Ramil Ganjoo’s New Songs ‘Fursat’ and ‘Sandook’ Bring Production Experiments
Singer-songwriter and producer works with sounds recorded from Mumbai streets and nimble percussive elements on his latest tracks
Singer-singwriter Ramil Ganjoo. Photo: Aniket Mishra and Ayush Mishra/Robach Music
This year marks a steady and prolific period for artist Ramil Ganjoo, who’s released four solo singles in 2024, the latest of them being “Fursat” and “Sandook.”
Swearing by the intimacy that singer-songwriters often grow well-known for, Ganjoo has followed his 2023 album Khaak with songs like “Ek Roz” with singer-songwriter Avanti Singh and the monsoon-themed lush tune “Pehli Baarish.” In September, Ganjoo released “Fursat,” which speaks to the experience of making a bustling city like Mumbai a home.
It’s filled with recordings of the streets as well as phone messages and more, progressing with a kind of rhythmic unevenness that keeps you hooked. “I wanted it to sound as if someone’s lost in the city and to create that feel I’ve used several percussive and melodic elements which I had recorded from the streets of Mumbai. It’s one of those songs for me where I could hear the production while I was writing it,” he says.
The instrumentation and production were intentionally “chaotic” in a way that it mirrored the lyrics of dissonance. In putting out the song, Ganjoo got plenty of “heartwarming messages” from people who had moved from different towns to Mumbai. Among them was a message from a listener who apologized for not being able to listen to his songs, but shared that Ganjoo’s music was a place where the listener “found clarity and realized many things about life.” Ganjoo calls the feeling of making such an impact as “surreal.”
“Fursat” added to the theme of Ganjoo’s next release, “Sandook” (translating from Hindi to “chest” in a manner to recall a place of storage) which released on Nov. 8, 2024. Toying with an OP-1 synth, the artist draws from nostalgia in a way that’s deeply personal. He adds about “Sandook” in a statement, “I usually write alone, even if I’m collaborating. It’s important to me that my songs feel authentic and unfiltered.”
The new single features backing vocals by Avanti Singh and is mixed by Ninad Lad. Ganjoo says about the song, “They say home is made of people, not walls. Maybe that’s true, but when I think back, I feel like a part of me stayed in that house. This song is my way of making those walls proud.”
There are a few more songs coming up in and Ganjoo says he’s creating a base “for what’s coming in the next year.”
