Niraj Chag - a musical composer via E15.

Niraj is a 25 year old who recently produced a very successful musical at the Theatre Royal - Stratford called Baiju Bawra. The musical was based on the 1952 Bollywood film of the same name. I had the opportunity to speak to Niraj about the play and other things associated.

Niraj lives in London and also has his own music label called Buzz-erk music which started about 2 years ago.

Background - 
Niraj has been a DJ with very much interested in contemporary Club/Dance music. Despite this Classical music has always been a favourite because of the family in which he was brought up. Dad was a keen follower of Bollywood cinema and classical music. Niraj was never bored of teh mythlogical films and the scenery they created in his mind. This included the film Baiju Bawra with the Bandit Queen sequences being teh most fascinating and being imprinted on the mind of young Niraj. Also the scenes of flourishing arts in the Moghul Empire in India and the respect shown to the Masters of performing Arts in that era very much impressed and influenced Niraj.

Niraj said his musical influences are eclectic. His father is into Bollywood music while his mother likes Indian spiritual music. He enjoys taking an original source and turning it into something different.

Among the musicians he has worked with, he has been mainly influenced by the likes of Nitin Sawhney who have brought together the East and West beats which work together with great effect.

Contemporary Works
When asked about the coincidence of the production coming into play around the time Bombay Dreams dates have been announced from the Andrew Lloyd Weber Camp, he replied that this was not intentional. In fact, Niraj was not even aware of the existence of Bombay Dreams when he started work on this project.

Links with Theatre and development of This Musical
When asked about his past links with theatre - Niraj replied "None". Niraj said that this was his first theatrical venture. 

He attended the 1998-9 musical theatre workshop at Stratford East at a time when he was involved in many projects ranging from classical music to garage working for Outcast Records with such musicians as Artful Dodger and Craig David. He said that they were looking for people from different disciplines including musicicans which is the reason he attended these. Soon after these workshops, Niraj presented his concept of this play based on his favourity Bollywood film to the Theatre Royal who responded favourably and the play came into production. 

Niraj has drawn from Indian classical music to retell a charming old tale in a modern style ranging from drum and bass, house to traditional and acoustic styles. 

The story is set in Agra, India, at the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar and tells of the composer Tansen and his musical duel with the young singer Baiju. The piece is also a love story with a strong spiritual side.

Niraj said that he did not use any of the original soundtrack from the film. the climax duet between Tansen and Baiju was taken from samples. The whole project took about two years to get to the final stage of being ready for the performances. When asked about the design he replied that it was left to the designers and he had no input to the process as he wanted to concentrate on getting his contribution as perfect as he could make it.

When asked about the humour in the musical, he replied that it was his own idea as he wanted it to be a light hearted production and not 'heavy going' piece of theatre. He did not want it to be a conventional play or a Musical. He likes to work with things that cannot be pigeon-holed into any specific categories.

The Experience and Future plans
Niraj exclaimed that he has loved this experience of working in the theatre and has had some very encouraging and positive feedback.

Baiju Bawra has been adapted and directed by Ultz. 

He said it is the melody that attracts him whether he is working on Indian classical or house music. He says he wears three hats – composer, musician and artist. He is happy to be described as any of them. Future projects include film soundtracks, bhangra and a record release by his lyricist/singer Melissa.