New Delhi,
India (Top40 Charts/ Faith Records) - Faith Records announces India's first online single music release, 'Ek Kaagaz', the result of an online collaboration between San Francisco-based Devika (well known for 'Kehnde Ne Naina', released in June 2007) and Delhi-based Pralay Bakshi (known for 'Dilli Dilwalon Ki', the Delhi Daredevils promotional song aired on Fever 104 FM in April/May 2008).
The song is also India's first non-traditional, non-physical release that leverages the power of the internet for worldwide distribution. It is available for free download on https://www.faith-records.com/kaagaz and advertising on the web page is the source of revenue for the artists.
The single, 'Ek Kaagaz', is composed and written by Pralay Bakshi, and jointly performed by Pralay and Devika. The music arrangement is done by SaazMantra - a team of highly talented composers/music producers based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has previously also composed music for the film 'French Fries & Curry'. Pralay and Devika met in June 2007, and subsequently decided to collaborate while corresponding online. While the arrangement and Devika's vocals were worked on in San Francisco, Pralay's vocals and creative contributions were sent from Delhi. Over a few months, music, vocals and creative changes were discussed and sent back and forth over the internet, and the song was refined, finalized, mixed and mastered to produce the final product.
This product strives to usher in a new era of music creation, collaboration and distribution for Indian artistes around the world; enriching and diversifying the music produced and enabling independent musicians to showcase their talent to wider audiences.
About Devika
Devika's debut solo album "Devika" released in June 2007 was a unique collaboration between artists from India, US and Pakistan. The main track 'Kehnde Ne Naina' was included in Sony BMG's chart topping album 'Teri Deewani' including the top 14 sufi hits from artists such as Kailash Kher, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and others. She is currently working on releasing her second solo album and also collaborating with other artists in diverse genres of music. In a parallel track of her life, Devika is an internet technology management professional. She worked in the exciting space of internet search advertising/monetization at Inktomi for 4 years and at Yahoo for 5 years where she was most recently an engineering director.
About Pralay
Pralay Bakshi is currently the Station Head for Fever 104 FM, Kolkata, and was till recently the Programming Head of Fever 104 FM in Delhi. A Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay, Pralay completed his Business Studies from the London School of Economics. He has been a radio professional since early 2002, and has since worked as an RJ, producer, writer and Programming Head in radio stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai and London. He has trained in Hindustani Classical music for four years and has worked as a freelance jingle composer, singer and voice-over artiste. He has previously released the much publicized 'Khelo Khelo' (as Sunny Kapoor) in London and is currently working on his own album.
About SaazMantra
Based in the San Francisco Bay area, SaazMantra is a dynamic team of two - Anshuman Chandra & Farhan Shaikh. SaazMantra brings to fore Anshuman's deeply engrained love for Hindustani classical music and Farhan's passion for guitaring and audio mixing. SaazMantra believes in integrating different, complementary styles of music to create a listening experience rooted in melody. SaazMantra's past work includes composition and arrangement for some of the songs on Devika's first album and composition of the background score for the independent movie 'French Fries and Curry' which was released in the US. Anshuman and Farhan record and mix all their projects at Inner Vibes, their own recording studio in Sacramento. In the offing is their very own pop/rock album for release in India.
