India

 iTunes / spotify / amazon / deezer

The INDIA EP is a selection of audio recordings from my travels in  Rajasthan (Northern India) while on my Honeymoon. These recordings were then edited, put into time, and then other acoustic and electronic instruments  added to create a eclectic mix of songs that reminded me of my experiences. I hope you enjoy!

1 – Snake Charmer

Bells from camels mixed with traditional folk songs layered with some nice bass and drum beats. There is a mixture of live tabla and programmed tabla in this track. I added an extra sitar and flute to support the melody.

2 – Tuc Tuc

A Tuc Tuc is an Indian taxi that is based on a motorbike with a seating area for 2-3 people in the back (unless your a local and you can get about 14 people on one!). These things are noisy and many of the engines do not tick over properly creating interesting rhythms. This track is quite chaotic to try and recreate the feeling of riding around in one of these vehicles, dodging the traffic (the road lines are just for decoration), seeing the sights, breathing in the dust and hot fumes and being bombarded by noise.

3 – Temples

Clicking of the prayer wheels and sounds of many different bells from many different temples and holy places mixed with the chanting of buddhist monks.

4 – Embroidery

These are the sounds of the sewing and weaving machines that make Indian cloth and fabrics put into time and layered. I also added some electronic instruments. The beat changes from swing to straight to swing to try and express the different timings and rhythms of the sewing machines that the workers have to listen to day and night. Although their work is hard and repetitive the garments that are produced are amazing quality with beautiful patterns and images.

5 – Sacred Cows

The Indian cow is sacred, and from what I was told it is because during hard times of malnutrition mothers could not produce milk to feed their children. Instead cows milk was used to keep the children alive and healthy. The cow was respected as a saviour and from then on it was made illegal to kill cows. If a cow dies while it belongs to you then you have to give it a official religious burial (which can be expensive). So when they get old and stop producing milk the owners discard of them by letting them roam the streets so they technically belong to no one. Here they survive by eating the fruit and vegetable scraps that people throw on the street, but at the moment they mainly eat plastic because that is the majority of waste on the streets.

6 – Namaste

I found an instrument in one of the hotels that we stayed in and played the melody to this track (probably about 100 times so that I knew I would have enough material to chop it up to re-create what was going on in my head). This is layered with some Indian bird song. I then added the piano bass, drums and other instrumentation. (Listen out for the rat scurrying away at the end!)

7 – Dharma

Darma – The cosmic law or universal truth. More traditional songs blended with extra melodic instruments, drums and bass.