When A.R Rahman Introduces himself to a Musician
The Story of the Indian Electronic Band, Sapta
Our fourth episode of When Artists Talk to Trbble (WATTT) is indeed a really special one. Not only is this artist’s song a fan favourite on trbble(#2 of trbble charts currently) , but this was the first band that we at trbble went to watch live as a team! With 6 albums under their belt and a seventh one in the works, these guys have been making music all over the world — from San Francisco to Paris and now in India! We present to you, the Electronic act with an Indian touch, SAPTA.
WATTT- Week 4 Episode 4
We got to chat with Marti Bharath, the frontman of Sapta, who gave us an insight into the bands’ beginning , the experiences on the road, their upcoming album and also his encounters with the Legend A.R. Rahman. Here’s what he had to say:
On the idea of Indian Electronic Music
“It’s been a long journey. I was heavily into Pop Music back in the days and when I moved to France, I got deeply influenced by the Electronic Music there. Since I’ve always been a fan of Indian Music, those elements got infused naturally into my productions. Over the years , the music has varied quite a lot, it was hard at first, then soft and now we’re back hard again!”
Origin of the name Sapta…
“I’ve always been a fan of the number 7. That’s why all our albums have 7 songs and are released on the seventh of a month. So, when 2007 came, I thought of starting the band. So I researched a lot about a few names around the number 7 and found out some cool stuff about it. That’s how that name Sapta came along. It’s Indian and a little bit western so it ties up well with the band”
The introduction of Other Members
“Sapta was initially a one man act but I’ve always liked to have a band perform along when I play live. Back in France there were two other members of Sapta , Yoann Sego and Alexi Cariba on the guitar and drums respectively. When I came to India, it took me some time to find musicians to work along with. I met Tapas at a Skrat gig and asked him to jam along with me and he was up for it. He’s been managing Sapta throughout and has been involved since the beginning and now he plays along with us. I’ve known Shravan for 3 years now. He used to rip my songs off of soundcloud and used to play violin over it and send it back! The pieces were really cool so I used them in my albums. He was kind of like Lindsey Stirling — violins over electronic music.Later I asked him to tour with us and he did! Now it’s back to Tapas and I, Shravan has moved on”
The inspiration for The Sound of This Nation
“ The song was kind of an awakening …I was composing the song when the Nirbhaya event happened in India. When I saw what was happening , I wondered why such horrible stuff was happening! That kind of reflected in the song. It was originally supposed to be a soft song with a few Mridangam pieces . But I guess after I saw the incident, the aggression poured out into the song and it ended up being really hard. We also put out a video for the song which represents the event”
On the sound of the Upcoming album
“We’re coming out with our seventh album now — we’re hoping to release it on the Seventh of July(number 7 here too!). I’m not sure as of now what the album will sound like myself so I wouldn’t want to make any promises on that! I’m still shaping the album and I have a vision for the album. I hope I can get there. Since this is our seventh album, I want all the songs to have a video.”
“We’ve already played a few songs from this album in our gigs and we’re shaping the album according to the crowd’s reaction. I want to make this album extremely tight since I’d want to be touring a lot after this album to promote it. So to do a good job, we need some funds — the gigs don’t pay extremely well. So we took to the crowdfunding approach! That’s working out well for us till now, 15% down in a couple of days only! Hopefully we can make it there!”
Sapta’s experiences on the Road
“We’ve played for big crowds like in NH7 weekender and also for small tightly knit crowds in pubs across various countries. The smaller crowds are more intimate, there are usually a few friends from the city you’re playing in so you have a few known faces in the crowd. In bigger fests, people usually come to watch known bands and are somehow drawn to your performance. So they react differently. It helps us in getting to know what people actually think of us that way. “
“ We’ve had quite a few crazy incidents happen on the road. One time , I was performing live in a pub, and no one was dancing! I was not able to get a single person to move to the beat. And then this kid came up to me and asked me to stop playing for a while. He then took the mic ,connected it to his mobile and started playing these really weird songs. And all of the sudden, everyone is bar was dancing! All this went down in like a matter of seconds and I stood wondering what on earth just happened!”
On his Musical Influences
“So I’ve grown up in San Francisco, Paris, Dubai and India and the musical influences from all these places have helped me put out so many albums. All the albums have been created in different places (from SF to India) . When you’ve lived in so many places, you tend to tweak your music to what the crowds in those places move to. I attended a couple of live acts in bars of those places and tried to pick up on the crowds’ taste and tweaked my productions accordingly!”
On meeting ARR
“So I’m a faculty for electronic music production at KM Music Conservatory in Chennai. It’s the other side of my life where I help students compose music three days a week. That’s been great for me. My students too attend Sapta’s gigs once in a while. I also got to meet ARR who walked into my class one day and funnily enough introduced himself(like he needs an introduction!). I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few interactions with him. He’s a legend in the industry. He still doesn’t know about Sapta although I think he won’t allow me to teach anymore if he gets to listen to my compositions!”
Check out the best parts of Sapta’s songs in the playlist given here:
All you guys out there who love Sapta’s music and would like to contribute to their new album, click here .There’s amazing merchandise to be claimed and a chance to feature in one of their Song Videos!
Check out the full interview here:
