i
Nishant Matta Eric D’souza
ii
iii
iv
ritviiz srivastava
v
vi
About the book The blue-eyed boy of electronica, : Ritviz Srivastava Ritviz Srivastava who is Considered as one of India’s most prolific electronic producers today, the 24-year-old has become a mainstay in the region’s music scene, soundtracking many weekend nights and memorable festival days. This book will take us through his journey from a classical musician to India’s most renouned Desi EDM artist and inspiring us all.
vii
lets go through
viii
his journey
ix
About Ritviz pg 2-5
1 music as an outlet pg 26-27
7
2 early life pg 6-7
8 work
pg 28-45
area of experience Electronic Music Ableton
pg 8-13
3 mentor pg 46-51
9
4 shift from classical to electronic pg 14 -17
10 achievements pg 52-53
journey after the shift
pg 18-19
5 interview pg 54-69
11
6 big breakthrough pg 20-25
12 road ahead pg 70-71
toh chalo chalein
xii
1
Eric D’souza
2
1
About Ritviz
If you’ve ever delved into the world of Desi EDM, then you’ve definitely heard of Ritviz. Considered one of India’s most prolific electronic producers today, the 24-year old has become a mainstay in the region’s music scene, soundtracking many weekend nights and memorable festival days. Ritviz is known for his upbeat house sound that can get anyone on their feet, so it comes as a surprise that the EDM act was actually trained in classical music. Few artists have experienced the meteoric rise to fame that 23-year old Ritviz Srivastava has, and even fewer have been able to sustain that popularity. In December 2017, he shot to fame with a hit single, Udd Gaye, which effortlessly blended elements of Indian traditional music, hip-hop and electronica. The track was declared the biggest party anthem of the year in India by a partnership between Bacardi, comedy collective All India Bakchod & iconic Indian dubstep producer Nucleya.
3
RITVIZ has interpreted these sounds and mixed them with electronic dance and hip hop elements to create his own unique hybrid that makes him so special. He has tapped into an alternative electronic audience with a fresh blend of pop, Hindi, dance and hip hop and made the whole thing break out into the mainstream, and did so in a market that has very little room for anything but Bollywood and more recently, hip hop. And while his melodies are rooted in Indian classical, they are also catchy ear worms and his vocals seem to be made up on the spot, almost like jazz scat. This all creates a sense of intimacy, and he has also created some equally run and gun looking videos that make you feel like you know him, and the outcast subjects in them. It’s proved to be a winning formula, as RITVIZ is, at the moment, the most popular electronic artist in India.
4
zia
5
2
Early Life
For as long as I can remember, I would wake up on the weekends to my mom’s alaap,” he recalls. His mother, a singer who trained under the late Girija Devi, is now the head of the music department at the Delhi Public School in Pune. His father is an investment banker, but he too plays the tabla on the side. “So dad would join mom, and then I would join in, and it would just become a family session. It was just a natural thing.” At the age of 10, Srivastava started learning dhrupad under Pandit Uday Bhawalkar, but soon found that the classical music tradition wouldn’t allow him the space to compose his own music. Around then, he also discovered VH1, which introduced him to the global pop and rap sounds of artists like Lady Gaga, Limp Bizkit and Jay-Z. So, along with his formal classical training, he started spending free time writing rap songs and performing them at school events. At 15, he was producing his own music. Soon Srivastava was
6
spending 17 hours a day just working on music, so obsessed that his mother would often have to force him to eat. Academics took a back seat and at 17, he dropped out of school to focus on music. Surprisingly, his parents backed his decision.
. “It was amazing, I never felt any pressure from home.”
7
3
area of experience
8
If you’ve ever delved into the world of Desi EDM, then you’ve definitely heard of Ritviz. Considered one of India’s most prolific electronic producers today, the 24-year-old has become a mainstay in the region’s music scene, soundtracking many weekend nights and memorable festival days. Ritviz is known for his upbeat house sound that can get anyone on
their feet, so it comes as a surprise that the EDM act was actually trained in classical music.
9
Electronic music ElectronFrom disco to dubstep, electronic music is one of the broadest categories of the modern era. This form of music is popular across most countries all around the world. Electronic music includes a wide variety of musical styles. It has been around for over 50 years from the era of Moog’s progressive rock to Moroder’s driving anthem. Electronic music has transformed the production and quality of music played today. In contrast to traditional music, electronic music allows for flexibility and creativity in the music production and play including voice modification and background beats.ic Music Electronic music employs the use of electronic musical instruments and technology in the production of the music. Any music produced and modified through any electronic means can be categorized under electronic music. However, for music to be precisely electronic then the composer of the music must interact with the electronic medium and electronic processing applied to his musical concept. Electronic music is produced from different sound resources including microphones, electronic oscillator, and computer installations that are recorded then edited to produce the desired music. Electronic music, except the live electronic music, is normally played back through a loudspeaker accompanied by other musical instruments or alone. Electronic music is not a style or genre of music but rather a technique of producing music.
10
Under the radar
11
ABLETON Unlike other music producers, he hasn’t said that he uses more than one DAW so we can assume that Ableton is his main one only. Out of all the popular DAWs (Reason, Logic Pro Tools, FL Studio, and so on), why would Ritviz pick Ableton? It might be that working with it feels just as natural as playing a real instrument.
12
You can quickly access and edit sounds instantly to keep up with your ideas and creative flow.You can also use a Push control surface with it.This lets you program everything from finger drumming to step sequencing.This is done with a clean and intuitive layout that is easy to pick up and understand.t’s a truly unique way to create music.It also has a great user community and tutorials. Meaning that it’s great for beginners to learn the ropes, as well as more seasoned producers to learn new tricks.It also has a wealth of add-on packs that expand upon its features and functionality and gives you extra sound packs to play with.
13
4
SHIFT FROM CLASSICAL TO ELECTRONIC
Ritviz eventually formally pursued Indian classical singing. He trained in Khayal under the guidance of his mother, and then eventually trained in Dhrupad for five years under a guru. But as fate would have it, his interests steered off towards a more Western direction. “While I was studying Dhrupad, I followed the guru-shishya tradition where you don’t pay your guru, but help him in other ways. I would come in the morning, spend five hours training and then do all the chores. I did this from the fifth standard to my 10th. But when I was in the seventh grade, I was exposed to techno and hip-hop. While Indian classical builds you, it also restricts you. You don’t have a lot of freedom because you’re basically singing the same things that have been sung for ages. I wanted to experiment. VH1 was my
14
main source of That would really bother me because finding music from the West. From then on, I started downloading beats online and writing verses. By the time I was 16 or 17, I started producing only because I wanted complete control. But eventually, I got more interested in production than singing. My vocals went down and my instrumentals started coming out in the songs a lot more. At the time, electronic music was really picking up and when I heard my first Tiesto track, it really pulled me towards the genre.” So the shift happened from classical to electronic
15
ILLUSTR
Rolling stone
16
RATION
17
5
JOURNEY AFTER THE SHIFT
Eric D’souza
18
2014
released his first song Vongizdumb EP.”at 17. performed his first public gig winterland,pune at 18
2015
signed a contract with High Chai Recordings, a US-based Global Bass Music Label who released his music “Mukti” through their label at 18
2016
joined the label, Only Much Louder (OML), the artist management company. at 19
2017
won 2017 Bacardi House Party Sessions, a talent hunt competition organized by A.I.B.
19
6
BIG BREAKTHROUGH
Eric D’souza
20
21
Eric D’souza
22
“In 2017 I started working on what was supposed to be my next body of work at the time — a six-track EP titled ‘VED’. Somewhere along the way we heard about Bacardi House Party Sessions, a platform that Bacardi had conceptualised along with AIB and Nucleya to promote homegrown independent music. We decided to submit a few demos from the EP and the next thing I know, Tanmay Bhat is tweeting about me, he had heard the demos and was hooked! Results came in soon after and ‘Udd Gaye’ had been picked as the first official release of BHPS.An instant hit, the music video has garnered 2.5 Million + views in just one month of it’s release, and the track has 2 Million plays on Saavn & iTunes. They brought in Reema Sengupta to direct the music video for it, which remains for me till date one of the most iconic content pieces ever. The song and video were finally released on AIB’s YouTube channel which at the time had over two million subscribers. It was launched in true AIB fashion and before we knew it, the song was being shared like wildfire. Just ten days after the release, I was scheduled to play at NH7 Weekender in Pune, and I remember 4000 people turned up out of nowhere at 6.30pm to catch me perform. Over the next six months, I went on tour all across the country, promoting my music at clubs, festivals, campus events, you name it. Meanwhile the song was climbing on every music chart and eventually getting picked up by other DJs around the country as it became the crowds popular demand wherever you went. Word of mouth played a huge role in popularising the song, as people were genuinely talking about it, and it literally became a staple at house parties.”
23
MOMENTS BEFORE BIG BREAKTHROUGH Half an hour before the biggest show of his life, at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender music festival in Pune, Ritviz Srivastava found himself wondering if he could just call off the whole thing. Just 12 days earlier, in late November 2017, the Pune-based producer had become an unexpected viral sensation. The then massively popular All India Bakchod (AIB) YouTube account had pushed out the music video for his single Udd Gaye as part of its new talent-hunt initiative called the Bacardi House Party Sessions. With its incredibly catchy synth hook and lyrics that evoked bittersweet memories of teenage love, the song had become a surprise hit. Within a week, the video had racked up almost a million views. Srivastava should have been euphoric. But happiness had escaped him the night before, when he played a club gig in Hyderabad, his first since the song’s release. Not a single person showed up. It was a disaster. So, instead of being excited at playing in front of a 3,000-strong crowd in his hometown, he was terrified. “I was convinced that I was going to tank the set,” laughs the 23-year-old when we meet for lunch at O Pedro in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. “But I played the show, and it was crazy. That show really changed a lot of things for me.”
24
Two years—and seven singles—later, Srivastava has become one of the biggest names on the indie electronica scene. Along with Nucleya, he’s at the forefront of an emerging desi EDM scene that has tasted success, blending Indian folk and classical sounds with global dance music.
25
7
Music as an outlet
For Ritviz, music is an expression– his reaction to what goes on in his life at that particular point of time. “To create music, I need to go through something. Music is just a translation of what is going on inside me,” he says. After almost a decade of producing and being associated with music, Ritviz divides his career into two parts: pre and post Udd Gaye. Now, Ritviz lives experiences and writes them into songs, rather than putting his imagination into words. “Now that I have the time and can afford to have experiences, that is how my music is going to be,” he adds. According to the artist, Sage was his first song that he had written purely based on experiences. “Today when I look back and listen to my songs, I can recall what I was going through at that particular moment,”
26
“My pre-Udd Gaye songs were just my imagination and strong desires Post-Udd Gaye I started building my personal life as well converted into songs. and the writing process changed,” Ritviz explains.
27
EP1 28
EP2 33
Bali
taan
yuv
jiti
30
yuv Him growing up,his albums are reflection of it His second original album was, a 4 track EP titled “YUV” was released as a free download in June 2016 and has crossed over a 100,000 streams in less than 10 months.\ Since the release of YUV , he has received major support and appreciation from top Indian bass music producers including the likes of Nucleya, Su Real and SickFlip. all songs are mostly instrumental
31
ved Him attaining Knowledge melting pot of his entire creative palette as a musician. album brings together sounds of Hindustani classical, hip-hop, drum and bass, moombahton, and pop music. establish his expertise as a classical vocalist as well as dance music producer. BACK STORY “We had a social media following of 8,000, but they were all 14-year-
old kids who couldn’t even come to our gigs. It was a very complex scenario, and just understanding how to take this to the next level was very hard.” So Srivastava and Sinha decided to take some time out to figure out their next steps. They sat down and picked six tracks from the many demos and scratches that Srivastava had written over the past few years, developing them into an album titled Ved. They envisioned the album as a collaboration between Ritviz the producer and Ritviz the classically trained vocalist.
32
UDD GAYE JEET VED BARSO jEET 2.0 SAGE
33
34
35
sathi
ari ari
roz
baraat
36
BARAAT
His second original album was, a 4 track EP titled “YUV” was released as a free download in June 2016 and has crossed over a 100,000 streams in less than 10 months.\ Since the release of YUV , he has received major support and appreciation from top Indian bass music producers including the likes of Nucleya, Su Real and SickFlip. all songs are mostly instrumental
37 34
international remix light it up
modern loneliness
38
desi Singles teenage sound
thandi hawa
beatific -vizdum
roshni
i feel love-vizdum
raahi
liggi
pran
chalo chaein
khamoshi
39
albu
EP3 36
um
SINGLES 41
LAUV -Morden loneliness (ritviz rimix)
KATTY PERRY -opening for katty perry at one plus musical festival
MAJOR LAZER DIPLO -light it up (diwali remix)
42
international collabs shared the stage with Katy Perry, Diplo and Dua Lipa, and has remixed songs for Major Lazer and Lauv.international superstars Dua Lipa & Katy Perry at their maiden India concert in November 2019.
43
DESI collabs shared the stage with Katy Perry, Diplo and Dua Lipa, and has remixed songs for Major Lazer and Lauv.international superstars Dua Lipa & Katy Perry at their maiden India concert in November 2019.
seedhe mauth
44
sick flip
nucleya (udyan)
45
9
MENTORS AND FRIENDS
PARENTS Ritviz credits his success to his parents, “They are the reason why I am here. I brought them on stage today, that has been my dream for the longest time and I am happy that it came true today. Without their support, I don’t think i would have been able to do anything that I am doing today because you need to let the child explore. They let me do what I wanted to and I am very grateful to them and I hope that I continue to make them proud.” His mom was his biggest inspiration, his most fond memories as a child are those times spent practising alaps with her in the early hours of the day. Her dedication to her art inspired him to try.
46
picture
47
Nucleya
The moment we hear EDM, Nucleya (aka Udyan Sagar) is one of the first few names that come to our minds and Ritviz too looks up to his fellow musician with utmost respect, given his remarkable achievements as an independent artist. “He is an inspiration, he is the reason why I am here today. He’s opened doors for so many people and I love that man so much,” Ritviz adds. While Ritviz currently is the flagbearer of the desi electronic scene, it was Nucleya who introduced Indians to the sound. Interestingly, Nucleya has been supporting Ritviz for some time now. “He’s been a friend, mentor and even a dad to me. He’s supported me from the start. Udyan has been a very dear friend, brother, mentor and supporter for a long time now. I met him in 2015 for the first time, when I was playing the opening slot at the Delhi edition of NH7 Weekender and he was playing the closing slot. It was 3:30pm and hardly any crowd but Udyan stayed back after his sound check to catch my set. A few months later, I was wrapping up work on my independent debut - an EP titled YUV, and I reached out to him to ask if he would be down to mix and master the record. He told me he loved the EP and he would be more than happy to help in any way he could! Since then till now, we both have worked on
48
a bunch of collaborative music, we also send each other music that we’re both working on individually to get the other person’s feedback, and just honestly geek out and bond over music every now and then. Personally, I really enjoy working on music with him, everytime is a riot and by now we’ve cooked up so much material which we can’t wait to put out.”
Anirudh Agarwal
49
sahith
In every group, there is this one friend who knows you and your talents. That friend will make you do what you’re good at and then boast about your talent in front of others. For Ritviz, Sahith Sethuraman and the Bacardi House Party Sessions was that friend. Sahith who is the Senior Manager, Rum Brands, India & South East Asia, said “Bacardi has always had a very close association with music. We’re not here to make money out of music or artists. What these guys create is pure brilliance.”
Sahith discovered Ritviz’s talents after listening to ‘Mukti’, “I listened to it the first time and within the first 10 seconds I realised that there is gold in this boy. This boy oozes talent. His journey started 4 years ago with his first single ‘Beatific’, we came along and we helped him along in this journey. He would have got there anyway, we’re just trying to make this journey faster and little bit smoother for him.”
50
picture
mixmag
51
10
achievements
mixmag
52
1 2 3 4 5
Won bacardi house party 2017
In 2020, Srivastava curated his own music and comedy festival, YUV Fest, in collaboration with Bacardi India
produced a lockdown-inspired mini web series, Cabin Fever, in collaboration with Jugaad Motion Pictures;
shared the stage with Katy Perry, Diplo and Dua Lipa, and has remixed songs for Major Lazer and Lauv.
As of 2020 he is one of the most streamed artists on Spotify India since the platform’s February 2019 India launch 53
11
Interview With Ritviz
54
55
Anvita Bharti
A.R. RAHMAN
56
Who are some artists who really inspired you growing up, and why? “My mom is my biggest inspiration, my most fond memories as a child are those times spent practising alaps with her in the early hours of the day. Her dedication to her art inspired me to try and be even half as good as her. Another big inspiration is Kanye West, I mean the guy is a genuine legend. He truly embodies the vision of a game changer and for that I have immense amount of respect for the guy. Part of the scene back home A.R. Rahman is another huge inspiration, he’s been such a massive force in Indian music for as long as I can remember.”
KANYE WEST
57
You seem to blend Indian classical melodies with modern electronic sounds and drums effortlessly. Do your songs start with the melodies first, or the other way around? My process is fairly open ended like that which means that it could start off anywhere, but I guess most times it’ll start with a melody and then I build around it. I often use my voice as an instrument too and lay down more melodies on top of the instrumentation and that’s when the magic starts to happen, now the song is going into a whole different dimension and the mixing pot to begin churning out this epic blend.”
58
What constitutes composing? I started composing when I was in the fifth grade while practising Indian Classical Music at my Guruji’s place. I knew even back then that there is a very little creative expression in that. I was singing those notes and perfecting my voice, but all I really wanted was to add a new melody. There was a lot of energy inside me that wanted to come out. After that, I started listening to pop music. I learnt different chords and started downloading beats online because I loved hip hop. When I started writing the melody, it was like a game for me. The entire process is enriching spiritually. The composition is the heart of your track. All the other elements of song creation surround composition.
59
Eric D’souza
60
So,lets talk about your big breakthrough Udd Gaye and it’s process
How did the idea of this song come about? I started composing when I was in the fifth grade while practising Indian Classical Music at my Guruji’s place. I knew even back then that there is a very little creative expression in that. I was singing those notes and perfecting my voice, but all I really wanted was to add a new melody. There was a lot of energy inside me that wanted to come out. After that, I started listening to pop music. I learnt different chords and started downloading beats online because I loved hip hop. When I started writing the melody, it was like a game for me. The entire process is enriching spiritually. The composition is the heart of your track. All the other elements of song creation surround composition.
61
What’s the inspiration for this song? Haha, personal experiences, of course. There has been a lot of internalisation and build up to it though. I think that’s why it connected so much with people as well, not just the melody but the way it is presented. I really do feel what I’m saying. I felt inspired enough by this one story to do ten songs out of it. I wasn’t aiming to create an abstract theme, but I spent half a day going through all the demos with Rahul and ‘Udd Gaye’ was the one that stood out most. Even with the EP, the emotion that is constant through everything is happiness. I was really happy at that point in life. There’s another track in the EP called ‘Barso’, which is about anticipation. And another one called ‘Jeet’, which is about winning. Even what Udyan found most exciting about ‘Udd Gaye’ was that the lyrics were slightly sad but the tone was happy. I feel the same for ‘Jeet’, and all the other songs too. You can sense this happy tone, even more, when playing the instrumental version.
62
How did the structure of the song come together? It started off being a complex structure. A friend I initially sent it to said it could be four different songs. So we decided it should be simpler. The melodic bit of it was pretty dark and intense, but we thought it could be turned into something else. So we took the intro and bass line from the previous song, and we made a drop .
What’s your music writing set-up like? I like to work solo so I just have a minimal set-up in my bedroom. I like to work when I’m alone and in my zone.
63
Did you bring people in at every stage of making the song? No, I don’t prefer to share with anyone except Rahul and my mother. The friend who heard the song and gave me advice that it was complex was actually an impromptu thing. He’s a rapper called MC Illa Straight, and we were trying to work on a beat at the time. ‘Udd Gaye’ was originally meant to be a hip-hop track. So that’s how that happened.
How involved were you in the video? The concept was done by Catnip, but we were involved in the creative calls. Rahul was more involved in the details because I was focusing on the audio since both were happening simultaneously.
Do you think of visuals while writing the track? Not really. Maybe one of the 300-400 tracks that I have ideas for becomes an actual song. Songwriting definitely doesn’t happen keeping the visuals in mind.
64
rolling stones
65
the 6th eye-rishik
66
How did it feel after Finally getting fame? “We weren’t planning for the song to take off like that,” says Srivastava. “I wasn’t ready. It was emotionally and physically draining to suddenly be doing three shows a week. By the end of those six months, I was facing the biggest creative block of my life. But I was also a lot wiser after that.”
What was it like when the video came out, and the song became what it is? I was reading comments all the time; got introduced to so many things and people. The first day we got a lot of hate in the YouTube comments section on AIB’s upload because it was unexpected coming from them. It was the first time that there was music on their channel. There were eight comments on the video saying, “What the hell is this?”
But at the same time, we were getting positive comments from other places, privately. We had a private link that had 25,000-30,000 views, and we were getting positive messages from our friends and family. So day one was slow, but then day two onwards things just went berserk. People started making their own videos and dance routines. We started sharing these videos, and so did AIB. Then ten days after the video release, we played at NH7 Weekender in Pune, and 3,000 people turned up, so that was amazing.
67
You recently worked with Tinder India and LGBTQIA during the COVID-19 lockdown on ‘Pride from Home’. Can you tell us about that, and is this something that’s very important to you? “Two months into lockdown, the guys over at Jugaad Motion Pictures called us and said they’re working on a campaign with Tinder to produce a film celebrating Pride from Home. They pitched the idea to me and wanted me to write music for it. The concept was beautiful and I was instantly on board. I have immense love and respect for the LGBTQIA community, and it was an honour to be a part of this project and spread a positive message.”.
68
69
12
Road ahead
70
“I do not look at myself as a musician but as a creative individual. It helps me widen my horizon. I do not see myself making music all my life. Just how making music is like a form of expression for me, I can express in 10 different ways,” says Ritviz. For two-years now, the artist is working on producing a fashion line to tell his stories through clothes. The Udd Gaye singer ends the session on a thoughtful note and advises creators looking up to him for inspiration to focus on their mental health just as much as they do on their career to handle fame well, and avoid burning out.
71
message from ritviz
11 Eric D’souza
72
“To understand the importance and value of things and people that are around you.”
73
“We have a lot of dreams, checks to add to our bucket list during our lifetime. I feel it’s important to know when not to get stuck in the lucidity of money and fame and not to run around the chase of it also 74
75
Eric D’souza
76
author notes His fan base is in thousands as of today, and he almost always sells out his shows. He recently hosted his own festival that turned out to be a huge success and opened for Katy Perry right before she went on stage during her recent concert in Mumbai. He started young and he started strong. The hours he spent practising classical music, doing his guru ji’s laundry, producing music and playing DJ sets to almost no one, has paid off. It all contributed to who he is today. It’s safe to say that Ritviz is the biggest name in the Indian electronic scene today and he’s got the potential and accomplishments to prove
77
Credits pg3-4 www.mensxp.com,www.bandwagon.asia pg 6-7 wikipedia ,/www.livemint.com/ pg 8-13 wikipedia ,bluebuzzmusic.com pg 14-15 www.mansworldindia.com pg 23 mixmag.asia pg 24-25 livermint.com pg 26-27 yourstory.com pg46-50 mixmag.asia pg 57-68 mixmag.asia, www.redbull.com, www.bandwagon.asia pg 71 yourstory.com
78
79
80