do some music.

Realising they were good at it, they went on a quest to find other amazing musicians to complete the band. After Agrim, Zohair, Priyesh and Vidushi joined, and they became Side Partition.

How would you describe the Side Partition sound and how did it develop?

At the moment, we are still experimenting with our sound and trying different things. In terms of genre, you could call us a fusion pop/rock band.

We all like listening to different genres, so we bring different elements of rock, jazz, blues, pop and Indian classical and try to fuse it all in our music.

Who are your main musical influences?

AR Rahman, Bruno Mars, Arijit Singh, Beyonce, Mithoon and Snarky Puppy are some of our influences.

What was the experience of doing BBC4 show UK’s Best Part-Time Band like?

It was one of the best experiences as our time together as a band. We were selected as one of the top 15 bands from 1,200 that applied to the show across the country. The judges loved our creativity and fusion of eastern and western style of music, which helped us get through to the semi-finals.

The best part was performing to a live crowd. It was an experience that made us realise there is an audience out there that will enjoy our style of music. Also as a band it gave us an opportunity to spend quality time together preparing for the show.

How much does performing live mean to you?

Performing live is what we always aim to do more of. We love making music and rehearsing, but the best feeling is always when the crowd is enjoying our music. We feed off the energy from the crowd.

You can do a perfect music session in a rehearsal studio over four hours, but you cannot replace that with a 20-30 minute high energy-filled live performance where the crowd is singing and dancing to our music.

What do you enjoy most about performing live?

The buzz and high when the audience is loving our performance, and also when they sing along to our songs it is an amazing feeling.

Which classic Bollywood songs do you most enjoy singing as a band?

We have grown up listening to Bollywood songs and do have favourites such as Humma Humma, Chaiyya Chaiyya, Dum Mast Qalendar and many more.

However we are now trying to use the influences we have got from listening to these songs and creating our own material. Who knows, maybe one day our songs will be part of Bollywood!

Is the biggest challenge to somehow make the sound your own?

Sound is crucial, but not our main goal. We want to try and make music that people can relate to, but also is different to the standard style currently out there.

We write music and perform without consciously thinking about our sound, however we do have a live sound which is what makes us Side Partition.

You are all young professionals with busy careers; how do you manage the music side?

As we all come from different professional backgrounds (medicine, engineering, finance, management), weekday meet-ups and rehearsals can be difficult. So we try and get together du-ring the weekends and do our magic.

How has living in London influenced your sound?

London is a multi-cultural and diverse city, and has bands both big and small from around the world coming here. There is also a big busking community, which showcases unique talents. When you get exposed to this, you consciously and subconsciously get influenced.

Bollywood is the dominant genre in Indian music and plays an important part in your repertoire. How do you view the industry and its artists?

The industry has come a long way, especially on the production side. We now have some amazing and world-class arrangers, engineers and musicians.

Opportunities are given to more artists. In the past, a handful of singers would sing for majority of the songs. That number has increased and it’s good to see that.

Any plans to record and release any singles or an album?

Oh, hell yeah! We have composed and recorded a few originals and will be releasing them soon. Each track has something different to offer and has a story behind it, including some based on true events in our lives.

There is a qawwali track, a song about the refugee crisis, one about a girl who p****d us off, and more like that.

What can we expect to hear from Side Partition at the upcoming Newham Under The Stars event this month?

You can expect a kickass performance. We will be performing cover songs from some of the best female artists, new and old, Hindi and English, and hopefully inspire future female superstars.

If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any musical artist from the east or west, who would it be?

It would be the same ones we put down as our main influences. If we had to choose one in particular, it would be AR Rahman.

He is one of the best composers India has produced, has won Oscars and composed numerous hits. Just spending a session with him and learning as much about his composing, arranging and producing process would be amazing. Also, he has a very unique voice.

You’ve been together for a while now and must have shared some fun times together. Any amusing anecdotes you care to share?

(Laughs) We are a very serious band. Very, very serious!

Do the band ever have creative differences, and if so, how do you get around them?

Yes, of course! We are seven members, and as a result you can imagine each one of us have different ideas and views. However, this makes things very interesting.

We manage to get around creative differences by experimenting with ideas that are brought to the table and then having a mutual decision as to which is the best. If we did not have differences, our music would become repetitive. It’s brilliant to have such creative talents and ideas flowing.

• Side Partition performed at the free Newham Under The Stars event at Central Park in East Ham on August 17.

  @SidePartition, Instagram: @side_partition and YouTube: @alphaNomega2009