Musician Ankur Tewari on his new album ‘Akela’ and the convergence of Bollywood and indie music

Musician Ankur Tewari talks about the indie music space in India, parameters for success, his future projects, and more

At a time where Reels have reduced the act of listening to music to a matter of seconds, and the duration of a song has come down to two to three minutes, musician Ankur Tewari has brought out an eight-minute-long track in his latest album Akela. Through Akela, Ankur hopes to express a musical kaleidoscope of love, loss and dreams.

In a conversation with The Hindu, Ankur says he believes that music transcends the construct of time, and the purpose of it is to make people feel free.

“I feel one should not think in minutes; one should think how music makes one feel,” he says. “Sometimes, a 45-second song can be laborious and boring, and a 20-minute piece can just transform you. I feel artists should think in feelings rather than just numbers,” he adds.

Born in Belgium, and raised in India, Ankur is a master of many trades in the music industry. He is a singer, songwriter, music composer, music supervisor, and the lead singer of the band The Ghalat Family. His music is often referred to as “acoustic guitar-based poetic ballads with hummable melodies.”

Having worked on Bollywood films likeGully Boy andGehraiyaan, and the recently released Made in Heaven, the musician is someone who constantly strives to bring the aesthetics of indie music into mainstream Bollywood.

Not differentiating between different kinds of music, be it independent or in a film, Ankur feels the indie space in India has evolved, and the movie industry has embraced independent music much more now. “We are in exciting times. I feel that the gap that existed between indie music listeners, and people who were not open to listen to any music outside of films, has now diminished; the stage is open for everyone to perform.”

His excitement talking about the increasing indie space in India is palpable. He continues, “It’s exciting to see that an equal number of movie songs and independent songs are ruling the music charts.”