The
Journey
First piano performance by Baba (age 9).
Early 2009 my mother suggests that I pick up an instrument and here’s where the journey begins. I played a small school event after a couple of months of playing and this was the first time I felt a sense of identity. At that point I didn’t fully understand what was this feeling but I surely wanted more so I decided to put more time in music.
The very beginning
The Beatles - Let it Be (Early Influences)
ABBA - I have a dream (Early Influences)
I discovered The Beatles during this time and I fell in love with them, felt like something magical. Singing and playing Paul McCartney’s piano parts of Let it Be was the first thing I ever taught myself.
Owl City and ABBA were also two of my favourite artists in my primary years. They had this amazing joy attached to their music which I really connected with.
Owl City - Fireflies (Early Influences)
Earliest Works
Few years into piano and I wanted to expand my skillset so I picked up the drums and guitars at age 12 and 14. I moved to a bigger city with my mother and sister then and it was my first opportunity to explore the real world. You see, in my hometown I was very isolated and didn’t get the chance to really explore hence this felt like a fresh chapter. I took up a lot of small scale gigs at this time by going to talent shows to meet people and finding things of Facebook. It was quite a struggle to be taken seriously as I was 14 and my colleagues were at least 10 years older than me but that wasn’t my concern, I just wanted to play real gigs.
Early live performance of Baba playing the bass guitar
Baba’s earliest demos
Baba’s earliest demos
I was really into the post rock sound then with some metal influences, don’t know why but the ambient clean guitar tones came very naturally to me while writing so I kept on developing that. I wasn’t writing with a purpose, I was just writing because it was fun
My parents got me my first laptop and interface and I started recording whatever I could come up with. I wasn’t very good at it, and the demos were pretty terrible but it was really fun to create and I kept on writing more and more.
Baba’s earliest demos
Local indie scene
Baba’s music video from his first project Gaia
I was playing for a few local bands as a bass player and drummer and my writing was getting better too. I decide to write my first album in my home studio. Took me a couple of months and at 17 I released my first album ‘Aerial’ under the artist name ‘Gaia’. It wasn’t a commercial hit but I did the best I could.
I was really into metal at this point and this time was really amazing as I got to collaborate with so many musicians I grew up listening to.
Gaia’s second single
Baba does a guitar playthrough for Gaia’s track Jehovah
Gaia’s debut single
My school life was ending soon too and I was sure I wanted to go to Berklee. So a couple of months past the album release, I play the first and last show of Gaia (also the first time I played guitar on stage) and leave India for Berklee. During my time in Berklee, I extensively worked on writing new demos, unbound of genre with the main focus being crafting good art.
Dropping Out of College
The pandemic hits and I decided to come back home. Uncertain of what’s to come I chose to not waste time and money on an online education and drop out of school. From the college days I had around 77 demos so I started crafting my 2nd album. I wanted to stray away from the Gaia days and start fresh with a fresh name, ‘Flying Cupid’. I chose to do another metal project just because I had more experience and had gathered contacts from all the years of working.
The album came out the same year, and it did exponentially better than my previous project.
Debut music video for Baba’s second project Flying Cupid
Music video for Flying Cupid’s ‘Oasis’
Flying Cupid’s debut album ‘All Turns to Dust’
Baba’s orchestral record ‘Wandering into Euphoria’
I also released an orchestral album named ‘Wandering into Euphoria’ this time out of sheer boredom. The entire album took just 33 hours to complete.
Baba
Baba’s second single ‘Beautiful’
Flying Cupid started touring and playing festivals and now was the time to really focus on how to create my brand and make more art. I decide to leave everything and just focus on writing for half a year. The result of it was Baba.
Baba’s debut single ‘Lazarus’
Live video from Baba’s India tour with Flying Cupid
I wanted to create a project which was intimate and connecting. and that’s what Baba is all about. A value system celebrating empathy, peace and love.
Flying Cupid’s live set
My mother calls me baba and my inner monologue also calls myself that hence the name seemed fit for this journey.
Baba & Co.
A parallel project that I also started was Baba & Co. which was about creating music which had multiple genres, cultures and to top it off my entirety of theory knowledge I have gained over the years.
Baba & Co’s debut single
Baba playing Colorhead from Baba & Co’s discography
Album art for Baba & Co’s debut single
Baba & Co’s second single
Without you
After my first two singles, it was high time to showcase the person behind the brand. The first thing I did was shoot a stripped version of Lazarus (this version is how the song sounded like when it was first recorded, it was also shot in my living room where I wrote the song on that very piano)
The second thing that came out was Without You. I had a concept of a pseudo one shot video where every time the camera moved, it changed to a different version of me.
I wanted to show my multi-instrumental aspect of my artistic identity and how I only write in absolute isolation in my studio.
Music video for Baba’s third single ‘Without You’
First International Gig
After constantly pushing my music I started gaining a small fanbase which led to my first International gig in Vietnam. I was playing a two day festival in Ho Chi Minh City.
Though I had a ton of experience playing instruments on stage this was the first time I was singing so there was definitely some nervousness around and but it all went away the moment I got on stage. Overall I was very happy with the performances though I knew there was quite a lot to improve.
Live video for Baba’s debut single ‘Lazarus’
30 Day Song Challenge
Post the gig I took my first break from posting content to brainstorm what’s next for BABA and in my hunt for pushing myself I came up with the 30 day song challenge. It was a month long campaign where I wrote, produced, mixed & mastered and released a new song everyday for 30 days.
Initially a lot of people opposed this concept but I stayed still on the thought as I felt like this is going to push me to a new realm of songwriting as a craft.
Though exhausting I was very satisfied with what I did and had a blast the whole month whilst doing my favourite thing in the world which is creation.
Day 1 of the 30 day song challenge
Day 16 of the 30 day song challenge
Album art for the 30 day song challenge
Day 29 of the 30 day song challenge
Life going forward
This journey is at its infancy but my goal is to try create good art and build a community around it, a community of good people, away from all the toxicity. A space where we all can be vulnerable together,
A space for peace and love.