MUMBAI: Although Ananthaal is one of relatively newer bands in town, its members have been around the music scene for a while. Along with well known music producer, Clinton Cerejo, the band includes Bollywood playback singer- Vijayprakash, and jazz and R&B expert- Bianca Gomes.

The trio got together while working on an episode of ‘MTV Coke Studio’. “I had two songs on ‘Coke Studio’- ‘Banjara’ with Vijayprakash and ‘Mauje Naina’ with Bianca Gomes. Both these songs were well received and that is when the idea of coming together as a band struck me. I wanted to combine Bianca’s western vocal style and Vijayprakash’s Indian classical style. I am really happy with the way it has shaped up,” said Cerejo.

Ananthaal will release its debut self-titled album tonight (24 September, 2015). The album defines the new song based fusion that is at once engaging and intriguing. Renowned industry musicians like Gino Banks, Sheldon D’silva, Beven Fonseca and Pozy Dhar have also worked on this project. There are also some interesting collaborations with jazz maestro, Louis Banks and the prodigious guitar virtuoso, Dhruv Ghanekar. The country’s premier lyricists like Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shellee and Manoj Yadav, along with some fresh new writers like Siddhanth Kaushal have also worked on the project.

Talking about ‘Ananthaal’ Gomes said, “It has been a wonderful experience because I got to work with Vijayprakash, who has a very different singing style in comparison to mine. So, this difference and the process of bringing our styles together made ‘Ananthaal’ an interesting project. The album is a mix of both our influences and I believe that listeners will find it exciting.”

On their collaborative working process Cerejo said, “Every time I would have an Idea, I would Whatsapp it to Vijayprakash and Bianca. And they would instantly respond to it. Soon after, we would meet to work towards it. So, working on this album has been a very collaborative and organic process.”

Overall. the album took the trio almost two years to complete. “It has been a long journey. Vijayprakash would contribute to song writing based on his background and then we would add the melody. Then we would give the song write-ups to a lyricist. The reason we wrote the songs was to help the lyricist understand our thoughts,” stated Gomes.

When creative minds from different backgrounds come together, creative differences are bound to happen. When asked if they faced ‘creative differences’ Cerejo averred, “There were no creative differences, but there were stylistic differences. We come from different worlds. Thus, my genre specific taste might not necessarily gel with Vijayprakash or Bianca. So, we used to find ideas, that we would all like and when that was not the case we discarded it. That formula worked for us.”

The video of the first song titled ‘Inayat’ from the album ‘Ananthaal’ was released this morning (24 September, 2015). It was shot by ‘Rock On!! 2’ director Shujaat Saudagar. Other music videos will follow soon.

The entire album will be exclusively available on MixRadio for three days, after which it will be available on iTunes and other digital platforms. The band will also be playing songs from the album live at ‘MTV Indies Ribbit’ on 24 September, 2015, at Blue Frog, Mumbai.