In this contemporary world, people are forgetting their classic gems. Very few people are there in the world now who love to read classical literature; we are forgetting our traditional literature and almost everything. But, there are some people who are trying to keep our tradition alive. I recently had an opportunity to talk to one of the music bands- MUKT.
Ahmedabad-based music band works extensively with classical literature and composes poems, ghazals, and all sorts of poetry into rock music. Each of their songs is a different and unique tale of its own, woven through the 15th century until today.
The band has five members; Tarun Gagdekar (Vocalist and Guitarist), Udit Bhavsar (Vocalist and Guitarist), Dhaval Yadav (Percussions), Yash Joshi (Drummer), and Daidipya Sheth (Bass Guitarist).
The story behind the formation of the band is very interesting. MUKT was founded in 2013 by Udit & Tarun in their schooldays; starting this journey by making covers of the legendary singers Kishor Kumar and Arijit Singh’s songs.
“When we started the band we were four people. Myself, Tarun, Kaivan & Miraj. We just took the initials of our names and formed ‘MUKT’,” said Udit. “Unfortunately, Miraj and Kaivan parted their ways.”
Later on, they met the rest of the members and continued this exciting journey. One of the interesting facts about them is - none of them knew how to play any instruments when they first started- they are all self-taught. Tarun, Udit and Dhaval went to JG Performing Arts College, where they learned Hindustani vocals and tabla.
In their early days, they were focused on the Bollywood song covers. Later, they decided to focus more on composing independent music. All of them are engineering course dropouts. “When we told our parents we didn’t want to continue our engineering studies, they obviously declined,” said Yash. “They were ow very supportive at that time, but after watching our shows and gigs, they realised our potential.”
“They realised that music is everything to us and we are good at that. So eventually, they started appreciating and supporting us,” added Dhaval.
MUKT’s journey towards producing more independent music started when they got appreciation from Kabir Cafe, a popular fusion band in India. Later on, they realised that people were getting more distant from classical literature and decided to work with classic literature.
Currently, MUKT is the only band that is composing all sorts of poetry into rock music exclusively. “We don’t have boundaries. We all have different music tastes and we all have different perspectives on music,” said Tarun. “Our Music is just like our band’s name: MUKT.”
On their music style, they explained: “Every song speaks for itself because the poems speak for themselves. When we’re composing any poem, we don’t rush. We compose it spontaneously and that is why every song is different.”
“We don’t have a particular process,” said Tarun. “In some of our songs, we made riffs first and in some songs, we prepared the lyrics first. We treat each song differently.” The band believes that creativity comes spontaneously. At the beginning of their journey, it took them almost one year to complete seven songs.
“We have to study a lot to give justice to the song. It’s not like if the poem is too long then we randomly pick the lines for the lyrics. We need to study the whole literature/poem, then only we will be able to decide what to take and what not to,” explained Udit on their production process.
“Our songs are very long and we get complaints about that. People need to understand that it’s not only the lyrics base, but you will also find everything in that,” noted Tarun.
On the release of their latest album, they expressed their excitement and said: “When the album was released, ‘Garaj Baraj’ ranked the second most heard song. For a while, it was on the list between Lady Gaga and Drake’s songs. It got a lot of appreciation and because of that song, our album ranked third in the country. That was a proud moment for us.”
MUKT has performed at several big events, notably Jashn-e-Rekhta, where they were performed among artists like Javed Akhtar and Rahat Indori. Additionally, they have performed at Natrani, Indore Literature Festival, IFFI, CEPT, Guntur International Poetry Festival, and many more.
Earlier this year, COVID hit and the government announced a complete lockdown. However, MUKT took advantage of that period and used this time to learn some new skills, which we will be able to witness in their new songs.
Currently, they are working on several songs, including ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ and one of Meera Bai’s poems. “In the upcoming years, we are planning to release songs from the literature across the world- in all languages and areas. We have already composed some songs from Persian and Gujarati poetry. In future, we would also like to dive into Bengali literature,” highlighted Udit.
Furthermore, they shared their thoughts on the future of the band and said: “In the future, we will explore more music and literature. After five years, even if only one person gets inspired by our music then we will be happy. Instead of focusing on becoming a more popular band, we would like to be a band which doesn’t have that much popularity but our work is top-notch.”