BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Delhi-based electronica producer Alboe decodes the idea of hyper-fame with a new album Enroute 24, to be launched at the popular Ziro Festival ongoing in Arunachal Pradesh. The nine-track album mixes Indian classical music with a power- packed bass soundscape.

- PRIYAMVADA RANA

WHEN we hear musician Alboe's first released song, 'Sahi', from his upcoming album Enroute 24, it sounds as if Indian classical music is making its way to the dance floor. 'Sahi' is a cascade of shimmering melodic soft tunes of santoor layered on pulsating and intense bass lines and beats, the latter often used in hip-hop or dubstep dance sequences. The track is mainly instrumental with soothing retro style harmonised vocals uttering 'Tera Mera, Pyaar, Teda Mera Sansar ...Sahi Hai'. Alboe (the moniker of Hindustani classical trained vocalist Vedant Chandra; Alboe is an acronym of A Little Bit Of Everything) has written and composed it, and it came about from him finding inspiration in disparate places. A Shah Rukh Khan quote on recognition by his fans, for instance. The journey of several successful personalities got Alboe thinking about the whole gamut of success and fame — including the inevitable struggles, hard work, insecurities to it driving the purpose of life and even the futility of achieving the unthinkable. All of these made their way into the new album Enroute 24.

"In 2021 and 2022 my social media was flooded with news and interviews of super famous people like Elon Musk, Shah Rukh Khan, Warren Buffett, Joe Rogan and others.

But while they might be uberrich and famous, some of them might as well be losing out on some of the beautiful parts of life. Enroute 24 is a story of the journey of achieving hyper-fame," he says.