The band ‘Bombay Bassment’ is the unique sum of two Goans, one South Indian and one African, each of whom bring to the mix their own spice and something nice.
This equation brings to the floor scintillating performances. When they recently performed at The Humming Tree, their tracks ‘King of the Bongo’ and ‘Jump N’ Stomp’ had the entire crowd on their feet and dancing to the beats.
“One word to describe our music is happy music,” says Ruell, the bass guitarist. This eclectic bunch met after bring introduced to each other by their ex-manager. Using their different cultural backgrounds to their advantage, each of them bring in their own flavour to the mix.
“Ruell loves Konkani music, Levin loves Bollywood, Chandu brings in the reggae and I love African music. We combine all this and it somehow becomes hip-hop,” explained Bob, the lead singer.
Their first-ever jam was three years ago when theycreated their first track ‘Hip Hop’ (Never be the same)’. Since then, they’ve been performing all over the country and recently even in Dubai. On how the name ‘Bombay Bassment’ originated, he said, “We’ve all been in Mumbai. It was the love for the City. We initially started off with the drum ‘n bass only, that’s why the ‘Bassment’.”
They may not always get along but these four fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. “We all have to accommodate our different personalities. All of us have egos,” said Bob on their unique sound. Their musical process was broken down to something like this:
“When the track reaches Chandu, it sounds reggae. When it is passed on to Bob, he brings in the African beats and when it reaches Levin, it sounds like bhangra. You just feel all those essences combined into one.”
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