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In conversation with a capella group RaagaTrippin'

RaagaTrippin', a Mumbai-based a capella group that performed at the IPL opening ceremony in Kolkata earlier this week, tells Averil Nunes what sets their sound apart a cappella: Italian for 'in the manner of the Church', is a song sung without instrumental accompaniment

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RaagaTrippin’ (clockwise from top left): Alan De Souza, Suzanne D’Mello Gary Misquitta, Thomson Andrews, Keshia Braganza & Gwen Dias
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From All About That Bass and Chammak Challo to gospel arrangements and patriotic melodies, a capella sextet RaagaTrippin'— comprising Alan De Souza, Gary Misquitta, Gwen Dias, Keshia Braganza, Suzanne D'Mello and Thomson Andrews — is as versatile as they come. The complexity of their arrangements has evolved since their first project Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu for Mtunes in 2012. Their Bollywood adventure began in December 2012 with the background score for Ankush Mittal's Mumbai Mirror and went on to include songs like Pakeezah (Ungli), India Waale (Happy New Year) and Tu Meri (Bang Bang). They've taken the stage at the Radio Mirchi and GIMA Awards and more recently performed Rabindranath Tagore's Anondo Loke with Pritam at the IPL 2015 opening ceremony.

But perhaps you're more familiar with their work as individuals. Suzanne, who has been in the industry for about 23 years, has a massive body of work including Latika's Theme in Slumdog MiIlionaire, though she thinks of that as "global recognition for good humming" and is still waiting for her voice to be recognised in the pop style that it suits. Thomson Andrews, who has been singing commercially for seven years now, is the voice behind Bach Ke Bakshi (Detective Byomkesh Bakshy), Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's Sheher Mera and a whole lot more. The many instruments you hear accompanying their voices are Alan — you've probably heard him in 90% of the TV ads featuring a beatbox effect, including the Usha Fan ad — at his beatboxing best. In sync with him is Gary — who had worked on ad jingles for Allen Solly and the 92.7 BIG FM Radio signature tune — vocalizing the bass. The diverse palatte of unique sounds you hear are courtesy Gwen, who has toured with Arijit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan. And that rich throaty voice — you may have heard in a Tic Tac ad amongst others — belongs to Keshia, the baby of the group.

"We do a little more than oohs," says Gary. "Four of us do the harmonies. Alan comes in with the groove and Gary with the bass; that's how we form a whole track vocally without any instruments. We are the instruments," explains Thomson. Suzanne, typically has a blueprint in her head of who will sing what and when, the minute she hears a song. "But when the voices are finally singing those parts, there are things I want to tweak and change," she admits. "One thing inspires another, and you know something sounds good when it feels good". The group is perpetually working on ways to take their act a notch higher —whether through their stage performances or rearranging songs.

 

 

Their voices can replace a string or guitar section, electronic piano, even a phaser and a vocoder. The dynamic articulation, modulation and pitch variation involved requires exercising several muscles of the face that most people never use in their lifetime. Suzanne's soothing mid-tones, Keisha's rich low bass, Gwen's husky voice that is versatile enough to mimic guitar twangs, Thomson's contemporary R&B/gospel/funk stylings, Gary shuffling between second/third tenor and bass sounds and Alan switching between third tenor/baritone and beat-boxing — each of their voices is crucial to adding depth, texture and layers to their work.

Listening to each other becomes important with the style they've adopted. One wrong note could throw them all off, domino style. "If we just sing without listening to the other person, everyone would need earplugs," laughs Suzanne.With the large spectrum of sounds, pitch changes and effects involved in a single performance, you can bet their sound engineer Chester Misquitta has his work cut out for him. "It's actually like equalizing sounds for a band. It's just that he's got a bigger task to do because it's all vocals," notes Alan.

These singer-songwriters also sing in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, French, Spanish, Swahili, Punjabi and other languages, breaking words they don't understand down to phonemes to pick up the lyrics, one syllable at a time. "If you want to pick up a part fast, the best thing to do is to just listen to the part constantly," says Keshia. According to Suzanne, "People do realise that we are not native speakers of Tamil or Telegu, but a capella is a western concept, so our accent doesn't stand out as much as our singing style. With Bollywood songs we try to be as Indian as possible, especially with the melody. That's as much as people pay attention to".

They've appeared on MTV Coke Studio and Unplugged, worked with Amit Trivedi and AR Rahman, done a capella renditions of songs they have written for ArtistAloud, have a highly frequented YouTube channel, and have performed at events across the country and even abroad. They have all worked as backing vocalists for reputed artists, "but to finally have an opportunity to be the ones in front, is another thing altogether".

Finding people brave enough to experiment with new sounds is difficult, but they are hopeful. As Suzanne puts it: "We take the trouble to invest our time and creativity. Everybody knows hard work pays, though it may take time".

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