Mumbai; April 01, 2017: British Council India launched first version of Mix the City India at Mumbai. Curated by British quartet Django Django, the interactive digital platform features original musical renditions from 12 famous musicians from Mumbai recorded at celebrated location across the city. The app lets users piece together their own soundtrack and music video using the unique sounds of these musicians. Designed by award-winning British start-ups, Mix the City Mumbai combines British digital innovation and contemporary Indian Culture and provides a platform to share the sounds of Mumbai with the world. Sivamani, Louis Banks and Taufiq Qureshi are some of the artists who are part of this initiative.
Mix the City India will have four versions: Delhi; Kolkata; Mumbai; Chennai. The four versions for India will aim to showcase the diversity of sound, music and cultural influences in each city. Each region will have 12 musicians (48 musicians in all) who will record 24 samples (two loops per musician) that will be compiled into a shareable 4-minute YouTube track that will sit on the main Mix the City website.
Alan Gemmell, OBE Director India, British Council, said, “Mix the City Mumbai is a brilliant way to celebrate the UK-India relationship, connect young people in both countries and, inspire the next generation to build the relationship for the next 70 years. Mix the City Mumbai brings 12 incredible Indian musicians to phones and tablets across Britain and India and let's people create and share their own Mumbai music video! This world-class digital and cultural innovation means that a global audience will be able to see, hear and share the amazing Mumbai music scene and the beauty of the city - making everyone a little bit of a Mumbaikar on their mobile!”
For more information, please contact:
Head – Press and Media, India | British Council Division | British High Commission
For media information, please contact:
Aakash Aggarwal | aakash.aggarwal@bm.com | 97112 09240
Priyanka Sachdeva | priyanka.sachdeva@bm.com | 78383 11985
About British Council:
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.
About Django Django:
Django Django are a British art rock outfit, based out of London, England. The group was formed in 2009 and has released a self-titled studio album in 2012, followed up by Born Under Saturn, which released on 4 May, 2015.
About the artists:
Mohini Dey: Mohini Dey is the daughter of bass player Sujoy Dey. And has been described as prodigy by many acclaimed musicians. Mohini Dey has been already making waves in music..she started learning bass guitar at the tender age of 3..She started doing concerts and recordings at the age of 10.
Chauss Brass Band: A brass band from Baijapur, Maharashtra. They are popular brass band that plays at marriages.
Ravi Iyer: He is a guitar mentor, performer and composer. He began his musical journey at the age of 7 and began his formal training in Tabla, under the tutelage of Late Shri Vasantrao Acharekar.
Rajeev Raja: Considered one of India’s most exciting flautists, Rajeev enthralls with a mixture of legato and staccato styles with influences ranging from Jazz to Indian Classical to Rock to Latin.
Imran Khan: Is from the famous lineage of the Sikar gharana (school of music) that has given many stalwarts to Indian classical music. He started his training in Sitar from the age of 6-7 years under his grandfather Ustad Gulab Khan Sahab, who is both a highly acknowledged Sarangi player and vocalist of his time.
Sivamani: He plays many instruments including drums, octoban, darbuka, udukai, and kanjira. He performed drumming during the IPL Championships in 2008 and 2010.
Taufiq Qureshi: Taufiq is recognised for his path-breaking and trend-setting work, as a performing artiste and as composer/arranger in the field of world music. Taufiq has been ably successful at taking the nuances of traditional rhythms of India to an alternate form of World Music and offering it to a larger audience.
Nirali Karthik: Hindustani Classical Vocalist from Mumbai, India. Nirali Kartik started to learn music at the young age of nine.
Megha Bhogle: She is a beat boxer who has worked with Only Much Louder previously.
Chintoo Singh Wasir: Chintoo Singh Wasir, a chip off the old block in the Indian film music industry, has accompanied legends from Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh to Mehendi Hassan, and has even recorded rabab and guitar music for Shania Twain and Phil Collins.
Louis Banks: He is an Indian film composer, record producer, jazz musician-keyboardist and singer. Proficient in genres like Indipop, modern progressive and contemporary jazz and Indo jazz fusion he is also is an accomplished piano player.
Alisha Pais: Alisha Pais is a singer songwriter from Mumbai, with rich powerful husky vocals and guitar. She plays an eclectic mix of haunting originals and interpreted covers both contemporary and retro.