Amit Trivedi says AT Azaad has made him ‘a happier artiste’

Having nurtured his independent music initiative, AT Azaad, for three years alongside making music for films and OTT projects, composer Amit Trivedi is in a happy space. He’s currently looking forward to his upcoming trance music album, Songs Of Trance 2 (SOT 2), which, he says, is “my interpretation of the genre”. He shares, “When the lockdown happened, to keep my sanity going, I created music at home. After working on two albums – Songs of Faith and Songs of Dance - I came up with Songs of Trance – One. It did did really well on all music-streaming platforms, which encouraged me to come up with SOT 2. This album has six songs. I started working on it almost a year ago.”

For Trivedi, making something new is imperative and he’s glad that he gets to do that in not just indie music, but also film songs. “Most of my film music also has an indie sound. That’s because of the taste and sensibilities that I’ve developed over the years. I have been fortunate to be exposed to different styles of music from across the globe. We are a lucky generation that we have access to world music at our finger tips. It’s opening up minds and helping in creating diverse and hybrid kinds of music,” shares the National Film Award-winning composer, adding that “working on non-film music has made me a happier artiste”.

He continues, “I love the freedom that non-film music offers to go all out with my creativity. Music aisa banana hai ki mazaa bhi aaye aur impact bhi ho. AT Azaad is like going back to the roots, to the days when I’d perform with my band. But the recognition I have earned by doing film music has really helped me push my independent music too.”

While creating independent music is like a breeze for the musician, he adds that self-funding becomes challenging. “The big thing about making independent music is that you have to self-fund it. Bahut paise lagaane padte hain gaane banane mein, video banane mein aur aaj kal toh usse bhi zyaada paise aur energy daalni padti hai marketing karne mein. Gaana chala toh theek nahin toh total loss,” Trivedi signs off.

Do you think trance has a room in Hindi film music?

“No, I don’t think so. As a genre, trance is still quite niche. Film music sirf hit songs pe chalta hai. And what genres make it to a film or web project’s soundtrack completely depends on the director. Qala and Jubilee gave me a chance to explore music from the 40s and 50s. Waise log bahut kam hain. Agar koi director aaya with a liking for trance, it would be fun to explore.”