Ritviz on importance of 'finding one's voice', response to 'Udd Gaye' and the future of EDM in India

As the electronic music scene in India transforms to accommodate more original voices, Ritviz Srivastava from Pune seems to have left an indelible mark. Breaking into the Indian EDM scene with his iconic ‘ Udd Gaye ’, the singer came in with fresh sounds and even fresher concepts. EDM as a genre in India is still largely and often misunderstood. Ritviz may have, unwittingly at the time, created a track which introduced masses to a genre, which was already popularised (in certain circles) heavily by Udyan Sagar aka Nucleya.

Ritviz was announced the winner of Bacardi House Party Session, India, where his single ‘Udd Gaye’ was hand-picked and released by comedy group AIB and Nucleya in 2017. The two-year journey in his own words, has been “epic”. “From ‘Udd Gaye’ onwards, it’s been like a dream. The response that we got on ‘Udd Gaye’ was phenomenal. But my entire team knew that the pressure on the second track would be significantly high. We released the next single within six months and that was the most difficult part. Yet, it got good response from audiences and that’s when I realised that every song will find its own people.”

Ritviz’s music is bass heavy with a generous influence of Hindustani classical music. Talking about the ever-fluid EDM space, Ritviz emphasises the need for musicians to find “their own sound.” “It’s imperative that we do not emulate the West. Only when Indian composers strive to make unique sounds, will producers invest in ground-breaking soundtracks.” Much like other Indian sectors, Ritviz feels one of the biggest drawbacks that EDM faces in the country is its format-driven approach. “More people should focus on content, this will make a big difference. I personally feel the next five years are going to be huge for independent music composers in India.”

Having had a strong musical influence while growing up, the composer remains indebted to his mother who is a music teacher. The 22-year-old composer is reportedly trained in several Hindustani classical vocal styles, including Dhrupad (for which he trained under Pandit Uday Bhawalkar at the age of 10) and Khayal (for which he learnt from his mother).

Surviving in an industry which faces formidable competition from Bollywood remix numbers while creating a mark may well become a challenge for most. However, for Ritviz, the process of composition comes rather organically. “Even though I’ve had friends who still struggle to find their voice, I’ve fortunately managed to go with the flow. I cannot imagine myself doing something other than creating and producing music. The minute ‘business’, ‘format’, and other such things begin bothering me, I’m sure my music will die.”

The vocal melody of ‘Udd Gaye’ comes across to most as a sad melody, however the instrumental version has a happy tonality to it — a fact pointed out by Nucleya. Ritviz feels the same occurs with ‘ Jeet ’, though why this pattern repeats, the composer has no clue. “There’s no pre-thinking, really.”

Following the compisition, however, the artist does pitch in for the visuals. ‘Udd Gaye’s video, conceptualised by Reema Sengupta from Catnip, was significantly praised. ‘Jeet’, which sees a bunch of women re-discover themselves through a joyous, absurdist journey, was also lauded. “I don’t say much in this regard, especially since the people involved are already knocking it out of the park. But the ending shot for ‘Jeet’, was all me,” laughs Ritviz.

Since the electronic music space does not yet have the media exposure that Bollywood cherishes, inter-community support becomes an important factor. Much like the push which he himself received from Nucleya, Ritviz feels its necessary to appreciate nascent talent and give them their due recognition. However, over-publicising is always problem. “If I go about promoting every third artist, the platform may lose its value. I also have to create my own space with my work. Once you have content in place, I feel other things automatically fall into place.” Ritviz’s personal favourite is the up and coming, experimental band Lifafa.

Personally, the only challenge that Ritviz faces as a music producer is his complete dependence on himself to do almost everything. As much as it;s exciting, this often gets daunting. “It can get taxing for me sometimes,” he admits.

‘ Ved ’, Ritviz’s third single from his debut album, released in February and presently has almost 5.5 million views on YouTube.