While their work has always blurred the line between folk tradition and contemporary sound, one of India’s finest fusion bands, The Tapi Project, stresses that their process of making music is dictated by the urge to be as transparent to the music as possible and let the final sound emerge organically.
The Surat-based band, which has performed in more than 30 countries, will showcase their music on January 12 (at 5:30 pm at Punjab Kala Bhawan) on the invitation of Thinkers Collective, an initiative of the city-based Institute for Development and Communication (IDC). The group comprises Yogendra Saniawala (instruments, lyrics), Swati Minaxi (lead vocalist), Gaurav Kapadia (drums), and Biju Nambiar.
Tapi’s words and music are reflections of our surroundings and manifested reality, and they act as a mirror for anyone who wants to look into them and find themselves. Known for reinterpreting traditions without diluting their essence, the band members believe that traditions are a light from which one ignites their own identity, moving ahead from one light to another.
The band, which has performed across the world, including Europe and Asia, aims to appeal to people’s innermost sensibilities, never striving to create a particular experience, but to ignite multiple emotions and stories. The band, which plays jazz, rock, funk, folk, and spoken word, is essentially a ‘traveller’.
Dr Pramod Kumar, chairperson of IDC, states that it was important for ‘Thinkers Collective’ to bring to the region a band whose sound is “rooted in the society we live in”. “In their music, they talk about society at large, human experiences, climate, and everything that affects us.”
