Name: Jitwam Sinha aka Jitwam
Nationality: India born, Australian raised
Occupations: Vocalist, songwriter, producer
Current release: Jitwamis one of the remixers featured on Asha Puthli's Disco Mystic, out via Naya Beat. Others artists on the EP include Yuksek, Kraak & Smaak, and label founders Turbotito & Ragz.
Recommendations: HILMA AF KLIMT; Hazrat Inayat Khan - The Mysticism of Sound and Music

[Read our Asha Puthli interview]
[Read our Yuksek interview]
[Read our Kraak & Smaak interview]
[Read our Turbotito & Ragz interview about about the Magic of South Asian Music – Past, Present & Future]

If you enjoyed this Jitwam interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Soundcloud, and Facebook.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

CLOSED.

I love going inside of myself and music is the vessel that allows you to open yourself up to your self.

There's so many thoughts that chatter away all the time, and the best music can send you into quiet, and hear the things that you subconsciously already know but haven't quite heard before.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

Everything is baby steps. And still is.

Whilst we each have certain tendencies/inclinations, there is nothing that can't be achieved through repetition and consistency.

Learning to be an artist is learning to be in touch with yourself. It's a constant battle and it's a journey with many ups and downs and wrong turns .... with all the change that's going on in my life, I feel like it's something that I’m only now returning to.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Music is everything to me.
All my friends are through music.
All my memories are through music.

It has been the soundtrack to all the things that have occurred in my life and can instantly transport me to specific times and places even though I may not remember the names or faces.

Nothing has changed since then. I am forever grateful to music.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

I’m drawn to music that’s hard to pinpoint when and where it came from. Like the first time I heard juke, or the first time hearing Ron Hardy edits …

I try and go inside myself and let the music make itself. And it's the subconscious thoughts and feelings that i’m trying to evoke when I’m creating and listening back to my music.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?
 
DISCOVERED + BORROWED + FLIPPED

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

100%. I’m more concerned with the feeling, the emotion and the sound world that my music lives in than I am with any specific chord or lyric.

Being part of the Indian-diaspora, I naturally feel inclined to mix different genres, tempos, ideas, sounds into something new. It’s something that is common amongst all the great Indian composers and it’s a legacy that I’m trying to continue in my music.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I find “music” everywhere, from the clanking of machines, to the crashing of the waves, to the sound of a car driving off in the distance.

All noise is musical once organised, or when it is tied to a specific emotion or place. It’s up to the artist to organise sounds in a way to evoke a feeling within themselves or to the listener.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?
 
I love drama.
I love the highs and lows.
I love the feeling of being taken somewhere.
 
The best music and my most fondest DJ sets are the ones where there is a push and pull, a moment of reprieve, and moments of full blown aggression.

Contrast is super important in life, but especially in music as it creates a blank slate for you to evoke from.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

All my best music comes out of me.

There is no thought involved, just the joy of finding the next piece of the puzzle.

I fashion my creative process similar to Allan Ginsberg’s “first thought, best thought”. Create to infinity and edit to your discretion.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?
 
I think everything about the way I live my life feeds itself into the music, whether you like it or not.

Music, as in life are so deeply intertwined. The more I discover about myself, the more I have to give to my music. And the more I discover about music, the more I find its lessons in life as well.
 
Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?
 
Mmm…

I would have to say probably Steve Reich’s “it’s gonna rain” - a mindless mish mash of non-sensical repetition that can put me in a trance and paradoxically, send me into a state of calm.



If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I’m so amazed by new genres, and new blends and new sounds and new rhythms coming out all the time.

I’m just excited to listen and learn from what comes next.