SUMIT PRATIHAST has been singing since he was a young boy, and is now redefining fusion music
I guess the glitter and glamour of the stage really appealed to me”, Sumit Pratihast, the lead singer for the band ‘Desi Roots’, tells me about why he started singing at a very young age. But it was a Maithili singer singing at his neighbourhood Durga Puja that really inspired him. “I think I’ve always had a knack for the performing arts,” he adds.
As a trained filmmaker, he doesn’t just add his voice to the band’s music, which explores multiple Indic genres of music alongside rock; he also curates the band’s music videos and has a hand in poster design as well.
Hearing Sumit talk about his musical influences can make one understand his band’s music. Introduced to Md Rafi and Kishore Kumar by his father at home at a young age, by the time he was a teenager, he was listening to Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Coldplay, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the like. More recently, he has been listening to Arijit Singh’s music but also drawing inspiration from western musicians like Charlie Puth and Jacob Collier. He says that artists like The Weeknd and even Justin Bieber have been coming out with some great new music. “You can call it fusion because the lyrics I write are in Hindi and the music that accompanies it is mostly on western instruments. In essence it is fusion, but it isn’t traditional fusion where you try to mix Indian Classical and Western Classical. We try to take it as far as we can. We sang ‘Main Kyon Chahoon’ which is a sort of a ‘punk’ song. There are songs where there are downtempo, almost psybient, elements and others with jazz and blues. In the sense, my attempt is to get the best of both the worlds.”
With the distribution channels changing thanks to online platforms, Sumit believes that 2020 will be the last “tough” year for Indian ‘indie’ (independent) bands. “There is a lot of good music coming out; there is a hunger. Look at some bands’ videos getting millions, maybe tens of millions, of views.” He argues that if a band is good, they will get their market although he feels that there are opportunities for the distribution channels and particularly the management side. There could be innovations that would make music in India independent of movies. “You see Hip-Hop really picking up in India and so many new labels coming up for Indian Hip-Hop.” Talking of some other Indian bands whose music he enjoys, he mentions Bengaluru-based band Parvaaz, the duo Shadow & Light and Advaita.
Sumit really likes performing at colleges: “I remember there were a couple of shows we played at the Haldia Institute of Technology near Kolkata, the Ansal Institute and Brijmohan Munjal University near Gurugram. All these colleges were not just great hosts but had great crowds.” Yet with the lack of audiences in 2020, thanks to the pandemic, he admits that times have been tough but not just for him, for everyone. “I’ve been trying to stay strong mentally, spending more time with my family and taking care of my cat Oreo and, well, focussing on 2021.” But with the vaccine coming out, he does expect there to be a much better situation in 2021.
As we listen to ‘Dekho Na’, one of Desi Root’s own tracks on the Kia Sonet’s BOSE audio system, Sumit explains his theory of songwriting. “Well, I do not necessarily take inspiration from real life but I imagine a scenario and how it plays out in my head. And it is good if it rhymes,” he says. The song, which explores the issue of toxic love, sends out the message about how bad such a relationship is for both partners.
As for the advice he would give youngsters getting into music: “Well, it is not a conventional career and you have to set your goals early. You should know what you want to achieve and spend a lot of time and effort, at least four-five hours, every day with music. With practice comes perfection but fundamental training is really important.”
But 2020 has not been a terrible year for cars, as we saw the introduction of the new Kia Sonet, and Sumit who admits to liking cars also found the audio system very good. Listening to his own band’s music, he said: “The sound in the car was sharp, crisp and well-balanced. This is by far the best set-up of sound I’ve heard in a car. You don’t need anything else.” But Sumit is even more thrilled about the Intelligent Manual Transmission (IMT) in the Sonet. He was the first musician who saw the IMT and knew what it was, and couldn’t wait to try it out. “I get the thrill of changing gears and I get off the awful clutch, and in city traffic that can be really irritating on your left knee. If you would take a test drive on an IMT, you would definitely love it.” n
