It’s not difficult to fall in love with Sahej Bakshi. He’s young, quirky, successful and looks every bit an angel from grunge heaven as his fingers touch the metal wires. To top it all, in a world full of ‘artistes’ clearly out of their comfort zones, this boy is a breath of fresh air.
Just three years into the business, Sahej -- better known as one-man band Dualist Inquiry -- has come to create a genre of no genres. “Why does music need to be put into brackets? It’s music, isn’t that enough. I make music that sounds good, to me and to others, how does it matter what genre it falls into?”
For the uninitiated, one could define this 26-year-old’s music as electronica meets punk meets EDM. After all, his all-time favourite still remains LA-based rap metal band, Rage Against the Machine.
A graduate from Thornton Music School, LA, the Delhi boy performed live at The Blue Blazer, Sector 26, on Friday night, this being his third gig in the city. Ask him if Chandigarh is receptive to his music and he says, “Yes, I love the fact that people of Chandigarh are finally into electronica. It feels great having people actually looking forward to your music.” And what about female fan following; could it be because of that face? “I didn’t even know I had a female fan following here!”
After releasing his debut EP (extended play) in 2011 -- Dualism -- Sahej launched his first-ever LP, Doppelganger, online on March 15, and has been on his 11-city tour ever since to promote it. What catches one’s fancy in the album are the unusual track names -- Soleil, Exile, Blitzkrieg, Anathema, 6am (because it was made at 6 am) -- which, Sahej maintains, are the only words he uses to express the emotion behind each song. “My music is all music, no lyrics. It’s only that one word which describes the chemical reaction going on in my head. So, I do extensive research for finding that one word that can encapsulate everything I want to say through that particular track,” comes the explanation.
{{/usCountry}}After releasing his debut EP (extended play) in 2011 -- Dualism -- Sahej launched his first-ever LP, Doppelganger, online on March 15, and has been on his 11-city tour ever since to promote it. What catches one’s fancy in the album are the unusual track names -- Soleil, Exile, Blitzkrieg, Anathema, 6am (because it was made at 6 am) -- which, Sahej maintains, are the only words he uses to express the emotion behind each song. “My music is all music, no lyrics. It’s only that one word which describes the chemical reaction going on in my head. So, I do extensive research for finding that one word that can encapsulate everything I want to say through that particular track,” comes the explanation.
{{/usCountry}}Given ‘Dualist’ and ‘Doppelganger’, what’s your fascination with all things double? “It’s like I’m in a persistent struggle with the alter ego. We create music together.”
Who is Sahej Bakshi?
Better known as Dualist Inquiry (DI), Sahej Bakshi is a guitarist, music producer and ‘cerebral agent’ who opened for David Guetta and Fatboy Slim during their India tours. While he was a part of Dewarists season 2, where he collaborated with Sufi band Advaita, DI also performed at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, UK, for DJ Shadow. To his credit, he has also performed at the NH7 Weekender, opening for Basement Jaxx, in addition to headlining Sula Fest 2012, closing the night after Nitin Sawhney’s first-ever performance in India. Today, Sahej produces his own tracks under his record company, Dualism Records. Hard copies of his recently released album, Doppelganger will be made available on Flipkart soon.