Type to search

Artists Home Flashbox Interviews New Music News & Updates Videos

Piyush Mishra Is Taking His Music Project Ballimaaraan on Tour

The Aarambh tour is slated to hit 25 to 30 cities across India, featuring the lyricist, actor, writer and vocalist

Jan 13, 2023

Piyush Mishra live with Ballimaaraan. Photo: Courtesy of Tamboo

Piyush Mishra is in the business of humor with his music project Ballimaaraan, founded by guitarist Nishant Agarwal and percussionist Jayant Patnaik. They socially-conscious messaging in pretty much all of their songs, but the goal remains to have people sing along while also appreciating the satire of it all. “Whether it’s our changing views on sex or how malls are coming up and natural landscapes are disappearing… we sing about these things but in jest. We joke around and have humorous takes on everyone, but we don’t comment. That’s why no one hurts us. We’re cautious of that,” the actor, writer and singer says over the phone.

Ballimaaraan is completed by the likes of familiar indie names including saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Shirish Malhotra, drummer Shreyas Iyengar, bassist Shovon Mukherjee and others. Managed by their backing vocalist Rahul Gandhi (whom Mishra counts as one of the pillars of the band), Ballimaaraan’s Aarambh tour is hitting multiple cities through the new year, with shows in Chandigarh (January 14th), Pune (January 21st), Mumbai (February 4th), Ahmedabad (February 24th), Vadodara (February 25th) and Surat (February 26th) coming up. It’s being put together by art and entertainment company Tamboo.

Mishra says it’s usually a 90-minute setlist, one that has strenuous rehearsals, making him want to preserve his voice as much as possible. “The band has a lot of josh. Sometimes I get knocked out just rehearsing so they tell me to come in after they all do one round of jamming and arranging the songs. There are 15 songs and I have to be on stage to sing all of them. I have to be very conscious of my voice, in that way,” he says.

The mind behind some of the most searing yet hummable songs – “Aarambh Hai Prachand,” (which appeared in the 2009 movie soundtrack for Gulaal) “Husna” (popularized on Coke Studio in 2012) and “Ik Bagal Mein Chand” (from the Anurag Kashyap-directed saga Gangs of Wasseypur) – Mishra says they’ve been regularly changing their sound, adding and deleting thanks to arrangements made by Malhotra. “We wander into new sounds, because of him.”

Compared to its original trio iteration, Ballimaaraan is much more “organized” now, according to Mishra. It still doesn’t change the fact that the rigor of rehearsals and touring with the project make things quite hectic for Mishra. He adds, “I’ve never done [touring on this level] before. It’s quite hectic but mazaa aa raha hain ismein [this is fun].”

The focal point of Ballimaaraan’s performances, as Mishra stresses, are the lyrics. There are plenty of singalong moments but the messaging remains central, according to the artist. Often behind the harmonium and maintaining a conversational tone with his audience as though he was in an old courtyard, Mishra takes songs composed by the likes of Vishal Bhardwaj, Sneha Khanwalkar and his bandmate Patnaik to give them a vociferous life.

More than anything, Mishra believes in the ability of songs like “Uth Jaa Bhau” and “Ghar” to talk to every Indian across strata. “These are such new types of social and political songs and messages that any citizen would definitely have a reaction,” he says. On tour, Ballimaaraan are digging into songs centered around how the world is changing, on money, living in a world of terror attacks and Bombay.

While India has seen projects like Aisi Taisi Democracy (between fusion stalwarts Indian Ocean – another one of Mishra’s collaborators – and lyricist/writer Varun Grover) flourish and tour in the past, Mishra wonders out loud why the socio-political music bands haven’t taken off in the way Ballimaaraan are getting into right now. “There are so many songs being made on love, heartbreak and what not… I mean even we have love songs like ‘Ujla Sheher Hoga’ – it’s a love song in a way but zara hatke [a bit subversive].”

A good remedy might be making an album, which Mishra says Ballimaaran are also working on. While live shows are their main draw, the artist is quick to point out that they’ll never capture the energy of their concerts onto a record. “At the soonest, we’re going to make an album so that people can listen to our music at home and outside. The fun of live music and its energy is totally different, so it’s not one we can capture in a studio setting, I feel. We’ll try, of course, but sometimes that energy is different,” he says.

Get details on the Ballimaaraan – Aarambh tour here.

Tags:

You Might also Like