November 24, 2017 Featured Artists

ALIF – Sufayed

We spent the whole week listening to 'Sufayed', an album by ALIF and we are delighted to speak to Mr Mohammad Muneem about the group and what goes into combining poetry with an ethnic touch to create music.
 
Musicmandir - What does ‘Sufayed’ mean?
 
'Sufayed is the colour white. It is based on Newton's Colour experiment, 7 colours, if rotated fast in a circle, appear white. The album comprises of 13 songs. Each song is different with different emotion and colour to it.  The pic in the art is a representation of difficult and disturbing times in life, yet life has a way to find its colours and live it as one. 
 
 
 
Musicmandir - How did Alif come together and what is the line-up?
 
Alif came together in 2008. We began the journey as Highway 61 and changed the name to ALIF. Which felt right as we grew doing what we do.  Its been 10 years now we have been creating content and now we have started to share all that with the world.  The current line-up of Alif includes Aman Moroney Producer/Engineer, Mohammad Muneem Poetry/Vocals, Hardik Vaghela on Keyboards, Amit Gadgil on Bass, Chaitanya Bhaidkar on Guitars and Karan Chitra Deshmukh on Drums & Percussions. 
 
Musicmandir - Can you give us a sneak peek into your songwriting process? How do things usually happen?
 
It's with Poetry, Melody, Place, Words, Experiences, and People. Expressing poetry and music has been happening for quite some time, so the framework is more or less in place. Mostly its one voice one instrument and sometimes the other way round where the band is playing together. But It's rare to have a fixed pattern to it. It's like a spilt water. Once spilt it finds its ways through cracks or evaporates. 
 
Musicmandir - Can you elaborate the role of Urdu and poetry in your music?
 
Ever since we started we wanted to share stories that have happened to us and around us. Things that we absorb. Things that affect us. There are lots of things that need be shared. People need to engage with passion and compassion. We need to inspire each other and it happens when you share your own stories with them so that they inspire you in return. Its always vice versa. And it's honest to express your self in that language that you think in.
 
For Alif it's Urdu and Kashmiri. And poetry no doubt is a beautiful way of doing things. Poetry that is sometimes spoken sometimes sung. Alif is a fusion of contemporary poetry and music with an ethnic sound.
 
Musicmandir - What do you feel about the current independent music scene in the country?
 
There are some great acts out there with great teams and management representation. The scene is passionate, the hustle is real and is growing at a fast rate which will only get better from here.
 
Musicmandir - Do you have any favourite bands or any particular artist you would like to collaborate with?
 
Huge fans of Queen. Collaborating with the remaining active band remains a wish list. Radiohead is another band we'd love to work with and of course many more
 
Collaborating is always about a vibe and mutual respect. A while back we collaborated with this German Poet Ulrike in poets translating poets festival. We had never met before, one meeting over the Skype and that is it. It felt right in place. And of course, we are looking forward to collaborating with artists and acts that inspire us.
 
Alif will play Zero Mile Music Festival in Nagpur on 2nd December and the Times Bandra festival on the 3rd December 2017. 
 
You can purchase 'Sufyed' by Alif from following platforms -  OKlisten, iTunes, Saavn 
 
Zindabad
 
Thanks for reading.
musicmandir

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