Face off 8212; Gucci Envy

Married?

Yes. quot;To the same woman for a long, long time.quot; But while he doesn8217;t let out her name, he does tell you that she8217;s British. That explains the Bangalore boy8217;s presence in the United Kingdom for many, many years.

And why is he in the news again? Not that the Boom boom8217; man was ever out of it.

quot;It8217;s a new instrumental-cum-vocal album called Eastern Journey musical impressions of India, especially for someone coming to this fascinating land for the first time.quot;

Alright, an impressionistic album?

quot;It8217;s more like a passage to India, though the music is fairly westernised. For instance, I8217;ve used the piano a lot. It8217;s a fair mix of the East and the West. But it is essentially about our land of mystery. All the songs have that quality.quot;

Hey, are we talking snake-charmers and elephants here?

May be, maybe not. quot;Each song conveys a certain imagery. For instance, Dance Mantra8217; has a hypnotic quality to it. It was originally called Dance of Shiva8217;, but considering the current climate in the country we decided to keep Shiva out of it.quot; Wise move. quot;Then there are other songs like The Eternal Chant, Winds of Change, Nirvana8217; and Eastern Journey8217;.quot;

Yes, but exactly why is he taking this journey8217; in the first place?

quot;Every now and then you need to do something like this to keep yourself going. This is fusion music, not a pop album.quot; Thank God, not another. quot;I have been working on it for 17 years, so it didn8217;t just happen. I have taken time out from my other work to concentrate on it.quot;

Yes. But that still doesn8217;t explain the purpose behind this endeavour.

quot;See, half my life I8217;ve been here. I have a love-hate relationship with this country. My roots lie here, and this is my cultural background.quot; Hmmm!

Okay, so where8217;s the catch?

quot;Unfortunately,almost everything I like about India is in the past. It8217;s disheartening to see that after 50 years we8217;re still talking unimportant issues. We8217;re becoming the laughing stock of the western world. Such is our image outside.quot;

Point taken. So what brings him back time and again?

quot;India is my spiritual home. I would love to live here but it8217;s difficult. I am used to living in a more anglicised society. But at least I am able to come back and dip my feet into the pool.quot; And make some more music. That8217;s a sound arrangement, isn8217;t it?

Well, now that he8217;s here, what does he think of the entire Indi-Pop brigade? After all, his album Disco Deewane actually pioneered the concept way back in 1980.

quot;I don8217;t listen to Indian music. Never have.quot; That8217;s strange, considering he8217;d composed a couple of songs for Feroz Khan8217;s desi western Qurbani, and more recently re-mixed Asha Bhonsle8217;s film songs for Asha Once More.

How did he manage all this without an ear on the musicscene here?

quot;I had never heard any of the songs we used for Asha Once More before. I was making my own impressions of them even as I heard them. And normally I can tell a hit song after the first listening.quot; That8217;s something. Perhaps our audio cassette companies can hire his expertise on consultancy basis to pick out sure winners.

So, why didn8217;t he consider taking up film music on a regular basis?

Especially considering Qurbani8217;s Aap jaisa koi8217; was a runaway hit and a trendsetter of sorts?

quot;I was never interested. See, I8217;m used to writing, arranging and recording my own songs and that is not how things are done here. I worked with Feroz because he was very relaxed and gave me the freedom to do my own thing. But if you have to go through a lot of trauma to create your kind of music, it8217;s just not worth the effort.quot;

Okay, so he hasn8217;t heard Indian music and doesn8217;t like fitting into the system. But surely his work has brought him in touch with contemporary artists 8211;the likes of Alisha Chinai, Shweta Shetty and Sonu Nigam 8212; whom he has worked with.

quot;Yes, they are very good. But on the whole I find that Indian artists don8217;t work as hard as they do in the West. Also there seems to be an acute dearth of talent. I mean you could find three or four singers down my street, and here we have just a handful in a country of one billion people.quot;

Why is that so?

quot;I am sure we have enough talented singers around. Perhaps people are insecure about their own positions and hence new faces are unable to make their mark. After all, there8217;s just so much work waiting to happen.quot; We think there is a lot more junk happening than is absolutely necessary.

What is next on his plate?

quot;Another album with Alisha which releases in March.quot; Made In India Part-II? quot;No, but it8217;s still very good. Whether it can do as well as Made In India, I don8217;t know.quot;

What is this writer-composer most likely to say?

quot;Treat life not as an obligation but anopportunity.quot;And least likely?

quot;I believe in corruption.quot;