Bickram and Remo in a freewheeling chat at the ITC Sonar on Saturday evening. Picture by Aranya Sen

REMO FERNANDES and BICKRAM GHOSH have come together for a World Aids Day concert, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in association with Consortium. We were there to hear them speak their minds during the prep session…

What will Calcutta get to hear on Tuesday?

Bickram: We’d call it ‘unbranded’. I’m going to get Remo to do a Portuguese song, which he’s going to sing with a guitar. I’m going to play tabla with it.

Remo: Calcutta I think would be the only place in the country where I could sing a Portuguese song and the audience would appreciate it.

What is your take on the fusion music that’s happening all around?

R: There are so many artistes who are fantastic on their own. They maybe maestros but promoters throw them together without any rehearsals. These artistes also believe they don’t need rehearsals. Such shows are nothing but confusion. I’ve come from Goa three days prior to our show. We’re both capable of improvising on stage, but I wanted to rehearse and create something for the sake of music.

B: None of my friends would come for my classical music concerts. I felt the need to present something that would draw them to this genre because its soul is unparalleled.

As for the overlapping of genres, it has always been there. But what we tend to create today are shows that we forcibly label as fusion.

How would you define your brand of music?

R: I don’t limit myself to one particular style. There’s fusion, which is very high-energy, meant for dancing. I also do socio-political songs where the lyrics are important. Then I do chilled-out music that is contemplative. Then there’s my work in Bollywood, that unfortunately most people remember you for in this country.

B: Yes, we live in a country where the mass music genre is an offshoot of the film industry and not indigenous.

R: The saddest part is it’s not only music. All our greatest poets are busy writing lyrics for Bollywood…. We don’t have a contemporary dancer who people go to see at a dance performance because he or she is choreographing for Bollywood. I see Bollywood as this big monster swallowing up everything.

Is popular music in India synonymous with film music today?

R: It’s sad but true. There used to be a parallel music scene. There was Lucky Ali, Colonial Cousins, Alisha and me. Slowly every one of these artistes started getting swallowed up by Bollywood. The record companies could not give too much importance to these artistes. I’ve always done the odd Bollywood song, but I refuse to make Bollywood my main body of work. There’s more to India than Bollywood.

B: I remember I was travelling with Pandit Ravi Shankar. We were at the Bangalore airport when a reporter approached him to ask for an interview. His response was, ‘But I’m not from Bollywood’. It wasn’t like this even in the Eighties. Now it’s engulfed everything. If I do a score for a Little Zizou, everyone is keen on interviewing me but what happens when you have a far more relevant body of work?

Then what makes both of you foray into film music?

R: Every kind of music is interesting to me. I refuse to make any one kind of music. The very first work I did for Bollywood was very exciting. It was Jalwa; a 15-minute long improvisation that had never been done in Bollywood.

B: I’ve done a few Bengali films and three in Hindi. It’s a different medium and it’s challenging. Song creation is good fun but background is what really excites me. For example in Gumshuda, my third Hindi venture, there was a murder scene where we used just an alaap and no suspense music. Opportunities that allow you certain creativity are what I look for. Not a career in Bollywood.

How do you maintain your identity as an independent artiste?

R: Our music is our baby. When it comes from you, it has your DNA. Unless you’re making music like a product, then it will lack your identity or soul.

B: When I’m in my seventies I’d rather be known as a good musician and not for a single hit song.

How big an issue is piracy?

R: Thank god for piracy! All this time, record companies were cheating artistes. For a change, they’re at the receiving end. For independent artistes, our money never came from record companies. Our bread and butter came from live shows. I’ve just released a new single India I Cry for free download on Facebook. Within a matter of months I have 4,000 people on my profile and the song is going around. If I gave it to a record company they would have made me sign my soul to them for eternity.

B: We write away our rights so our children or grandchildren can never own our music.

Is there a way to counter this?

B: A lot of artistes are creating their own companies to retain rights to their own music. I feel this has to be the next step.

R: I started my own record company in 1983. That’s when I released my first album. I had approached record companies and they wanted me to come up with Qurbani kind of tracks. So I manufactured the cassettes in Mumbai, kept it on sale at various record stores in Goa and it became a hit. Gul Anand happened to pick it up and asked me to do Jalwa while Shyam Benegal, who was in Goa that year, picked it up and asked me to do the music for Trikal.

I’ve decided to give away all my music for free and have started uploading my past albums for download on my official website.