Instagram - @hi_mahan
I am an Artist, musician and a producer. I have always been the creative sorts, always had a keen interest in dance, arts and music. I used to practice a lot of finger - tutting like 5-6 years ago, which essentially is a dance form that involves intricate movement of the fingers.
It's actually because of dance that I once met Raftaar (Dilin Nair) and got the privilege to see the process of music production on a computer software. I can say that inspired me to go ahead and study music and that's how my journey in music production began.
It's been over 5 years now and I can't imagine myself without it anymore. It's always a roller coaster ride, and that's the fun part.
2. How would you describe your musical style?
My style of being comes from the music I listen to and the music I make comes from the way I am. Once I understood that this is the case with everyone and that everyone/every culture has their own rhythm, heritage, language, instruments etc I began to understand the maths underneath it.
I would say as a dancer, the understanding of minute details while performing definitely added to my style. I like blending, mixing and experimenting with different types of music, whether it's African, western, Hindustani, Carnatic, Gujrati, bhangra. I just sit on my Computer and enjoy playing with sounds till I make something that makes you wanna dance!
Before Rutba was released, I used to only release my songs on YouTube, in fact all of them are still there and one thing that is common in all of them is that it'll make you groove and move. So you can say different regional and global flavours with bass is how I can simply put it.
3. What are three things you look for when you see an artist play live?
1. Soul
2. Capacity to please and touch one's inner chords.
3. Dopeness
4. Who is your superhero alter-ego and why?
Haha, That's a good question, this might sound super pompous but I'm going to go ahead and tell you. There are 2 actually; Iron man and Jitaray from Naruto
Iron Man because he is very selfish when it comes to motivation. He finds motivation within himself to do the things he does while pushing his limits, and completes everything once committed. Also, he's always in his lab working on something new.
Jiraya, though not a superhero, I connect because he does not miss any opportunity to be flashy, strike poses and throw dramatic self-introductions when entering a battler. Despite his goofy nature, Jiraiya is actually a very talented ninja and a teacher; and my favorite Hero.
5. Where do you find your artistic inspiration?
I don't like to really try to find it, I think it happens almost all the time in some or the other format. I watch a lot of documentaries and random videos on various subjects; I also workout quite often; and a thought randomly just hits you and before you know it, you're already in the process of building something new.
As picaso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working"
6. What are your upcoming projects?
I had a plan to launch my album in 2020 but covid messed a lot of things up. 2021 isn't different either, but I have been making a lot of music everyday and the style of my work has really evolved since 2019 Rutba. We haven't planned yet how we are going to release this music but ya, we got a lot of new and fresh music.
7. Which is your favourite book and why?
I am not a book person really but I like books that have techniques, techniques to inner ellumination. Two amazing ones are "Vigyan Bhairav tantra" ; the name might sound scary, but if you ever get to, you must check it out.
It's probably one of the best things i've read so far. And then there is "Sangeet Ratnakar" by Saragdev which is about Carnatic music and full of so many techniques. I just love that book. Talks about every aspect of sound and music.
- Interviewed by - Aditi Vakani
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