RadioandMusic
| 25 Apr 2024
Our intention of introducing 'Sounds of Society' was to create genre-agnostic music for today’s generation: Society Tea Director Karan Shah

Society Tea, in association with Urban Beat Project, announces the launch of the new Season of its live musical web series - Sounds of Society. It featured musicians and their grassroots approach to making music, in an entirely collaborative format.

Brand Society Tea have delved into this inclination towards music and have created this wonderful project called Sounds Of Society in association with Urban Beat Project. To get an insight into this property we spoke to Karan Shah, Director, Society Tea.

 Sounds of Society – Season 2 was shot with minimal fuss and equipment and will feature both, edited as well as, one-take videos, to showcase the true organic nature of each episode. The collaboration brings together the lyrical prowess of Mumbai based ethical rappers ‘Swadesi’ rapping in Hindi and Sanskrit, Cian Finn’s songwriting and soothing voice, and LMK’s sweet and melodic vocal textures and many other artists too.  

Check the interview below.

Society Tea has come up with their musical web series- Sounds of Society. Can you tell us something about this concept?

The idea was born out of our love of music. We wanted to create a collaborative musical property that is simple and fluid, much like the process of making tea. The idea was to strip the music-making process down to the basics, a truly genre-free, no-rules, and an all-inclusive approach to presenting music-making and its associated performing arts. Each episode features a blend of different genres and ideas that is entirely organic. We try to collaborate with independent artists, with the aim of introducing new sounds that resonate with society today.   

What is the future of this property?

The idea of Sounds of Society is completely representative of existing synergies in the music world. In that sense, the second season aims to dwell a bit deeper into what is happening in the music world. But not necessarily on the big stage, instead of focusing on capturing the spontaneity of the music being made through musicians connecting in the real world, in a totally casual environment, coming about organically

How many artists have you collaborated so far and what’s your future plan?

The series has already featured - DJ URI, Delhi Sultanate, Hang Massive, Delhi 2 Dublin, Vasuda Sharma, Gowri Jayakumar, Chandana Bala, Nush Lewis, Cian Finn, Swadesi just to name a few. Moving forward we have Mr. Woodnote, Bellatrix, Cisco Kid, Dilshad Khan, Mohomed Alnuma, Naaman, and many more.

Moving forward, we are hoping to take this property out of the web-series format, and on a live stage soon.

What was the intention behind  launching Sounds of Society?

Our intention of introducing Sounds of Society was to create genre-agnostic music for today’s generation, promoting the sounds of today.

Sounds of Society refrains from showcasing any big industry names, but we hope to feature what music sounds like on the street, on a terrace, in your bedroom, on the beach, or in your backyard.

Tell us more about working with Urban beat project for this project? 

Working with UBP has been a great experience. We did need somebody who understood our vision, and moreover, is able to deliver along those lines. Laiq Qureshi, the founder of Urban Beat Project, is the curator of the series. Laiq and his team produce the series, and so far we incredibly proud of what they have delivered.

Working on the grassroots level, his team has it’s feet firmly into the world of be-spoke collaborative musical ideas. They have enabled us to bring the idea to fruition, as much of what is captured is entirely spontaneous, without any concrete rehearsals. They are apt for the series, as they are fiercely genre-free, and express musical ideas that are out of the box.

Their work can be seen on their YouTube channel.

If you watch the Episode 1 of Sounds of Society, it features a spontaneous jam on a song written by Cian Finn, called “Love Life”. Focusing on bringing out a positive message in today’s world when everything seems to be concentrated on the exact opposite. The episode brings together the lyrical prowess of Mumbai based ethical rappers “Swadesi” who rap in Hindi and Sanskrit, together with Cian Finn’s song-writing and soothing voice, and LMK’s sweet and melodic vocal textures.