YDERABAD: At a time when digital media is gaining prominence and the world is on the cusp of being introduced to a generation where independent music is going to thrive – Tollywood playback singer Dinker Kalvala is making waves with his new web-series Jam Room.
Dinker, who shot to fame with ‘Ninnala Lede’ from It’s My Love Story (2011), has decided to showcase his raw talent to the audience through Jam Room.
“The basic idea behind Jamroom is to come out with music videos without any production. We shoot everything – audio and video – on a smartphone, and everything that you see is purely live - nothing recorded,” he says.
It all started when Dinker had gone to the United States for a concert. When he suddenly found himself with some free time, he decided to use the brick wall inside his aunt’s house as a background to record live indoor sessions. And voila, Jam Room was conceived.
“The basic idea is to bring out the pure, raw music out of a musician. I want the audience to feel the music and find out how it sounds without any recording. It brings out the real talent in you. Four episodes have released so far and all of them have been shot in the US. From our 5th episode, the shooting will take place in India,” the singer informs.
But while the base will now shift back to India, the live sessions will not include performances in the streets, with public participation. At least, not yet. “The problem with doing something in public is that since we’re only shooting with a smartphone, the sound will not be very clear. We do plan to do that sometime in the future, but for the next 20-25 episodes, I want the sessions to be interior,” Dinker shares.
While many young singers are experimenting with their own music in platforms like YouTube, Dinker felt there was a lack of space for live music on the Internet. “You have so many channels on YouTube these days but I haven’t come across anything which is not pre-recorded. They record everything in the studio and they try to just lip-sync or act in the video. We want to bring out the pure talent in an artist. I wanted to showcase my talent first, and then maybe include more singers along with me in the later episodes,” explains the 29-year-old.
The venture has been received positively by the audience, with several thousands liking the video, and dozens of comments requesting for more have been coming through. In the first four episodes that have released so far, Dinker has performed covers of popular songs like ‘Roobaroo’, ‘Woh Lamhe’, ‘Give Me Some Sunshine’, ‘ Nalone Pongenu Narmada’, among others.
“For the first 25 episodes or so, I want to reach the people first with covers. Later, I plan to start my own independent music, and that’s the reason I started a YouTube channel,” he shares.
While the web series is keeping him busy, Dinker also has his hands full with playback singing, have sung for over 100 films in Tollywood. His latest song was ‘Waiting Waiting’ in Nanna Nenu Naa Boyfriends, which released this Friday. The singer says playback singing and independent music each have their own sets of challenges.
“When it comes to playback singing, the audience want the songs to be catchy and they have certain expectations from it based on the visual appeal. You also have to satisfy the demands of the music director. The content or the feel that the music director wants to showcase must be there.”
“But when it comes to Independent music, I have a lot more freedom because I can do all sorts of experiments in the way I want to do. Even while doing a cover song, we don’t want to sound exactly like the original. We make minor changes in the tune and give our own take on the song,” he reveals, passionately.
When asked if starting his own web series helps him as an actor, Dinker observes, “Definitely it does, because true talent comes out only when you try something new, in a different way. Bringing a song to our singing and style makes a huge difference. Just reproducing these songs as the original doesn’t interest me. I like to make modifications and changes in the songs.”
Up next, Dinker has a bunch of films lined up, including Pizza 2, which hits screens next month. He also plans to take his web series to the next level in a few months time.
“Initially, we wanted to release a video every 10 days because we wanted to observe the public response to it. Starting from December 30, we plan to release an episode every week. Also, I’m planning to take Jam Room to the next level after a few months. It will be called Jam Room Pro and will include recordings and public performances, etc,” he adds.
And just when you begin to think he has it all figured out, Dinker says that he still has one more ambition to fulfill.“Rahman sir is my all-time favourite and it’s my career ambition to sing a song for him. It’s my ultimate goal as a singer,” he signs off.