On a High

Cut to 2011. Indie-pop and fusion are considered genres of the past. While Hariharan is a popular Bollywood playback singer,Lewis has taken on the role of the music director of Coke Studio @ MTV. To be premiered on June 17,on the music channel,the promos of the show have created a buzz among music aficionados and in his Mumbai studio,Lewis is busy with mixing sessions and scouting for folk artists and untapped talent in Bollywood. Till now,everyone had assumed that he had disappeared without making a mark. “I was busy doing music for Tamil films,like Modhi Vilayadu and Chikku Bukku. Just because I was not in Mumbai or Delhi,does not mean that I was missing from the Indian music scene. I have also been producing music for the advertising industry for 30 years,so I was here all this while,” says Lewis.

There is a new-found exuberance in his voice. Perhaps,a result of the 50 songs that he has recorded in 40 days,with over 35 artists from across India. “I didn’t sleep at all. I was like a madman and had the wildest musical 40 days. Coke Studio has been my biggest musical high after Colonial Cousins,” says Lewis,who is attributed to popularising fusion music and remixes in India.

He now has a mission to fulfill as the music director of Coke Studio @ MTV. “The music is missing from music and I am re-introducing it. Since the past five years,everything is computerised and there is voice modulation and everything is put on loop. As the music director of Coke Studio,I have made sure that there will be no computerisation of sound,just pure music,” he explains.

Even though the announcement of the show has led to a lot of excitement and most of its fans,who follow the Pakistan version,are looking forward to it,there is some scepticism because of the inclusion of popular playback singers like Shankar Mahadevan,Sunidhi Chauhan,Shaan,Kailash Kher and KK. Many are fearing the ‘Bollywoodisation’ of the project. However,Lewis feels that the public has been unfair in making a distinction between Bollywood and non-Bollywood. “They are singers first and it just so happens that they are attached to Bollywood. I am taking them back to their singing days,where there was no storyline or drama of Bollywood,” defends Lewis. So he has Shankar Mahadevan in a jugalbandi with

Assamese folk musician Khagen Gogoi. There are also performances by Jharkhand-based Megha Dalton,Assamese singer Pankhi,who is also among India’s top five hematologists,Raghu Dixit Project,Delhi-based indie band Advaita and Colonial Cousins. “Hari and I will create something different for 2011,yet it will be very similar to our 1996 sound,” quips Lewis.

He also lets out a secret — his 15-year-old daughter,Divya,will make her singing debut on Coke Studio. There is more. “Colonial Cousins will release a few singles by the end of the year and it is something like Coke Studio,that has given us a ray of hope,” he smiles.