Musicians without borders

“It all started with hotel-room jams, sound checks, and a lot of music together. A mutual taste of Bollywood music just summed everything up.” says Bryden Lewis of Bryden-Parth, a musical collaboration between him, who plays Western music, and Parth, who prefers Indian classical. In 2014, the duo called it quits at The Raghu Dixit Project and began making cross-genre music together.

At the early stages of this independent band, they focused on playing Bollywood covers, taking YouTube by storm. Sticking to their respective strengths, they developed a dazzling chemistry with each other and once they had found the unifying factor in their diverse music taste, they were ready to go big or go home. The Bengaluru boys are now on the verge of launching their debut music album.

The reason why Bryden-Parth stands out amongst other upcoming artistes is because of their jugalbandi in creating music, focusing on songs that are heavy both on the flute and the guitar. Apart from their YouTube channel, they have also performed at various live gigs, corporate shows andhave also been assistant composers under the Yash Raj Films banner. They are unanimous about their love for live gigs, “We always prefer performing live. It’s the feeling of being on stage, the reaction we get from the audience. It’s an exciting experience.”

Expanding their horizons, the band has collaborated with a Bengaluru-based choir called The Choral Riff, and the two have now become a single entity. “We have performed in shows like MTV Unplugged together. The choir has a lot of choreography; it’s not a strict choir as such.It adds in a lot of visuals and drama to our performance, making it more appealing,” explains Bryden.

While Parth gets his inspiration from
musicians like Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia and Pravin Godkhindi, Bryden grooves to the music of Steve Lukather, Toto and Vishal Dadlani. “Our difference in taste is very interesting; we both have a lot to bring onthe table. If we
are writing a song together, you can tell that the influence is coming from different places. When we finally put things together, it’s
about agreeing to work together and not to push each other’s preference on the other,” says Bryden. Parth adds, “I love how the dynamics we share as individuals contributes to our musical relationship. I take Bryden to Indian Classical/ Hindustani music events while he takes me to Rock and Jazz performances. We have a lot to do and explore together.”

Both Parth and Bryden prefer playing at non-commercial locations that have a more indie vibe to them. “Once the album is out, we are aiming at performing at all the platforms that focus on indie music.” they affirm.

Regarding the growing indie music scene, the duo says, “There is a shift in the mainstream music we make and the credit goes to the indie films that are coming into their own.”