We celebrate diversity: Ankur Tewari on new season of ‘Coke Studio Bharat’

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Music is not like the Olympics where you compete with different countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, says composer Ankur Tewari, who believes the idea behind “Coke Studio Bharat” is to celebrate India’s diversity.

Tewari serves as the curator of the second season of “Coke Studio Bharat”, the Indian chapter of the international music franchise of Coke Studio.

Asked about the standing of “Coke Studio Bharat” in the music scene where “Coke Studio Pakistan” and “Coke Studio Bangla” enjoy massive popularity even with Indian listeners, the music composer said it’s nice to see the Indian subcontinent shine with musical stories from different countries.

“For me, music is not like the Olympics… It always helps you if a great song comes from your part of the world. It’s exciting, it is a good competition… The whole idea is to make the subcontinent shine,” Tewari told PTI in an interview.

“We are so close to Pakistan and Bangladesh physically but we are completely different in a very interesting way. We have to be honest to who we are… It could be apples and oranges but at the same time, it’s the same thing. They are telling the story of their lands and we are trying to tell the story of our land and its diversity,” he added.

Tewari said he is in constant touch with fellow curators Xulfi (Pakistan) and Shayan Chowdhury Arnob (Bangladesh).

According to the Mumbai-based musician, it’s interesting that both Pakistan and Bangladesh have a strong connection with their languages whereas in India, there is a plurality.

“There are probably one-tenth of the number of languages in Pakistan and in Bangladesh, they take pride in one language, Bangla. In India and in ‘Coke Studio Bharat’, we celebrate diversity and the regional pride whether it’s Karnataka, Gujarat or Kashmir. We take those stories forward which probably you wouldn’t end up seeing in other places. But, at the same time, it’s exciting to hear music from them.”

The second chapter of “Coke Studio Bharat” will be launched on February 9. The first song of the new season will be “Magic” by Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh and Norwegian dance group The Quick Style.

The work of a curator, Tewari said, is to run “a writers room for stories” and then, cast them with musicians. This season, he is joined by lyricists Swanand Kirkire, Kausar Munir and sound engineer and music producer KJ Singh.

“We believe in telling stories that connect people and hearts. The idea is you construct narratives people relate with. People never forget how you make them feel. You have to make them feel through the stories. When you hear a song, you should feel the song is a soundtrack from your life.

“We have a think-tank with Kausar Munir, KJ and Swanand Kirkire and a bunch of people from the Universal team… We all get together to jam on ideas.”

Tewari, known for his work on films such as “Gully Boy”, “The Archies”, and web series “Made in Heaven”, said they are trying to be more audacious and reach out to bigger audiences with the upcoming season of “Coke Studio Bharat”.

“There were some learnings from the last season and a lot of encouragement. Some of our songs did really really well, so the idea in this season is to just take it further and be probably more audacious and braver and try out more things.

“The whole idea of ‘Coke Studio’ is to remove the walls between people, at least that’s how I imagined it. I don’t believe in genres of mainstream or indie, folk or non-folk. You put two interesting people together, the wall should collapse and they should see where they connect and how their stories match. So my idea is to almost be like a matchmaker,” he said.

Last February, “Coke Studio India” resumed its programming after an eight-year break, rechristened as “Coke Studio Bharat”.