Watch a video of the Soundpad bands first gig in the UK at The Fly, London

Listen to tracks by all the Soundpad bands on the Faculty Music website

Soundpad celebrates and explores the art of studio production in music. After a mammoth short-listing process in March 2008, four bands - Medusa (Bombay), Swarathma (Bangalore), Advaita and Indigo Children (Delhi) - were chosen to collaborate with top UK music producers, John Leckie (known for his work with Stone Roses, Radiohead, Muse and others) and Dan Austin (The Doves). The emerging artists would get the chance to record a series of special studio sessions later that year at the prestigious Yash Raj studios in Andheri (West) Mumbai.

In the following months the bands got busy writing new material, and started a creative dialogue with John Leckie and Dan Austin - discussing everything from composition and lyrics to how to best to approach the recording itself. Final tracks were chosen and in October 2009 John and Dan traveled to Mumbai to record with each band in a series of special studio sessions. The aim was to encourage a range of technical and creative approaches to music production as would be typically experienced in the UK. The sessions helped to bring the best out of the musicians and producers by creating a space away from the commercial pressures of the conventional music industry.

Another focus of the project was to encourage a dialogue amongst both Indian and UK collaborators about the issues faced by the growing alternative music scene in India. A film crew documented the project, capturing the creative/studio process and the conversations that emerged from the collaboration.

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The tracks recorded during the sessions at Yash Raj studios have now been released as a digital album through the University of Westminster’s Faculty Music label. All four bands visited the UK in May 2009 for a tour, which included gigs at The Great Escape music festival and The Fly in London.

Image credits top to bottom: Swarathma in Brighton, Advaita live, Medusa live, (all copyright Alison Baskerville), Indigo Children promo photo.

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