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Dhiren
Raichura could very make versatility his middle name.
A music producer, composer, arranger and song writer,
he works wonders on the guitar while being equally at
home with keyboards, saxophone, harmonium and a whole
range of string and percussion instruments. If there
is one instrument he has to "conquer" it is
the violin, and though he admits that he loves to take
up the challenge offered by musical instruments, tackling
the violin makes him impatient. Patience, he says, is
not one of his virtues- at least, not when it comes
to music.
That introduction to the
man was of course, was too much in one go. But then,
as with the nuns dilemma of "solving a problem
like Maria," Dhiren, too, is bundled energy, and
too much of a music verve. Proof to the theorem: he
learned the entire musical instruments as a lone self,
without formal guns or menators, often taking it up
as a challenge.
The guitar for one. He
was in London, working with a local band. The "resident
guitarist," felt Raichura, was playing all the
wrong codes. With a certain audacity that comes with
confidence, he walks to the guy and says: "Hey,
you are getting it all wrong," to which the snide
was: " Kid, what do you know about guitars?"
"Gimme one month, and I will do it better than
you," says Raichura as he walks out.
"Indeed, it took
12 hours-practicing three hours for four weeks, and
I went back to the band, and played for the note. By
the way, the guy and me are thick friends now,"
says Raichura.
A perfect shot for a film, needless to say.
But there is nothing filmy
about the man other than that he has accompanied most
of Bollywood's playback singers, in addition to doing
a bit in the UK pop group All Saint's movie.
Dhiren was born to Gujarati parents in Malawi. His father
played the harmonium at many Indian functions, and his
mother wrote poetry. As a little boy, he used to accompany
his father on the music functions, and was soon performing
percussion instruments with local bands. He played congos,
bongos, and was sort of a child star. At the age of
11, he performed to a 10,000-strong crowd.
When the "great Indian
immigration" from Uganda to the UK was triggered
off thanks to (in retrospective) Idi Amin's atrocities,
the repercussions were felt in neighboring Malawi too.
"Those who chose to stay back in Malawi are doing
extremely well," says Raichura, whose next destination
was the UK. He had just finished secondary school, and
the relocation did not affect him much except of course,
leaving behind friends.
He was initially in Leicester
where he worked with local Indian bands "on the
keyboards" before moving on to London. It was here
he was challenged to take up Guitar, and soon that was
to become his main instrument. He studied Western Classical
Orchestration, and harmony & Counterpoint to brush
off the cobwebs of self-study, which he says, leads
you to many bad habits. "You've got to realize
them only with time and experience, but by then, you
are so accustomed you cannot change them," he says.
An offer to work with
the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as a session
musician for BBC. In their pioneering Indian cultural
programme, a Naya Zindagi Nayi Jeevan, was a milestone
in his career. Promoting artistes from the film industry
as well as classical and ghazal singers, the experience
enriched his repertoire and versatility. Probably, this
is where he fine-tuned his abilities to play Hindustani
and Carnatic music with the same proficiency as Western
op or jazzy funk. He accompanied illustrious artistes
such as Lata Mangeshkar, Ustaad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
Noor Jahan, Manna Dey, Ustaad Riaz Khan, Hariharan,
Gulam Ali, Pankaj Udhaas, Talat Aziz, Abida Parveen
and Parvez Mehdi, among others. He composed music for
television productions such as Into Music for BBC2,
Chalte Chalte for Granada Television, Panchayat for
Zee TV, and scored the music for the award-winning documentary,
Badalte Rishte.
Setting up his own production
studio, Studio Beats in the UK, he engineered and mastered
the soundtrack of the Shekhar Kapoor-film, Bandit Queen,
for CD release. All soundtracks of the special musical
showcase held at the Royal Albert Hall, Madhurasa, were
done at his studio. Popularity came by word of mouth,
and performers from the sub-continent; it was heartening
to know that they could bank on the ability of a UK
citizen of Indian Origin, who fully understood their
requirements.
Raichura engineered the
grand concert featuring Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia,
Louis Banks, Kari Peters, Bala And Larry, and recorded
the classical vocalists Kishori Amonkar. He also composed
and performed for British pop singer Geri Halliwell
in the album, Schitzophonic, and the Mercury Award winning
Talvin Singh's OK. He was associated with composing
jingles and had a string of blue-chip clients including
Royal Navy, Royal Institute of Blind, British Telecom
and Royal Mail.
Working closely with Bollywood and Indipop musicians
was a tempting invitation for Raichura to try out the
musical fiefdom of India." Moreover, I felt my
musical life kind of stagnating, and I wanted to venture
in to films. I have always received huge support from
artistes like Hariharan, Les and Anup Jalota, and was
studying the possibility of relocating to India for
quite some time," Raichura says.
But he never got to try out there because the UAE proved
more luring. He had visited Abu Dhabi at the insistence
of his friend, Deepak Sakaria, and the sweet and true
cliché struck: " I fell in love with the
place." Before he knew it, and giving scant regard
to the doubting skepticism of his friends, Raichura
had sold his studio in the UK, bundled up his equipment
and was in Dubai.A recording company hired him but it
ran into trouble, and he was grounded. The positive
note was that he had top-notch equipment. "I could
not go India because with all my equipment, I would
have been bombarded with duty, and UK was out of question.
I had broken my contacts, and within the five months
they would have forged new ties. I would have been a
misfit there," recalls Raichura.
It was a challenging time, and he choose to fight back."
I decided to make my life here, and fortunately, I soon
found my partner. And within Five months I was up and
moving. "Now, he is director of Music House in
Bur Dubai, busy doing the varied jobs of marketing,
producing and engineering music. He has already made
his presence felt in ad jingles, and has worked on the
Sharp and Kodak TV commercials, and Siemens mobile,
Indus Valley Basmati, Dalds and Damas audio jingles.
Working with Arab and
regional artistes lending his musical expertise for
their album, Raichura is arranging the music for local
singer Yasser Habib. "We are planning an album,
Yasser & Dhiren," he says. He also arranged
the music for one of the songs of Hanana, an Egyptian
singer. "She loved the music so much, it is now
the title track of the album," says Raichura.
Impressed by the musical versatility of RD Burman, IIayaraja
and AR Rahman to name a few Indian composers, Raichura's
next goal is the film industry. For a man, who loves
to "draw" music so that it cuts across linguistic
and regional boundaries, the UAE seems a perfect base
to diversify his portfolio before maybe moving out to
work with some Bollywood stalwarts in their turf.
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