Grammy Award-winning producer Keith Thomas records Kolkata artistes for an Indo-American project

Multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winning songwriter-producer Keith Thomas, who has produced music for several celebrated singers including  Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry and Adam Levine was in the city to record with Indian artistes for an international project. He will be working with popular playback singers and young talents like  Somchanda Bhattacharya, Anwesha Dutta, Sayan Chowdhury, Arunashish Roy, Manisha Karmakar, Rik Basu, Shubham Banerjee and Porshia Sen (Zee Sa Re Ga Ma Pa & Indian Idol).  Keith has collaborated with Marcus Rixon of Rixon Entertainment USA for this Indo-American project alongside artist presenter Rajrup Biswas, who is also the lyricist for the project.

A total of 40 songs got recorded by 12 Indian artistes over a span of two weeks. The instruments and recording equipment are all from the US. We caught up with Keith on the sidelines of the recording to get more details of the same. Excerpts:

How was it working with these talents?

 It's been like a breath of fresh air and a welcome departure from the everyday music business.  Not only are we charting new territory together, but we are also demonstrating that music has a universal Language.

What is the main idea behind the project?
 

The main idea behind the project is to bring the world together through a musical collaboration between the Western and Eastern artistes and musicians.

What kind of music are you focussing on?

It's Top 40 for now since it's more current in genre

Which artistes from which Indian states are part of the project?
West Bengal and Mumbai for this phase one but will definitely try and expand to include more regions for phase two of the recording.

Tell us in detail about the 40 songs that will be recorded. 
These songs are being produced by music producers in the United States, who have spent intensive time researching and learning the styles of Indian music under the guidance and direction of Marcus.
Then the music is brought to the studio here in India with me recording the same with the local talent at Studio Spandan.
 

By when will the project be ready?
You can expect the entire thing to be ready by November - December this year.

How did the association with Rajrup Biswas happen? 

Rajrup has been assisting Rixon Entertainment Group with acquiring artistes and on the lyrical part.

Where will the songs be released? 
This will be released on streaming platforms like Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music besides social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.  

How will the artistes gain from this collaboration?
They are being groomed to the highest level of professional music besides getting connected with entertainment companies, music producers, social media presences and marketing.

 Tell us more about the music that will be part of the songs?
 We are hoping to come up with various themes to cover different styles and part of India. For example, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Aalap, Taranas, Sargams, pop and rock.