EXCLUSIVE: Raman Negi explores new sonic spaces and the life of a solo artiste in his new album, ‘Chaltey Purzay’
Raman Negi’s highly anticipated second album is here in its entirety! And it has an exciting name! Chalte Purzay, Raman’s second album is genre-bending, experimental and exceedingly fresh. The singer-songwriter moves on from looking inwards and out towards the world in this album. Chalte Purzay is a record miles ahead of what people are listening to today and will blow your socks off with each succeeding track. His first release of the album was Kismet, for which Raman chatted with us a while back. But then, the album was yet to take a final shape.
Now, Raman reinvents his sound once again. “Chaltey Purzay is a term for a curious, clever person who is full of intrigue about the unknown. So this is a saga of figuring out how the world works. In some sense, it's reflecting on the aftermath of everyday life from the perspective of an artist who is still figuring out his place in the world,” Raman says. We dive into the heart of the album further in a chat with him and learn about the musical story behind it.
Now that you introduced your second album, what have you learnt about the world that surrounds you and have tried to reflect on in your songs?
The world around me is an exciting place and it makes me want to challenge the idea of an individual and what it means to be totally free. The world wants us to align with what the masses do or consume. I believe that ideas can make it a better place. Chalte Purzay represents my ideas and how I see the world in 8 songs. Darmiyaani Ungli Chronicles is a song which explains how little I think about people's opinions about the life I have chosen as an artiste, whereas Zeest is the song about ‘what is modern life’, Maazi is a song about moving on from the past and looking forward while the album ends with Hukkah Paani which is a song that tells us about the state of affairs of this modern world and what is our place in it.
At any given point of time did you feel tense/worried/scared while venturing out as a solo artiste? If yes, how have you dealt with it?
Putting out your art in the world is a process where you go through so many emotions. You feel euphoric, you are stressed, and you have self-doubt but at the same time I like to address them in my songwriting and I try to channel it as much as I can and convey what I am going through in my music. I think that makes it authentic for me.
Whenever I feel stuck or have a hard day, I have always told myself to keep going and to move forward no matter how slow the pace at times. Writing music is my way of dealing with life and has been my true friend all these years in my journey.
Tell us about the sonically diverse features of the album. How has the music translated after recording, for you?
This album is sonically more diverse than anything else I have done before. I think that has happened because of the themes of the songs on the album. I had to get out of my way while producing it so that the songs could guide me to the finish line. I have only followed what each song was trying to say lyrically and musically and took giant leaps of faith to see through every idea. The recording process and the whole process which took months and months and to see all these songs come to life has only made my self-belief stronger. To make a record as diverse as Chaltey Purzay is something I am proud of.I hope people enjoy listening to it because I had tons of fun writing and recording it.
What are you looking forward to the most for people to take away from Chaltey Purzay?
The biggest takeaway that I would want anyone to take from this is that you can be whoever you want to be, to take chances, to not try to control your future but to live in today as much as you can, to really defy the rules and make your own as you go along, to believe in people around you and to have an open heart be fearless in what you want to say or feel. Keep at it and watch that the world can actually bend for you.
Any plans to take the album live in front of the audience soon?
Of course! The next best thing after making an album is the excitement to play it live for the audience. The album promotional tour will be announced very soon where I shall go and play at a lot of places. The songs reveal different things when you go and play them live and they grow with you as you go along your journey. I am so looking forward to playing music live and singing these tunes of hope, desires, and heartbreak to my people.
Chaltey Purzay is streaming on all audio platforms
