Composers’ Workshop At Mumbai Association Of Moving Images festival

British composer Ilan Eshkeri

The 15th edition of Mumbai Academy of Moving Images’ [MAMI] Film Festival is already underway, but there’s a new addition to the festival’s schedule ”“ The Composers Lab, a composers workshop where five upcoming composers will interact with international film music composers and Bollywood music directors between October 21st to 23rd.

Composers selected to be part of the workshop include Achint Thakkar [former frontman of psychedelic rock band Rosemary], Shane Mendonsa [one half of EDM duo Brute Force], Anjo John [bassist of alt rock band Artshop and trip hop act The Blot Thing], Ujjwal Agarwal [music producer and media designer] and Anchal Talesara and Alokananda Dasgupta, both of whom have previously composed music in Bollywood. Thakkar, who applied to be part of the Composers Lab after a friend recommended it, says, “I sent in all my previous short film scores and my instrumental tracks from SoundCloud. It’s going to be an introduction [to the film music industry] for me.” Thakkar in turn recommended it to friend Anjo John. Says John, “One of the films I composed for – Crossing Bridges – is also screening at MAMI, so this is great. With Composers Lab, there’s a certain sense of experience I want to get. I want to understand the psychology of sound in film and sound design.”

Organized by Britain’s Abbey Road Studios, UK music publishing company PRS for Music and Bohemia Junction Limited, who represent Abbey Road in India, the Composers Lab includes a two-day workshop with British composers Ilan Eshkeri [who composed the film score for action-comedy movies such as Kick-Ass and Johnny English Reborn and 2010 drama film Coriolanus] and Andrew Mackay [who founded Bohemia Junction Limited]. Indian composers who are part of the workshop panel include Amit Trivedi, drummer Ranjit Barot and producer Shantanu Hudlikar, among others. The Composers Lab concludes with a masterclass, will include an Q &A session with Eshkeri as well as a discussion with Abbey Road Studios’ mastering and mix engineers, Jatanil Banerjee [from PRS for Music] and Universal Music India managing director Achille Forler, among others.