An epic dimension to melody

US-based songwriter and composer Nihar Moodi specialises in orchestral and grand-scale music for films

Songwriter, producer and composer Nihar Moodi gave up tried and tested career choices to pursue his passion — music. A specialist in orchestral/epic music for films and pop music for commercials, Nihar says what drives his compositions are emotions, which he finds in everything that he sees and feels around him. Currently based in the US, Nihar runs Pineapple Productions with a team of musicians. Excerpts from an interview.

What nurtured your interest in music?

I started learning to play the keyboard when I was five. I owe it to my parents who helped me achieve this skill set. Learning the keyboard and singing started as a hobby, and over the years, it turned into a passion. I started consuming all kinds of music to gain a better understanding. I also started performing during school assemblies and after graduation, I started performing at open mic events, along with my band. We would perform fusion songs, merging songs from different genres into our music. During this phase, I was exposed to music therapy through my music instructor. This is where I found the power of music and emotions. Soon, I started conducting music therapy sessions for expectant mothers at various maternity hospitals. Since then, music therapy has become a soulful experience for me. After my engineering, I wasted no time in switching to a full-time career as a musician and began my music composition journey at Full Sail University in Florida, US.

How different is it to make music for films compared to other mediums?

For me, music has always been a way of expression and communication. I continue to do the same in films. The most important aspect of music composition is conveying emotions. The only difference between music for films and commercials is the length of cues created. Both of them are story-based and usually derivative of emotions. I compose orchestral/epic music for films and pop music for commercials. However, every once in a while, I get commercials that require me to do orchestral music.

How do you use orchestral music in the current scenario and how popular is it?

With growing changes in the music industry, I try to add orchestral music in whatever I compose. Orchestral music fits film scores, but I try to add them while producing songs as well. Orchestra and rock go well together, so I dabble with orchestral rock too. Orchestral music is quite popular in films and games. A lot of producers use orchestral production in their songs to give it a more epic feel.

What inspires your compositions?

My original compositions are driven by emotion. I use sentiment/passion as the key element for the music scores. A lot of times, you will find me breaking a few rules in music theory. I experiment a lot with the theory, which gives me an edge on instrumentation and compositional skills. Quite a few times, I find myself drawing inspiration from social media as well. Whenever, I see a post or something that triggers a certain kind of emotion, I try to compose something.

Who has inspired your work?

My biggest inspirations have been A R Rahman, Hans Zimmer, and Ramin Djawadi. Hans Zimmer’s work in ‘Interstellar’, ‘Inception’, and ‘Batman’, Ramin Djawadi’s composition in ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Westworld,’ and A R Rahman’s compositions in ‘Rockstar’, have been quite inspiring. Quite recently, I have been drawing inspiration from the works of Ludwig Goransson. To me, his recent work for ‘Tenet’ is undoubtedly one of the best compositions I’ve ever heard.

Do you bring Indian classical strains to your music? How?

I try to add a few Indian classical elements in my compositions. They’re percussion or string-based. I find Indian percussion instruments quite fascinating and whenever possible, I add it on, especially, when writing songs. The tabla or dhol is an indispensable part of my compositions.

What kind of music appeals to today’s generation?

Music is an ever-changing industry. You will find consumers for all kinds of music. EDM, rock, hip-hop/rap — they’ve been prevalent for a while now. With the rise of music festivals, we see a lot of emerging and talented artistes taking centrestage. Nowadays, artistes don’t shy away from experimenting with different genres.