The interview with Baiju Dharmajan took place the morning after his show at BFlat. He seemed tired and not exactly in the mood to chat, but I ploughed on. We talked about the performance, Baiju was judicious with his words and he said, “Fantastic.”
It was not the first time he was playing in Bangalore; Baiju has been an established musician for a while and his name commands respect and credibility as far as guitaring genius is concerned.
He shouldered the responsibilities of lead guitarist for the rock band Motherjane and oversaw the band’s rise to becoming one of the pioneers of rock music in India.
After he closed that chapter he wasted no time getting his solo act on the road, backed by a record label, Cochym (old Portuguese name for Cochin), which has been in the music production business for over a year. And three months ago he released his solo project, an instrumental album that he titled ‘Crossovers’.
“It is difficult to define this album or describe the theme – it is a reflection of my feelings and emotions and the audience is welcome to interpret it the way they want,” he said and took me by surprise when he continued to illustrate with an anecdote.
“I wrote a song called ‘Filia’, which was a lullaby for my daughters, but a friend of mine heard it and said it was a beautiful love song. When you have lyrics, the songs are bound by a concept and a thought process. Music is easier with vocals,” Baiju said.
From a family of government employees, Baiju calls his grandfather and himself the rebels.
Inspired by life and the journey with all its ups and downs Baiju said that leaving Motherjane was a choice he was sure about, one he had already made.
“If I need to keep growing as a musician, I need to keep moving.”
Baiju has taken his first step into the Malayalam movie industry and will now begin to focus a considerable amount of energy in that direction.
