Electronica Duo Burudu Offer Minimalist Agony on Latest Track ‘Zardin Zetwal’

When Sahil Bhatia and Nakul Sharma met in late 2012 at Kingston University in London, they were both composing music individually. “We made our first song purely as an exercise for fun,” says Bhatia. The collaboration grew stronger and the pair quickly realized that they work well together. They then formed Burudu in early 2013.

Burudu’s debut EP Sun Theory was released on the Kent-based label Seamless Recordings in 2014. The pair has previously released singles from labels in the U.K. and has been releasing music independently since Sun Theory. They are now back with their latest offering, the commanding new track “Zardin Zetwal” with Mauritius-based rapper Milan Myckee featured on the song.  In this interview with Rolling Stone India Bhatia and Sharma talk about the new song, working with Myckee, performing at festivals and their upcoming plans.

What is the inspiration behind your brand new track “Zardin Zetwal”?

Sharma – Sahil and I decided to spend 15 days in Mauritius in March with a simple agenda to absorb the culture of the island, and in the process, we met Myckee. His thoughts resonated with ours and we felt that this could be a great opportunity to speak of a message not bound by region. The meaning of Zardin Zetwal is Garden of Stars, and through the song Myckee essentially talks about how we are consumed by the system we live in and it’s due to that we lose the ability to enjoy the gift of life. It was this thought that fuelled every element of this song, especially the lyrics penned down by Myckee, and also the music. I think there’s a moment when people collaborating on a song find a connect. It is at this point that a high level of trust and creative freedom amongst each other comes in; and I felt that happened during the process of the song. We all felt strongly about the message and a belief settled in that this song could become special.

How did the collaboration with Milan come about?

Bhatia – We worked on a number of songs during our stay in Mauritius. One day when we were visiting Daniella Bastien, an artist who we’ve collaborated with, we realized that she knows of that one boy who we saw online months before free styling like wildfire. We remembered being enamored by it. So we asked her if she could get us in touch with him, and she very kindly did. That brought Myckee into our lives. We had a feeling that a collaboration between him and us would lead to something interesting. So, during our last few days on the island, we took an idea we had, added elements to it, structured it, and played it to Myckee on the porch of Nakul’s house. It’s history from there.

Where did you guys record the track and where did you’ll mix and master it?

Sharma – We recorded the song a couple of days after meeting Myckee in the south of Mauritius. The mix and master was done by Dajaun Martineau in Toronto, an engineer we’ve been working with for our upcoming album.

When are you planning to release the new album?

Sharma – We’ve been working on it for over a year now and it should hopefully be coming out around September.

You guys have been making a mark with your DJ sets and live sets at venues and festivals around the country. Could you’ll tell me about some of those experiences?

Bhatia – Nakul and I have now been working for five years, and for the first couple of them I would say we were simply studio people. Our attention was directed towards making songs and more songs. It’s been two or something years that we’ve been playing DJ sets and about one year that we’ve been playing live sets. We take time with everything. I would say our DJ sets have a quirky ”˜come vibe with us’ persona, while our live sets are intense in emotions, setup, and chaos. Playing the live set at Magnetic Fields (Alsisar) in 2016 was absolutely surreal. We’ve never been more nervous in our lives! A mini live set that we performed at Sofar Sounds (New Delhi) was supremely memorable too, as was the live set we played for one of the FRWD nights at Antisocial; while this year and last, we’ve had some superb DJ shows at various venues across the country.

How has the whole experience of making “Zardin Zetwal” been?

Bhatia – This song was a quite an experience for us, from meeting Myckee to recording the song to finally filming the music video, all within a span of 5 days. The experience was inebriating. We feel blessed to have had the opportunity to work with the kind of people we’ve worked with, and its experiences like these that make everything so special for us. With this song, we feel that it’s touched a few people, and with the album we hope to do the same.

Watch the music video for “Zardin Zetwal” below: