Image taken by Tuli Mitra
“I’m just a small grain of sand in a big desert.”
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview a musical artist for my article for The Social Talks. I took this chance to sit and chat with Shivam Bakshi, a 24-year-old upcoming artist based in Kolkata, India, excelling in the fields of singing and playing guitar, ready to embrace us all with his tranquil and melodious voice.
Shivam has always been an ardent listener of music, and it was his love for songs that led him to finally decide to explore the musical world on a much larger scale. His journey started in 2016, at the age of 16, when he received his first guitar from his sister. He got his basic guitar lessons from a neighbourhood brother for about one and a half years, and in 2019, as he stepped into college for his bachelor’s, Shivam decided to join one of Kolkata’s oldest and most prestigious music schools, the Calcutta School of Music (CSM). He carried out his undergraduate studies along with his guitar lessons, and after getting trained for about three to four months, he decided to embark on his vocal journey as well. Shivam enrolled in Western Classical Vocal Classes at CSM after receiving praise from his peers that he indeed, has a good singing voice.
After about a year of good, unrestricted learning, COVID-19 fell upon the world, and we all became homebound. It was in early 2020 when Shivam introduced himself to Indian classical music after watching Salman Ali perform ‘Laal Ishq’ at ‘Indian Idol’. He felt a strong urge to shift his genre in order to make himself capable of capturing the essence of Indian classical music. However, the onset of the global pandemic created obstacles in his way. But thanks to his undying passion for exploring music, which led him to eventually find a teacher later to instruct and guide him in the field.
“I have this weird habit that I want to learn everything. I want to know everything," said Shivam while expressing why he suddenly decided to shift his genre from Western to Indian classical. Hence, after a strenuous period of learning vocals and guitar for years now, Shivam is currently a full-time performer and has invested his entire life in music. You can often find him performing in various cafes and open mics, singing his heart out and enveloping the whole place with his sweet voice.
This is not all; get ready to be surprised, as apart from singing wonderful covers, Bakshi has also released his original music, Tum Muskura Do, in September 2023, which currently stands at over 42,000 views on YouTube. The song was created in collaboration with Saswata Ray (lyricist), Sayan Bhattacharya (music composer), and Sarthak Ghosh (music arranger). “The main imagination of the song was to create a song which is very sweet, lovely, and very soothing. So, I had to sing that way as well. and the song blended pretty well with my voice," said Bakshi when asked about the creative process of his song, and we cannot agree more that Tum Muskura Do indeed captivated his soft and melancholy tone. Currently, the song is the most-viewed music video produced by the channel, ARTLaMo Songe Saswata, and even helped them gain good YouTube figures.
Recently, Shivam also received a contract from Starbucks Kolkata, shortly after performing for them for the very first time at their Southern Avenue outlet on their first store anniversary. As of now, he has performed at several outlets of this coffeehouse franchise around the city, and while keeping his affinity for performing intact, Shivam expressed that he also encourages his musical friends to perform with him as well.
The Tum Muskura Do singer also expressed his love for country music, and rest assured, we will get to see the implications of that on his future projects. He described Glen Hansard as one of his major musical inspirations and said that his songs have truly moved him. “I am in love with his works... It’s his songs, which are so different, so raw, and so powerful. I would just love to be in front of him.” Some of the other musical artists whom he also admires include Coldplay, Linkin Park, John Denver, and Eddie Vader. Among Indian artists, he feels hugely inspired by Ali Sethi, Sid Sriram, Hariharan, and Arijit Singh. In fact, Fix You by Coldplay is the song that pushed him to pursue music and the one song he would always love to perform live.
When asked about Shivam’s vision with his music, he expressed that he feels he is already living the dream by getting to perform music live full time and at the same time pursuing his MBA. He always wanted to sing his heart out and present himself more in front of the audience. “I think the right word for me would be what I expect from myself, and that would be to create more original songs because till now I have been mostly covering other artists.” The singer has a lot in store, and he hopes to set his own music pattern in the future. Shivam heartily conveyed his love for being on stage and said that he is grateful for the platform that he is on currently. He also hopes to see himself someday on a bigger stage performing for larger crowds, and indeed, we hope the same for him too!
“Just be with music, keep learning, and while you learn, keep making mistakes, and while you make mistakes, you will know you have progressed a lot," said Shivam when asked about one of the best pieces of advice that he has learned through his musical career and also something to pass on to our readers.
With that note in our minds, we have reached the very end of my interview with Shivam Bakshi, and we honestly cannot wait for his future endeavours. He has a lot of talent hidden up in his sleeves that is getting ready to be unleashed in the world, and we can only hope and pray that he achieves his milestones and dreams in the upcoming years!
Article written by: Adrita Barua
Edited by: Georgiana Jureschi
