Paul Vicc, the Chennai-based electric guitarist of the globally renowned Shillong Chamber Choir, kicks it off with a spirited, reverberating riff of 30 seconds. At that mark, YouTuber and author Ashok Janardhanan picks up the relay with a tune that is more deliberate, before handing it over to Chennai Guitar Fest director Matt Bacon who goes all-out rockstar on it.
On and on it goes, for 11 minutes and 50 seconds, as 30 of Chennai’s leading guitarists bring their own colour to one continuous backing track, in a project called the Ultimate Chennai Guitarists Chillstep Collective.
Dreamed up by Chris Jason, the final edit of this month-long project was released on YouTube this weekend, garnering a little over 3,000 views in the first 24 hours and drawing responses not only from gushing fans, but also from those curious and new to the city’s music circuit.
Chris made the backing track himself — a light, bluesy strum designed to meet his specific requirements. “The E major chord is fun to play on the guitar. I made the track in a way that gives them more space to play with it,” he says over a quick phone chat between gigs.
He started working on it in February, and the entire project was completed within a month. “I had contacted around 35 guitarists for it, 29 of whom got back to me. Not too bad.”
They all had two instructions to follow. The first, of course, was playing to the backup track. The second, in Chris’ words: “I don’t want you to stick to a particular genre. I want you to be yourself.” They did both, with a flourish that makes the final edit a rollercoaster of sheerjoy.
Pool of talent
A guitarist himself, Chris’ choice of fellow artistes is worth a deeper look. There are the out-and-out popular ones like Keba Jeremiah, but there are also those with more niche sounds and slimmer followings. An example of the latter is Baidurjya Banerjee of city-based indie band Attva. As Chris explains, “He played a complicated toprock bit, and had a lot of variety in his solo. His band in general has a lot of soulful Hindi lyrics and toprock music.”
The talent in this one track spans everything from the hardcore metal to the experimentally classical. One of the bits that stand distinctly apart is the composition by Shylu Ravindran, lead guitarist of Jatayu. Shylu’s section, though impressive, was pretty on-brand, considering Jatayu’s style of music. “Shylu clearly has a very Carnatic background. It was interesting to see him interpret it [the backing track] that way,” observes Chris, “Carnatic does not have the kind of harmonies that Western music does, but it has melodies that Western music cannot even come close to.”
But not everyone stuck to their known brand of music: some of them took both Chris and their fans by surprise. Chris takes the example of Cletus Amalan. “He plays Vertigo, which creates soft, ambient indie music. Here, though, he was throwing in note after note every second.”
Variations in this video don’t end with the music alone. The men themselves — yes, they are all men — have interesting bios of their own. Many have made a mark in the scene beyond just their compositions and performances. Ashok Janardhanan is a YouTuber and the author of Guitar Buddy , a book intended at helping budding guitarists figure the instrument out. Roshan George Thomas is an acoustical designer at E Flat solutions, and “designs acoustic panels for home studios.” Ebenezer Premkumar is the director of Muzikgarage, a music school based in Bengaluru. “He is one of the first people I ever worked for. I used to teach guitar at the Adyar branch of his institute,” says Chris.
Others are musicians he came to know of over his years in the circuit, and yet others were recommended to him specifically for this project. Talented as the pool is, he does acknowlede the glut of women in it. “Guitar playing seems to be a men’s sport, for the most part,” he observes, “A lot of people still expect women to only sing: most of those who know the guitar seem to know just enough to back their vocals, and not experiment. I was told of some good guitarists after this track came out, though.”
He adds that this situation is on the mend, at least overseas. “In the international circuit, there are a few really good guitarists coming up now. Nita Strauss and Nili Brosh play hardcore metal, and Lari Basilio is popular on Instagram,” he says.
