“We are like the tide lapping on silent wars and psychic assault. Our weapon is sound. Our weapons are loud.” Get ready to be assaulted by Shaa’ir and Func, and like it. Who are they? S+F is the two-piece Indian alternative, Indian rock,
Indian indie, Indie indie band. Call it what you want, they’re “all the
above.” A duo originally, but picking up any number of temp band
members, depending on which country they are in.
The insanely gorgeous and ultra talented
Monica Sharma Dogra is Shaa’ir. She’s the mouth piece of the band, who
pens the lyrics and belts ‘em out at “manic” live shows. Randolph
Correia is Func, the other half, “that came from function.” Poor
blokes, always get called the other half. He’s not just the
other half. He’s the man behind the scenes as much as he is in the
limelight. His official title is producer, “but,” adds Monica, “we have
input in the others arena, but respect our respective strengths.” Monica is always writing. “I have books, napkins, diaries, collected
scraps of paper with things that I write. A lot of the time, something
hits you like a tidal, and you’ve got to grab it while it’s fresh – or
it’ll go away. Most of our most amazing songs are written that way, they
come from somewhere, where I’m not sure. Randolph is the same way with
his production. He does it everyday – it’s his ritual – his meditation.
so when it comes time to write a song – something he’s written in sound
– strikes a memory of something I’ve written in word….then we develop
it.” Playing enough piano, guitar and capo to get by, Monica also studies
yoga and Mohiniattam (a form of south-indian classical dance), and has
just started kalaripayyatu, a form of martial art. ”For me,” she says,
“the bharata-natya-shastra is the realm I land in. it’s the first idea
of developing a total work of art.” When they met, Randolph, formerly known as funcinternational,
shortened up his stage persona. “We called our first show Shaa’ir and
Func,” says Monica. “It stuck.” And now, looking back on “three albums
and touring across the continents, we feel like it encompasses our
identities as artists.” Linguistically speaking, it makes sense. “Shaa’ir means poet in Urdu,”
says Monica, Urdu being a register of the Hindustani language,
identified with Muslims. It’s also the national language, and one of
the two official languages of Pakistan, and the official language of
five Indian States. Monica continues, “[Shaa'ir] is also masculine in
it’s identification. I don’t believe in changing it just because I’m a
girl.” Monica believes in the divine feminine, or, Shiva Shakit, and
that “we’re all composites of male and female, and only fully
realized ’til we figure out and embrace our insides wholly and
completely.” So, I guess we could say that the partnership of Shaa’ir,
a woman, and Func, a man, is pretty dynamite, fully realized, or at
least on the path to finding out. “He stood for the new way” says
Monica of Func. “Together, I think we found the synergy to create
that new way.” Func has been around the block in the Indian independent scene. He
came from a world where there was no music industry except for film
music in India. In this context, musicians have no identities. Their
music goes into films, and vocals are mimed by over-styled actors with
no connection to the art involved in the making of that sound. To say
that Func was frustrated as an artist would be a bit of an
understatement. “He wanted to make music that pushed things forward,”
says Monica. Monica cites musical influences, from Ani
DiFranco, Bjork, and Joni Mitchell. Randolph loves Chemical Brothers,
and listened to a lot of heavy metal growing up. Both are
self-professed nerds when it comes to music listening, and try and gulp
down everything they can. ”Right now I’m really digging the XX, Mt.
Kimbie, Yeasayers, Florence and the Machine….” says Monica. “My
favourite artists had the ability to make me feel less alone by exposing
themselves in their art. showing me their weaknesses without apology,
letting me in on their secrets. I try to do that. And I feel, the best
stuff comes out of that kind of honesty. Even on stage, it’s the same
way….I’m not really performing….I’m stepping into a safe place where
somehow I’m allowed to expose myself so simply, so directly, without
really needing to explain that outpour. Without it being “weird”. Mixed
with their indian-indie flair-flare, they sound like, “indie,
electronic, rock, and soul, funk, drum-n-bass, spoken word. Just
generally, dance music – but conscious.” Really though, they just sound like Shaa’ir + Func. ”You can’t
listen to this stuff and not feel something, and I dare you not to
dance.” As long as you are a human being who feels and enjoys getting a
little crazy, S+F has something for the PEOPLE, not the SHEEPLE.
Was it destiny? Maybe. More likely a result of history. Making a connection with someone comes from your understanding of the type of person you are and makes you more likely to click with certain others. “Being both alternative Indians,” says Monica, “one thing that’s interesting is, most of us know one another, and we treat each other like family. I have a friend-family of musicians in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, LA, London, Birmingham, Bombay, Delhi, and Bangalore. And I’m now building one in Toronto. We’re not exclusive to other fellow South-Asians – I think we gravitated towards each other more because OTHER people lumped us together constantly, because of our heritage.”
Chance, luck and chaos. That’s just how they roll.
Monica explains, “the way touring in India works is, it unravels itself. We find out our schedule month to month…sometimes only a week in advance. We don’t plan so well in India. The thing about Urban India right now is you experience a lot of FIRSTS. S+F played at the first ever rock awards where there was a category for a female vocalist. Then other firsts like, the first bagel shop….the first pizza by the slice shop…..the first vineyards…..the first electronic festivals [check out www.NH7.in ] Meanwhile, some cities, like Bangalore, are still fighting for liquor and dancing to be allowed in the same place. Bombay is changing rapidly right now. If you plant a seed, the soil is so fertile, a seedling will appear at the blink of an eye. Especially in the music scene; it’s is rippling out – audiences are growing- more and more bands are popping up – and the world is taking notice. We were one of the first female fronted bands to perform in India and across oceans, representing a scene we love so dearly, a scene we feel responsible for. The juxtapositions in India are really jarring – and inspiring in some ways. You might be carrying your i-pad, and wearing your Ray-ban shades, meanwhile your walking through traditions that are older than Christ on the streets of India. I think that flavor has seeped into S+F’s sound. It’d be hard for it not to.”
So are they a political band?
“We’ve been named a “political” band. I don’t think we outright try to be political. we speak about human things – and try not to comment on things we don’t know enough about. There’s a lot of work to be done on the planet as a whole, and we’re doing what we can. Of course political and social climates DO affect us….probably always will.”
But they were persistent. At the time, I was touring in London with S+F. When I returned to Mumbai months later, I heard from all my actor friends, that almost everyone had auditioned for the role and they still hadn’t cast it yet. I auditioned and I got the role immediately. The film world-premiered at TIFF to a sold-out audience at the Elgin Theatre. It got rave reviews out there. The whole experience has been surreal. Acting opposite Oscar-award winning Aamir Khan, one of the most respected actors in India right now, was a bit unnerving at first, but I wouldn’t trade the experience. The film released in India, and we’re all gearing up for what it’s going to mean to our lives!”
 Hilary Lauren Fox | |
| About the author: | |
Sometimes she's a redhead, sometimes she's a blonde. Some days it's H&M, and on other days, it's Chanel. What ever the mood, she is a woman who is passionate about the arts, fashion and social media. Born in Toronto, Hilary Lauren Fox is an only child to artist parents - mom was an illustrator and pattern maker, dad was a painter. Rather then studying the arts as her parents hoped for, Hilary opted for a degree in psychology with dreams of working in a clinical setting. But after graduating she realized that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and that the arts was in her blood, applying her education within the art and fashion world. | |
| Read More >> | |
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