MUMBAI: Society Tea's music property called Sounds of Society is a step towards a genre-free, no-rules, and an all-inclusive approach to presenting music-making and its associated performing arts. It's about the music that represents the social and cultural in which you live.

To know more about the music property, Sounds of Society for World Music Day 2020, we connected with Karan Shah, 4th generation Director at Society Tea. He is passionate about music and has done a course in Music Production from SAE, London and pro-production from True School of Music.

Check the interview below.

Could you tell us more about Society Tea’s music property, Sounds of Society?

The idea of Sounds of Society is completely representative of existing synergies in the music world. 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, with the aim of documenting and presenting sounds of today, a step towards a genre-free, no-rules, and an all-inclusive approach to presenting music-making and its associated performing arts. Each episode features a unique collaboration of artists and ideas creating entirely spontaneous and organic melodies. We intend to collaborate with independent artists, with the aim of introducing new sounds that resonate with the society today.    

We needed 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 are incredibly proud of what they have delivered.

Plans for Sounds of Society on World Music Day 2020?

Practically we did not do anything for World Music Day but we have recently come up with the second episode of Sounds of Society Season 3, featuring a one-of-a-kind collaboration with Mr. Woodnote a saxophonist, composer and producer hailing from Bristol, UK, accompanied by Bellatrix, a fast rising singer-songwriter, who also happens to be a professional bassist and former world beatboxing champion and is known to wear a number of different musical hats. It is 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.

Sounds of Society, Season 2 episode released in May 2020 and episode 3 is slated for release June 2020, tell us more about it?

Yes, like I said, the Season 2, episode 2 released in May, with the aim of creating soulful melodies with the one-of-a-kind collaboration between Mr. Woodnote and Bellatrix. This season has an amazing line-up and is all set to brew a flavourful experience, with the aim of etching music and tea onto the hearts of our audience.

Our episode 3 is slated for June 2020, and we have young talents who will spread the message of love through Reggae music. It is a beautiful composition and I am sure it will hold a special place into everyone’s heart. We strive towards keeping this spirit of innovation alive while spreading happiness.

How do you get artists on board, on what criteria do you select them?

We believe artists needs just one thing to become an artist and that is ‘Talent’. We don’t have set criteria while gathering or choosing artists, we only focus on the talent factor. If the artist is versatile and dedicated towards his/her work we work towards making them a part of our project.

The series has earlier 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. We will continue to take such raw talents on board and provide them with the platform where they can express music with all their heart and soul.

What are your future plans in terms with the rapidly growing music industry?

Music industry has evolved drastically. There are a plethora of skilled talents and doing so great at their age. I personally love music and the idea of Sounds of Society came into existence because of my passion towards music.

In that sense, Sounds of Society aims to dwell a bit deeper into what is happening in the music world. But not necessarily on the big stage, instead 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.