In 2016, after a break of five years, the Karsh Kale Collective released their album Up, inspired by the long periods spent by their Brooklyn-based leading man, Karsh Kale, on flights. “I’ve flown about the world, playing all sorts of music – as a fusion artist, as a DJ, as a classical musician – but I’ve never wanted to fit into one genre,” he said.
Up resonated with peripateticness and experimentation.
On Monday, Kale shared on his Facebook page a video of the live performance of Up’s title track. The video was among the two recorded as part of the Red Bull Music Academy’s Studio Science programme, which aims to expose students to the processes and practices of some of the 21st century’s most acclaimed producers.
The rendition of Up by the collective, in collaboration with Delhi-based contemporary pop band Shadow and Light, is the first Studio Science episode to be shot in India. In it, Kale, who straddles several genres like Hindustani classical and rock, explains his music set up – one electric tabla (internally microphoned) and one acoustic tabla – and demonstrates the difference the microphone within the tabla makes to the sound.
According to Kale, the new technology he works with does not compare to the magic made when “musicians come together to make music. The ideas always remain human. I think young artists need to be less concerned with what gear they are using and more about gaining more human experience”.