Why the name
Native Indian?
The name "Native Indian"
points towards sensibilities
that are native to the people
who have grown up in this
Indian landscape. A kind of
conditioning that is unique
to the people who have lived
in this environment. When
this project started out, this
vision was quite nascent and
my efforts were just to have
a subliminal touch on things
that are characteristically
Indian. Things that would
be relatable to someone who
has grown up in an Indian
household but at the same
time not be alien to someone
who is not. In fact, my aim
was for it to act as a gateway
for someone outside to have
a view at the smaller details
of this Indian landscape,
its ideologies, its evolution
etc. As the elements of
the music, the stories and
narratives came together, the
purpose of the name revealed
itself more evidently.
What are some of the
gear you use and why
do you like them?
The two most important piece
of gear without which I would
not be able to perform are
1. The Native Instruments
Maschine MKIII controller
- because it also acts as a
soundcard and with my laptop
only having two USB slots, It
saves me to have the Maschine
that runs my synths and loops
and also acts as a soundcard.
Artist of the Month
Siva Baskaran a.k.a
NATIVE
INDIAN
20
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
2. The TC helicon Voice Live
Touch 2 - All the different
voices in the album were
recorded directly using the
effects in the voice effects
unit. I printed my vocals
with the voice modulations
directly because that's how
much I was sure that those
were the exact effects and
modulations I wanted.
This also helps me recreate
those same voice effects and
modulations live as well.
You are a Native
instruments artist. Which
are your favorite products
of theirs and why?
The Native Instruments
Maschine is my favourite
product, simply because I
grew up using it over the
last 6-7 years and right from
the beginning, it has been
my go-to tool for composing.
I've adapted well to it and I
have my own workflow with
it. In fact, in the months
to come, I will be making
a separate series of video
content to showcase my
work flow with the Maschine
using some tracks for the
album as examples. I have
also heard amazing things
about the Traktor series but
that product line is more for
DJ-ing while the Maschine
is more of a composition
and production tool.
Tell us about your
upcoming projects
The upcoming content is still
in works. Anything I say
now is likely to change in
the future. But at the outset,
I hope to create a cross-
medium audio visual story.
There are lot of underlying
narratives of the recently
released album that will add
more context to the music
itself but is yet to released/
revealed. I have been speaking
of these narratives in live
performances but I have not
digitally released these stories
yet. So at the moment, I am
keen on developing a digital
comic series that portrays the
stories in the album visually.
#Lookingforcollaborators
. I see "Native Indian" as
a developing story line
that will augment various
mediums of expression and
become a fictional universe
of its own. In the first album
"Vol 1: Nature of the Self" ,
we saw a God-like creature
traveling back in time to
understand it's roots and
where it's genetic conditioning
comes from. Incidentally,
this takes the being (and
the listener) on a journey
through time to various
ancestors who have lived in
our Indian environment and
the systems that governed
those periods of time.