The musician who sold his AC to buy a guitar

'My advice to all young musicians/artists out there would be to keep working hard.'
Be humble, be grateful that you all are blessed with this beautiful art of music.'

Jivitesh Kharbanda began his music career 11 years ago when he co-founded the band Nasha.

"Since then I have been experimenting with different genres of music, which lead to my interest in music production," says the 29 year old.

'Jivi' as he is fondly called, was born and raised in Delhi and currently lives in Mumbai.

He has worked as a bass player and a music producer with singers like Shilpa Rao, Nikhita Gandhi, Gajendra Verma, Amaal Malik, Jasleen Royal, Jonita Gandhi, Harshdeep Kaur, Shashwat Singh...

His first single was Udta Panchi in 2019 on which he collaborated with I P Singh from the band Faridkot. His latest single Beimaan has gathered a lot of attention on music platforms.

Jivi chats with Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com.

Did music play a big role in your life while growing up?

Yes, of course. The more I reflect back on my childhood, I feel music has been my oldest and longest companion.

I have never been formally trained in music, but during my journey I've cleared rock school grade exam 'level 6' and got a few certifications as well.

I believe it was god's gift and hard work which has really changed my life as a musician. It has been my consistent motivation and passion, which keeps me going from my childhood.

As they say, music has no end. For me, it's all about exploring more genres and growing with music each day.

Who are your inspirations?

My inspirations are not restricted to a particular musician or genre as I seek inspiration from quality music all over the world.

I follow a lot of bass players like Pino Palladino, Michael League, Jaco Pastorious, Rocco Prestia and producers like Oak Felder, Mr Bill, Finneas O'Connell, Drake, Jon Bellion, Bille Eilish.

How did your parents react to your choice of profession?

My parents were always supportive of me choosing music as a career, I really feel blessed.

I belong to a middle class family and in order to keep up with my passion for music I sold my air conditioner to buy a bass guitar.

My mom supported me and even fought with dad as my family could not afford extra funds to invest in my music instruments at that point of time. After that incident, they were more convinced with my commitment towards music.

My parents and my elder sister always supported me. T hey pushed me to relocate to Mumbai to explore and expand my horizons.

How much were you paid for your first gig?

The gig was in Shivaji college, Delhi. A band competition, which we won. I got Rs 800. Professionally, I did a show where I got paid Rs 3,000.

What does Nasha mean to you and your life?

I have been a founding member of Nasha and playing with them for about 10 years.

Nasha has always been my second family. We have spent so much time with each other over the years.

My fellow band members are really supportive of me and have always pushed me to expand my horizons.

Everyone in the band is extremely talented and I am sure they will do great in their careers as they are equally involved with others projects as I am.

Your first single Udta Panchi, how did that happen?

Actually, Udta Panchi was not supposed to be a single as I had created it as a sound track for my Web series <em<Jivionthebass, which is on my YouTube channel.

The initial idea was to create a different sound track for each episode of the Web series. However, looking at the initial response to Udta Panchi I progressed with the idea of launching it as a single and eventually it was released by Times Music in 2019.

It was officially my first single and marked my emergence as a composer/music producer in the industry.

Singles are slowly replacing albums. Your thoughts?

It's the era of singles, I believe.

There was a time when people used to make albums and release it. It was earlier considered to be an ideal way to launch your music, but I feel in an album it's difficult to attract people's attention to each of your song as they will hear it like an album.

However, releasing a single will give more mileage to your work as it attracts unbiased attention on the song itself.

My idea is to make people hear all of my tracks and I think singles are the way forward. I shall be releasing my next track in September.

Indian artists you would like to collaborate with?

I sincerely believe that collaboration often leads to highly creative results.

I would definitely like to collaborate with Prateek Kuhad, Tabe Chake, Local Train, Yellow Dairies, Nikhil D'Souza and Ankur Tiwari to name a few.

Any message for our readers?

My advice to all young musicians/artists out there would be to keep working hard.

Be humble, be grateful that you all are blessed with this beautiful art of music.

Enjoy it, embrace it and add a bit of yourself into this.

I am sure you will create something different which has never been created before.

Listen to good music because it's about music, but it's also not just about music.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com