Playback singer and the music industry’s joyeux icon Benny Dayal has been in the news recently for expressing his displeasure over the hate messages he received on social media following the ouster of a contestant on Super Singer. Dayal, usually unfazed and genial, has unfortunately had to bear the serpentine nature of online trolling.
Shortly before the controversy, Dayal had spelled out how focusing on work was his answer to both positive and negative criticism. “Handling the adulations and stresses that come with success, I don’t know; there are some people who see you normally, some people see you as a celebrity. As far as you don’t see yourself as that person, it just becomes easy. If any artist out there feels like they are being mobbed or something, just find a camouflage. I think just keep doing your work, and let the adulation grow,” he had said, while gearing up for his session on Unacademy Unwind with MTV.
Benny will feature with his band Funktuation on episode that focuses on Bolly Funk. He has been one of India’s foremost advocates for funk, and his Bollywood variant for the show is a fitting amalgamation of the best of his worlds. “I would define the sound of Bolly funk as something that is becoming real. Funk is predominantly a live performing genre. Bringing Bollywood into funk and making it Bolly Funk makes it more performable, more lively, more energetic, and crowd-interactive.”
Funk as a genre usually tends to be bass-rich. Bollywood conventionally has often used bass as an afterthought or to pump up party scenes, but rarely for the essence of the related instruments themselves. This, however, has been changing since AR Rahman and Keith Peters, and the generation of composers that have followed. How does Bolly Funk bridge these two very different sounds? “People say funk is bass rich because people only notice the bass in funk. Actually, funk is a genre where every musical instrument plays an equal role. Since the music is groove-based, it’s about everyone sticking with each other and playing tight. It’s not about showing off each of their skills, that’s not funk. Then it becomes like rock music where people have solos and stuff like that. If you look at funk music generally, it’s about the groove, the music, the vocal hook, and all of it coming together and giving you that 3.5 minutes of great dance time, groove time, a fun time.”
The genre itself, Benny believes, has been around in India through various formats like funk rock and funk jazz. In its core form and in the groovy disco avatar, funk has always been around, waiting for a newer release to throw it back into the mainstream mix. He says, “Funk is something that will never stop, it keeps coming back all the time. There was a time where there was so much electronic music, that when Daft Punk released the Random Access Memories album, that music went on for a few years. Bruno Mars came back with 24 Karat Magic, and now that’s gone for another five years. In 2021, we have Silk Sonic coming back with Leave the Door Open, and songs like 'Skate,' which is their new release. That funk sound is going to keep coming back every time, it’s something that nobody can deny. It’s very infectious and at the same time, very addictive.”
As someone who admittedly loves to “put the fun in funk," Benny has immense respect for the musicians he plays with, crediting them for making him a better musician in turn. He adds, “The journey has only made me grow and made me a better musician, playing tightly with a band and respecting their artistry at the same time. Getting to write songs with the musicians you love has been a blessed one. My greatest inspiration, as far as funk is considered, will always be Stevie Wonder.”
One of Benny’s greatest wonders though has been his enviable multilingual trait. Last we checked, he was singing in English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, and even Arabic. Ask him if he has always taken to languages easily or if it is something he hones for the purpose of his work, Benny says, “It’s the strength of my mother tongue, Malayalam, because it’s one the hardest Indian languages. When you speak Malayalam, your tongue twists in every different direction possible, and it really enables you. If you tap into the nativity of each language that you’re working with, it definitely helps you attain authenticity in singing in that language or probably speaking in that language. Of course, music is my main language, but knowing other languages helps me understand different types of emotions and thought processes from different countries or different states of India.”
Multitude is par for the course with Benny. Be it the languages he sings in, his jackets and accessories collections, or even the instruments he likes to tinker with, Benny is frequently experimenting out of his core, thus making him an even more exciting musician to be around.
He says, “In 'Lockdown Town' (recently released song), you see me play the kazoo, but besides that, I play the udu, the ukulele, a little bit of acoustic guitar, I play the buka and the djembe, mostly rhythm instruments. My main melodic instrument would be the ukulele.”
Being inclined to rhythm plays a big role in Benny’s penchant for funk. Revelling in the genre’s ability to make one get up and dance, the musician believes that his own dance journey contributes to understanding the function of rhythm at a more visceral level. He says, “I definitely thank my classical dance training as one of the biggest positives of my career because dancing has always helped me stay in groove, stay in rhythm. Because I can dance, I understand what dance music is all about. I’ve done slower recitals as a dancer. I’ve also understood what that emotional expression is all about because I’ve felt it bodily, through my body, and expressed it in a physical manner — which is dancing. Dance has played a very huge role, it helped me grasp other things when I watch it because I’ve had the mental training to learn choreography. It’s an amazing art form.”
Unacademy Unwind with MTV shows every Friday at 7 PM on MTV.
from Firstpost Bollywood Latest News https://ift.tt/3mXpHDE
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