AWME Artist Profile - The Bombay Royale

A brand new Melbourne-based ensemble, The Bombay Royale plays slammin’ surf, disco and funk tunes from 1960′s and 1970′s Indian Bollywood films. Whilst many of the great composers of this era such as RD Burman and Anandji-Kalyanji, along with performers such as Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi are household names in India, their music is relatively unknown or performed outside of India. The Bombay Royale project seeks to both reinterpret the material and compose new works drawing on this era for inspiration. The cinematic nature of the music and the many styles from which it borrows makes for a heady cocktail of Eastern and Western influences.

The band is fronted by Parvyn Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya who sing largely in Hindi. Parvyn comes from a family of professional musicians – she is the daughter of  Australian World music pioneer Dya Singh – and has been singing and dancing on stage for almost as long as she can remember. Shourov, like many Indian kids of his generation, grew up listening to Bollywood music as part of his family’s record collection. The rest of the band is drawn from the cream of Melbourne’s live music scene, featuring key members of bands such as Labjacd, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, San Lazaro, Mr Savona, Vulgargrad and Illzilla. Also of note is the addition of multi-instrumentalist Josh Bennett who plays sitar, tabla and the bowed Indian dilruba.

The term ‘Bollywood’ has origins in the 1970s, when India’s film industry (centred in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay), overtook America as the world’s largest film producer. Known for it’s masala mix of melodramatic romance, action and music, the songs in most Bollywood films are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip-synching the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing.

The Bombay Royale gave its debut performance in April 2010 and are currently preparing themselves for global domination and the sweet spoils of success.

The Bombay Royale are appearing as part of the Australasian World Music Expo at the Hi Fi Bar Toff on Sunday 21st November 2010 with Femi Kuti & the Positive Forece (Nigeria), Future Roots (Australia) and DJ Mr Fish (La Reunion/Australia). Tickets are $58 + BF from http://www.thehifi.com.au/

http://www.myspace.com/thebombayroyale