From an infant to a toddler

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Atul Dixit, one of the members of Anubhooti. Today, June 2, is a very special day for all of us. You might wonder why…

It was 2nd June of last year. Aman, a good friend of mine, had invited me for an informal ‘mehfil’ at his place. When I entered his house, I could see so many music-lovers along with several musical instruments. I saw Apratim on keyboard jamming with Rajat, who was playing guitar. I had seen Apratim play the piano at the Indian Graduate Students Association’s ‘Diwali Night’ in the Fall of 2006, and thus recalled how all the graduate students present, formed a circle around him and listened to those mellifluous tunes! I knew Rajat since our Freshers' welcome party and was aware of him as a passionate guitarist and singer. And then there was this new guy Aravind. Rajat had told me over the phone that Aravind plays violin very well. So we started the mehfil along with other friends – Kumar, Gargi, Sahu and Chandu and Aman's I-Bhangra friends. Deb was in India at that time and so could not come. The program was very entertaining and within no time, we developed a very good rapport and jammed till 2am in the night.

After some days, Rajat put forth an idea of forming a band. All four of us liked this idea and thus eventually ‘Anubhooti’ was born! But since the formation of ‘Anubhooti’ had its genesis in the mehfil at Aman’s place, we consider 2nd June as the day of Anubhooti’s birth! Soon we started practising at Apratim’s place which has been, since then, our hub. I recall the first song which we did. It was none other than Panchamda’s evergreen melody – Saagar jaisi aankhonwali from the movie Saagar. It was a different ‘experience’ to work with other people, learning intricacies involved while preparing a song. It’s when you actually start preparing a song by yourselves that the song unleashes the divine beauty within! But perhaps the most amazing part is to view as a third person, how the song develops from scratch to completion.

After our first few sessions, there arose the question of naming our band. Rajat was actively suggesting some names like Goonj, Pratidhwani, Shruti, Surmayi, Abhigunjan, Anubhooti; but we were unable to finalize any. I felt that our band name should stand out. On the day of our debut performance at the IGSA Freshers’ welcome party in August 2007, few minutes before starting our program, Rajat told me, “Atul, I have given you all enough time for coining the name for our band. Suggest a name NOW otherwise it’s going to be Anubhooti”. Analyzing the situation at hand, I said, “Okay, let’s keep Anubhooti”. Thinking back, after many if’s and but’s from my side, it wasn’t a bad choice at all!

Since then Anubhooti has embarked upon a musical journey with just one motto: ‘Enjoy, love and create music for the sake of music itself’. On account of its first birthday, it is nice to see its transition from a newly born baby to a toddler. On this auspicious day, I just want to say ‘Happy Birthday Anubhooti!’

Long live Anubhooti!

India Night Performances

'Kholo Kholo' (Taare Zameen Par)

'Saiyonee' (Junoon-Azadi)

Anubhooti's very first attempt at an Original Composition

Ever since Anubhooti was conceived, we all had been planning on composing our own music. Even though we were pretty determined with our aim, unfortunately we couldn't find time out to work on it. Motivation came with ISA asking us to make an intro video for our act in India Nite. We brainstormed and came up with the present idea for the video with music in the background. Now what music to play? We could have used an original soundtrack from a movie or for that matter any band for the purpose. But being a music band ourselves, using a pre-recorded track for our video didn't sound wise. So we thought of playing the music ourselves, recording it, and then using it for the video. Somebody raised a concern that in doing so (and if we play it real well), we hold the risk of the audience thinking it to be the original track and not realizing that it’s played by us. However, after much deliberation, came the proposal of composing our own music. None of us was confident if we could do it, but we decided to at least give it a shot. Time was a major constraint, as Aravind was to leave for India shortly and wouldn't be back before India Nite.

As we had very little time, we couldn’t afford to sit and work on composing the music together. So we decided on a particular Raag (which happened to be 'Des Raag') and gave each other 3 days’ time to come up with some composition based on that Raag. We hoped that we should be able to mesh together different parts (as they all would be based on a common Raag) but nothing was for sure. As mentioned, we felt it was worth giving a try. The basic concept that we started with was to bring out every instrument and showcase something that is representative of the band. We worked individually and when we met next, and played our respective compositions to each other, we were all pleasantly surprised. Joy was noticeable on every face -the joy of one's composition being liked by fellow musicians and the joy of listening to the others' compositions. It was a serendipity that the compositions blended with each other perfectly, and the transitions were as smooth as we could have hoped for. When we started formalizing the entire composition, we realized that we were shooting way past the time limit of 1min 30sec. And then started the most painful part of editing the composition. Painful because now we were forced to scrap off many of our favorite parts in our compositions. We decided to cut it down to the time requirement and record it for the sake of the video, for now, but get back to it later, reformulate the entire composition and then record it with no time constraints.

The next day we started to record. We had only an evening's time left to record (as Aravind was leaving the next day). The fact that ISA rehearsals were that very evening effectively left us with only a couple of hours. We didn't have any studio with high quality recording equipment to do the recording. All we had was a mixer and we gave a direct line-in to a computer from the mixer. To add to the worries, we had only one mic. and so the track (with guitar, violin and the keyboards), the vocals and Tabla were all recorded separately. Aravind had to take all the separate tracks with him to India, and layer/mix them together (he’s the tech-guy of the band). However, during mixing, he realized that the tempo for all the recordings was slightly different (as we didn't have a metronome to keep a reference for the tempo while recording (neither did we have time to even think about it)). So, he had to use a software to change the tempo, which then led to a corresponding change in the pitch of the music. We don't know how he did it, but somehow he managed to match and layer every part. But as can be observed, there are discontinuities at certain places.

Although we were not happy with the quality of the recording, we decided to use it for the video, as we had put a lot of effort into it. Moreover, some of our friends really liked the recording and encouraged us to use it.

This whole experience served as a 'revelation' for all of us because none of us had probably ever tried to compose anything original. And that's why Deb names this composition "Self Realization"!

We don't know how good (or bad) it sounds to others, but at least we got enough motivation, encouragement and confidence to make more such attempts. And now the very next thing we would want to do is to get back to this half-done work, reformulate and then record it, and this time with no constraints whatsoever!

The Band...The Dreams...

In the Fall of 2006, amongst a diverse group of students from India that joined UIUC, came five 'young' gentlemen from different parts of the country to pursue doctoral studies in their respective fields. It was almost a year later when, at an informal social gathering, they discovered a mutual passion for music and Anubhooti was born!

Anubhooti primarily plays Indian music – both in traditional as well as modern form. Through our music, we aspire to represent the culture of the Indian sub-continent. The band comprises 5 musicians, playing different musical instruments. With traditional Indian instruments like the violin and tabla, Anubhooti’s music is representative of the Indian Classical music. Combining these with traditional western instruments like the acoustic guitar, drums and the keyboard, Anubhooti’s music attempts to present Indian music in its pure and popular form.

Believing only in what sounds good, Anubhooti does not restrict itself to any particular form, genre or era of music. The journey has just begun and there is so much to explore - to recreate and possibly to create something new some day.

Anubhooti is a confluence; Anubhooti is energy; Anubhooti is a whole new experience unto itself!