JOIN US'Independent music still pitched against films'
Those who follow independent music scene in India must have heard of the one-man army best known by his on-stage name ‘Nucleya’. The man is credited with producing popular hits like ‘Akkad Bakkad’ and ‘Laung Gawacha’, which is from his recent album ‘Bass Rani’. But his music isn’t as popular as Bollywood music despite being edgy and peppy,which he feels is because “independent music is still pitched against the film industry”.
“There is a great amount of awareness among people as we (independent artistes) have sold out gigs. Independent music has a much stronger hold now because the taste of the audience has evolved,” Udyan, who has taken stage moniker, Nucleya, tells Metrolife.
“But there still isn’t much reach and support for independent artistes,” he says.
It was only six years ago that Nucleya drifted towards electronic music, especially bass and dubstep. But his musical sojourn started pretty early in his life, when he was still in school and his father bought him a computer. He started making music with like-minded friends and formed his first band ‘BandishProjekt’. For almost a decade he was making a particular style of music, which was heavy classical for this band. The songs were popular but failed to resonate with younger listeners. “There is some amount of learning that needs to be done to enjoy the beauty of Indian classical songs,” he says.
“So I wanted to explore different genres of music and create something that is easy to understand,” he adds.
This is how Nucleya came into being. He didn’t want to restrict his compositions to ‘dance music’ and hence decided to experiment with local and global influences to create universal melodies. He started incorporating street music from north and south India to create a template that could be replicated in different styles. “I make Punjabi style of music, use street reggae as within electronic music there are different types of music,” he says.
While music will always be his first love, he is now roped in by Saavn, a music streaming company, for their maiden artist in-residence platform for which he will be conceptualising multiple projects to support young, independent music artistes. “One of them is to create an audio show where I will be introducing listeners to my new songs and would also be inviting promising DJs and composers to narrate their journey,” he says, adding he will also be given a chance to produce two albums and original songs during thisresidency. The music streaming company aims to empower the lesser-known, but promising voices to get a platform to reach out to 18 million listeners that is present in more than 160 countries.
He also hopes to collaborate with international artistes, but his eyes aren’t
set on Bollywood. “There are a lot of creative restrictions when it comes to working
in films. Your creativity gets limited,” says Nucleya, who has also remixed two songs in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara’.