Bengaluru-based indie musician Bruce Lee Mani joins The Recording Academy
Thermal and a Quarter's frontman Bruce Lee Mani finds himself to now be a member of The Recording Academy
Bruce Lee Mani, frontman of Bengaluru-based band Thermal and a Quarter recently received an invitation to join the Recording Academy, and he’s over the moon about it! Ask the guitarist and singer on how it happened and he says, “To get an invitation from the Recording Academy, you have to get referred by an existing member and industry veterans. I was referred by two musicians, one of whom was composer Ehsaan Noorani. I got the invite sometime in July and submitted all the paperwork and information that was asked of me.”
Mani, who is set to attend a few workshops hosted by the Recording Academy, further shares, “I’m still figuring out what my role will be going forward. It’s all brand to me. What I know for sure is that I’ll be a voting member for their prestigious Grammy awards henceforth. I will also be responsible in promoting music on a local and national level.”
The 47-year-old was taken by surprise when he found out about the invitation. “It wasn’t something that I was personally seeking in my career. I always knew about it but never thought it would become a reality because it’s something that mainly takes place in the West. But the world is getting smaller. We now even have Grammy award winners in Bengaluru itself (Ricky Kej). It never just comes down to one good song or even a reasonably good career. There is no guarantee what works for you in music but there’s a system in place and it always finds you. I’m very happy that it found me and let’s see where it takes me.”
Ask the indie rock artiste, if he sees this as an opportunity to broaden the horizons of indie music and he says, “I don’t know if it will do anything immediately but I’m sure that many more indie artists like me will see this as recognition. It’s never about competition, but more about whether you can collaborate together, promote and educate people about music, set up spaces for different kinds of expression for music etc. Whatever comes next is just icing on the cake.”
Now that the singer is a member of the Recording Academy, what does his future hold? “I'll still continue doing what I am. Writing, playing and making music, perform with my band, running my music academy and teaching, and a bunch of other music production projects that are in the pipeline. I don't know how the next few years will be and if my career trajectory will change, but for now it's just a nice thing to have happened,” he signs off.
Recommended Topics