Blues band Soulmate’s new album muses on the everydayness of life and love Guitarist Rudy Wallang and singer Tipriti ‘Tips’ Kharbangar have just come home to the hills of Shillong. The core of the blues band, Soulmate, they have been living out of their suitcases for a while now, as they hopped across cities promoting blues and their new album, Moving On. “Throughout the country there are many Blues’ fans but not many bands are playing it. But with our new album, we hope to reach out to a larger audience- even those who are not able to make it to our live concerts,” says Wallang.
There can be no better ambassador for the Blues than Soulmate, one of the most original music acts in the English music scene in the country. Since the time they began doing gigs outside Shillong three years ago, the band has found a niche, appreciative audience. They perform regularly at The Haze Blues and Jazz Bar in Delhi and in Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Darjeeling, Mumbai and Hyderabad. In 2007, they became the first band to represent India at the 23rd International Blues Challenge, organised by The Blues Foundation of America in Memphis, Tennessee, in February 2007.
Moving On, their second album, continues the goodwork. I’m getting older, a little bolder/building up my confidence, sings Kharbangar, surely one of the finest female Western music vocalists in the country, in the title- track. That confidence is the tenor of the 12-track compilation that released early this month on the Blue Frog records. “The songs are the med around moving on in life, something that we have done as a band and even as people. The songs are about feelings and evolving with every new day,” says Wallang. The album, which was recorded and produced in the guitarist’s home studio in Shillong, muses on the everydayness of life and love. “Blues is about life. Every human being has the blues one time or the other in their lives. In the days of slavery in America, the only way a black person could vent out his or her anger and frustrations was through a song. That was how it got its name,” says Wallang.
But it isn’t just in lyrics that Soulmate is talking evolution. The sound on their album has also moved closer to the energy of their gigs. “Our audiences always told us that the live sound of our gigs should find its way into our studio recordings. That is why we wanted our musical and lyrical content to have that vibe,” says Kharbangar. While Wallang’s guitar and vocals evoke the classic blues sound in the track Come’ round my house, Kharbangar is all power and sweetness in Set me free and Your sweet loving.
Soulmate came together seven years ago when Wallang was recording a Gospel album in his studio. Kharbangar was one of the singers. “I heard her and was hooked. I found similarities in the way she sang and in the way I played my guitar. And that’s when Soulmate happened,” says Wallang, who was a part of popular acts including The Great Society and Mojo before he started the band.
Wallang found his influences in The Beatles, The Shadows, Tom Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa, BB King and Lou Majaw while Kharbangar grewup listening to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Over a period of time their musical sensibilities got bound by acommonthread of blues-rock, souland funk. The band played their first concert inUmiam, around 16 km from Shillong, in 2003.The name Soulmate was taken from a song Wallang had written, The blues is my soulmate.
In a few years, they started looking for an audience outside their beautiful hill town. Kharbangar remembers it was anything but easy. “People were sceptical about us singing the blues and they said we would never make it,” says Wallang, who a part from being a musician is also a full-time single parent.” No one was willing to pay for flight tickets for us to travel. We used to travel by train,” he says.
Their first album, Shillong, was released in 2005 but it never took off. They eventually had to shelve most of their launch plans. “We had a lot of problems with the release of Shillong. I guess no one was willing to take chances with a blues band from India at the time,” says Wallang, who is now planning to re-release the album, with Blue Frog.
Though they have built up quite a following in the country now, one of Soulmate’s best moments came at the International Blues Challenge two years ago.” We were the surprise element of the competition,” Wallang says. “I don’t think any one there expected a Blues band from India. India to the world is still the sitar, tabla and Pandit Ravi Shankar,” he says.
The band competed with over 150 bands from across the globe and made it to the semi-finals with their original compositions. The next version of the challenge, to be held in January 2010, is what they have set their sights on. “It was our first attempt then and we were just happy being there. Next year, we know what we have to do and are ready for it,” says Kharbangar.That’s one journey we’ll be tracking.
