INCONVERSATION WITH SHAMIR TANDON

Shamir Tandon composer and curator has amidst the pandemic,  along with Sameer Anjaan and Kumar Taurani released ‘Sazaa’. This heart-wrenching song is sung by Sameer Khan featuring Karishma Sharma. ‘Sazaa’ is Shamir Tandon’s first heartbreak song releasing with Tips industries. Having worked with various music directors over different genres of music, Shamir Tandon when approached to compose some melancholic songs with a fragrance of the ’90s came up with 'Sazaa Pyaar ki'. The song is sung by debutant singer Sameer and has a whiff of nostalgia and pain. The entire song lies on an emotional backdrop.

Q1. Tell us about your association with tips for the launch of Sazaa?

During the lockdown, I received a call from Kumar Taurani, the owner of tips and a veteran in the music industry and he asked me to create some pop music and while we were all sitting doing not much during the lockdown. 

I thought it was a great time to create some music and give a break to some debutant artists.

So we’ve done more than a dozen singles with one every fortnight with a new artist every time. Happy to be giving a break to newer talent because I have always worked with veterans and this time through tips a lot of young talent is being released.

I am happy to spearhead this entire operation by doing a lot of musical compositions (singles) and Sazaa is just one single in line of many more to com

Q2. How did you come up with the track?

When the tips industry asked me to create a melancholic song. One reminiscent of the music of the 90s very well known for its heartbreaking songs. I got a message from Sameer Anjaan who is a veteran, who has written more than 5000 songs and his name of years in the Guinness Book for the highest number of songs written and once he sent me the lyrics on my WhatsApp, I read and while walking On my Terrace during the lockdown I composed it in less than a minute because the lyrics were extremely attractive and were completely appropriate with the vision that Kumar Taurani had.

Though there has been a lockdown and people are not meeting in music rooms, Jam sessions, we still manage to create Sazaa In a very remote-controlled manner. Sameer Anjaan wrote lyrics at his house, I put down the composition in my house, my music arranger arranged and wrote the notes at his house the singer sang in his house the musicians played from the respective homes and finally When all the ingredients were ready, we gave it to a mixed engineer who mixed it in his house so it was all remotely done.

Q3. Now that music has gone online and many new players have entered the music scene who is your favourite? Current favourite and why?

Well now that all the music has gone online many new players not only in terms of record label But also content creators and content curators and also a lot of authors themselves have come to the forefront on their own. I like all of them because they come with their own trademark and they create their own music without any interference of any corporate bodies which makes music so pure and untainted. This is what gives them the impetus to create their own music without being dictated by any corporation. That is hiring them so I do not like anyone particular person but I like a lot of them who are doing cover versions in their own style giving an old song a new twist musically, vocally, and even lyrically sometimes. Also, I like how many of them are creating their original music in multiple genres and creating some hybrid music.

Q4. You have been in the industry for a very long what is the difference you have noticed in the music scene 10 years ago and today?

Well apart from the change in the consumption pattern of the consumers from earlier consuming through cassettes and CDs A physical form in comparison to now getting access music online Digitally or through streaming services like Gaana, Saavn, Spotify, Amazon, etc. The way the music and the musicians are creating music has also changed There are no more big studios with a large number of musicians and there are no more online live recordings. People are making music sitting in a coffee shop, putting on the headphones, The bedrooms. the whole process of releasing music by an artist has become democratized and very open. You don’t need an interface, any label to put a stamp on you or distribute. Every artist can distribute the music themselves So there is no need for anyone to rely on any big corporation to release music, to distribute auto market music. They can completely do it themselves and this was never there in the past. The artists were always dependent on record labels and music companies

Q5. If given a chance would you like to mentor new music composers?

Certainly, if given a chance I would love to give them a break I would love to guide them, I would love to mentor them and see if I could connect the dots to see if I could be of any assistance to them so that they don’t have to go through the struggles that we did and they achieve their goals faster and go through less pain and agony than we did.

I would like to be a guiding force of light for any composer whose work I have liked, show them the right direction, and share learnings with them. Connect with some people who need to work, That’s the least we could do to pay back to society and the industry.

Q6. What is the one piece of advice that you have for all the youth that wants to be a part of the fraternity?

Newcomers all I would like to say is, be patient, don’t be in a hurry just keep at it. Don’t give more importance to the form give more importance to the content, because ultimately content is king and focus more on melody and senior artists, senior composers, senior lyric artists while of course get exposed to global music,  study our own Indian music which has so much to offer.