B’luru artiste interviews renowned musicians on Insta

The series is set to launch as a podcast later this month

A young artiste from Bengaluru is interviewing celebrated musicians, including Mark Urselli and Mark Lettieri who have bagged Grammy awards three times.

The series, done as Instagram Live, is called ‘Stalwarts Of Music With Aditya Veera’.

In each episode, Aditya Veera, who is part of the Thayirsadam Blues band and also an artiste manager, talks to a guest about their career. He has done 27 episodes so far.

He started the show when Covid-19 hit the world in early 2020 to get a better understanding of the international music market and musicians, says the 28-year-old.

Getting through to big artistes took time. He sent his portfolio to record labels like earMusic, Jensen Communications Inc, Mint Talent Group, Universal Music, and Capitol Records. He contacted companies representing Asian and North American musicians on LinkedIn.

Mark Urselli, sound engineer and three-time Grammy-winner from New York, became his first guest on his show in November, 2020. Guitarist Robben Ford of ‘Tiger Walk’ fame took three months to come on board. But it was the Mark Lettieri interview in October 2021 that got his show noticed.

“It had more than 1,000 views,” he informs.

One-time Grammy winners like Lee Ritenour, Shelea, Guthrie Govan, and Jeff Scott Soto have also come on the show. “I go live depending on the availability of these artistes,” he says.

Stories

During a chat, Aditya learnt that Phil Perry, an R&B Hall of Fame singer, was to play at the World Trade Centre in New York the day the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred. But Phil was stopped by security guards “for some reason”, which saved him from the clutches of tragedy. In one episode, he learnt that
members of Snarky Puppy band would sleep at bus stops and concert venues when they could not afford hotels in the cities they were playing in. Music educator Sheryl Bailey told him the syllabus at Berklee College of Music, Boston, where she heads the guitar department, focuses on listening skills. “An avid musician should listen to the dynamics of a song and how each instrument complements the other.”

Collaborations

Aditya learnt that Michael League, who heads Snarky Puppy and is a multi-instrumentalist, was in Bengaluru two months ago. He produced an album with versatile Indian singer Varijashree Venugopal. ‘’I did not know he was interested in Indian classical music. His expertise is in jazz music,’’ Aditya shares.

Even German drummer Marco Minnemann has worked with Indian electric bass player Mohini Dey. He loved the Konnakol renditions in India, he admitted on the show.Opportunities have opened up for Aditya. India’s leading guitar player Rhythm Shaw contacted him after listening to the show.

The show will launch as a podcast on major audio platforms like Apple Podcast, Spotify and others later this month. Look up @adix70 on Instagram