EXCLUSIVE: 'I had the honour of curating vocals for Brahmastra,' says singer-composer Thomson Andrews

New Delhi: Filmmaker Ayan Mukerji's Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva is making the right kind of noise. The fantasy adventure entertainer features Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna Akkineni and Mouni Roy in lead roles. The film was theatrically released on September 9, 2022, in standard formats, 3D, IMAX 3D and 4DX 3D respectively. Singer-composer Thomson Andrews in an interview with Zee News Digital talked about his experience of working with Pritam in the movie, his upcoming projects and much more.

Q. Tell us about the Brahmastra background score.

A. Many people have no idea that I practised Hindustani Classical singing for four years in the Gwalior Gharana, as well as being influenced by Sufi music, Bollywood cinema music, and Ghazals. I've always been fascinated by music in many languages, and I've sung in over 14 of them. Singing in Sanskrit was a lot of joy, especially the shlokas we performed for the movie Brahmastra because they are both peaceful and illuminating. I had the honour of also curating the vocals for Music Director Pritam for the film teaser and trailer of Brahmastra; wherein I brought on board some of India’s top vocalists to sing on this mammoth project; and its awesome that the film’s Trailer has received so much praise and positive reviews from fans and critics across the globe.

 

 

 

 

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Q.  When did you start in Bollywood?

A. As a Catholic youngster, I always had a musical streak, singing hymns at church and at home with my family during our personal prayer time. Music was not my first professional choice when I was a teenager; instead, I concentrated on science in college with the goal of becoming a doctor. My ancestors and no one else in my family had ever chosen the arts as a vocation, so music was never a consideration for me.

However, by the time I graduated from high school, I had already begun touring worldwide, performing in France, Germany, and Spain, and singing alongside industry veterans. I began my career as an HR professional for a US corporation's Indian operations and afterwards worked in a telecom company's audit department in Mumbai. On weekends, I would sing and act on stage for live events, studio recordings for Bollywood films, commercial jingles, Disney film dubbing, and other projects. After performing on stage with Maestro A R Rahman, industry professionals such as Clinton Cerejo, Suzanne Dmello, Rupert Fernandes, and others began recommending me for work with renowned music directors and ad agencies to hire me as a singer for studio sessions for big banner projects, top brands, and more. This was the turning point in my career as a singer and now I am super blessed to have been a part of the best films, ads, live events and having worked with all of India’s Iconic Music Composers and Singers as a playback singer, performer and vocal arranger in my 12 year long music career. 

 

 

 

 

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Q. Tell us about your future projects. 

A. I've had more time to work on my music, develop new content, and finish unfinished projects since the Covid pandemic. Last year, I sang for three OTT films - LUDO, Jingle Jangle, The Christmas Chronicles 2, and this year, I've been busy singing for Music director Pritam on the BGM for Ayan Mukherji's ‘Bramhastra’, 3 animated Netflix projects and 2 Apple TV projects. I just sang for Disney’s musical film Encanto, which has recently been released. Currently, I’m working on Netflix’s animated children’s series Centaurworld seasons 1 & 2, Apple TV’s upcoming web series Raphanis, wherein I am the singing voice of the character ‘Wembley’, singing on the iconic series Sesame Street and dubbing as the character voice of Gonger. 

I have also sung on the Marvel Studios ‘HAWK EYE’ series, Brahmastra, a recent Marathi film playback song released in the movie Zombivali, an upcoming Telugu Jazz playback song, several Ad jingles for Nykaa, Hero, Facebook TVC’s, 7 of my own singles as a singer-songwriter releasing this year and 25+ singles releasing of other talented Indie artists via my Indie Record Label ‘Throan Of Art Music’. Besides this, I have been simultaneously focusing on my startup as an Entrepreneur as I launched my company THROAN OF ART (TOA MEDIAWORKS LLP), which is a production house that produces films, and music videos and has also been doing PR, Marketing and Advertising since 2017. My team and I have been working tirelessly on my vision of an Indie label and last year in 2021 we brought it to life as THROAN OF ART MUSIC and launched several promising Indie Singer-Songwriters and artists, providing them support, promotions, and overall artist development, which has always been something I’ve wanted to do, as a way to mentor upcoming talent and give back to the artist community. 

Q. Who are your favourite Indian singers and musicians?

A. Few of my favourite Indian Singers are Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher, Lucky Ali, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Goshal, KK, late Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Arijit for their talent and sheer brilliance in the field of music. There are many Indian composers who I love working and its tough to chose any specific name as I’ve worked with all of them and each of them have a unique spin and creative approach towards their compositions which I love about them.

Q. Pick your International favourites. 

A. Chris Martin, Late Ray Charles, Pharrell Williams, The Weekend, Stevie Wonder, Late Micheal Jackson, Mark Ronson, Late Elvis Presley, Shawn Mendes, Beyonce, Lady gaga, Kim Burrell, John Legend and Micheal Bubble to name a few.

Q. What’s in your playlist?

A. Indi-pop, Lo-fi, Electronic synth-based music, Pop, Rnb, Funk and Jazz music. I listen to many singer-songwriters and Artists like Eric Bennett, Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Jacob Collier, Stevie Wonder, and Billie Eilish to name a few.