Arman Menzies (Zokhuma) - To Be Able to Discover Worlds of Musical Genres and Gems, Share Them With the People (Musician, India)


Instagram - @zokhuma
https://www.thewildcity.com/artists/287-zokhuma


1. Tell us more about your background and journey. 

I'm a cocktail of heritage , with my parents being from polar ends of India. My parents both worked in the airlines, so I was lucky to be introduced to bits of music / art/ food/ culture from across the world growing up. I grew up in Bombay but spent most of my school years in a J.Krishnamurthi foundation boarding school called Sahyadri. 

I picked up my first instrument there , the sitar after which i found my self more inclined to playing the guitar. I came back to Bombay for college and started a band with some friends called Goddess gagged. We played and toured a fair bit across the county and recorded an album and few singles. 

Somewhere during that time I started discovering trip hop and other genres that had a cross over of live sounds and electronic production chops which caught my interest. I wanted to learn how to do that and slowly inched my way into production and electronic music. 

Once those floodgates opened I started discovering so much music I needed an outlet to share and i started producing and DJing under my name Zokhuma. 


2. When did you first decide you wanted to pursue music and how did you start?

It started of as a hobby when I was 14 - 15 . Playing the guitar while I was in Boarding school. I was super focused on sports and had a dream of playing professional basketball. But I found myself falling more in love with playing and creating music. 

It gave me so much joy and satisfaction. I would spend hours trying to figure out my favourite songs and try and re create them. Zone out while playing and nothing could distract me. 

I came back to Mumbai for college and I started hanging out with other other musicians and people who shared my passion, we’d travel all across the city looking for gigs, watching our favourite local bands and soon we started our own called Goddess Gagged. It was those years when I spent all my time and resources on music that I was determined to make music my life. 


3. Who is your favourite artist and why? 

The hardest question for me. Through my metamorphosis in art and music I've fallen in love with so many artists that its though to pick one. Like in our culture we have a 1000 + gods. 

I have many musicians that I've worshipped and studied and its tough to favour one. Although one of my favourites that is four tet.  His approach to music and song writing , the way he picks his sonic pallet. I deeply align with it.


4. Can you throw some light on opportunities one gets as a DJ/producer? 

The joy to wake up and create everyday you can. To be able to discover worlds of musical genres and gems, share them with the people who are passionate about it and revel in the high of that collective excitement. 

The process of creation itself is an opportunity in so many ways. The more obvious highlights would be to do something you love, travel , meet likeminded and interesting people and have moments that feel transcendental. 


5. Is format training required or can one train themselves purely on the basis of talent? 

In the present day and age there's little that cant be learn from the internet and YouTube. The recourses are unlimited and you could train yourself to whatever level you'd like even if you cant study things the formal way. Putting enough time and and energy in the right way can bring you to where you want. 

Study it, experiment, understand why certain things work together and when. Some people are born with the lucky edge of natural talent. But that can be achieved. 


6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring artists? 

Learn from experience. Even if you fail you'll learn faster. Don't be shy to ask for an opportunity, but also don't go in knowing absolutely nothing. Take sometime to put together your foundation. Keep an open mind, there's something to be learnt from everywhere. 


7. Which is your favourite book and why? 

The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon. I remember one of my school teachers gave it to me, and I had mostly only liked reading fiction and sci - fi, but reading this story being told from the point of this innocent child with problems that cannot be seen on the surface. 

I think it made me a lot more empathetic in the way that I tried to understand what it might be to experience something from someone else shoes and not jumping to the conclusion that my way was not the only way. 


- Interviewed by - Aditi Vakani