Have you met Ayan Sanyal? Well, in case you haven’t, he’s awesome. Besides his passion for music and participating in music clubs and performances on and off campus, he writes for the Justice, and has tons of performances coming up for you to attend! Read ahead for to find out more.
HC: We hear that you are very involved on campus. What motivates you to be involved in the Brandeis Community?
Brandeis is a great, but it’s small place. When I first came here, it was hard to get my music out there and there didn’t seem to be much of a “scene.” I was wrong. There are plenty of people that love to play and listen to music, but it just took a while to find them. So I guess what motivates me is to create a community of like-minded musicians and artists on campus. Music makes people happy, and it’s about spreading the joy and positivity. Brandeis the perfect place for that, because of its social ideals and open learning system.
HC: What is your favorite extracurricular and why?
Some people see music as my extracurricular, but it’s way more than that for me, so I won’t count it. I have been playing soccer since many of my friends here are soccer nuts. Recently, I’ve been getting into other art like painting and poetry. I am a member of the Investment Club. We’re doing this virtual stock trade competition and that stuff is really interesting. I’m also the secretary of B-Deis Records, the music club on campus. We host all kinds of on-campus parties (Blackout, Snow White) and provide a service for musicians to collaborate, start bands, get lessons, learn how to DJ, pretty much whatever. We’ll be hosting our first student concert at Chums pretty soon.
HC: What do you write in the Justice and what do you like most about your column?
I write for the arts section, JustArts. I’m pretty new to it and don’t have a column yet, but I mostly write about on-campus student events. I wrote about an a cappella concert and also a jazz concert featuring one of Brandeis’ music professors, Bob Nieske. The people at the Justice are really friendly and easy to work with, and it’s always good to get feedback on your writing and see how they edit my drafts into a professional piece.
HC: We know you’re a musician. What musical groups are you involved with at Brandeis and outside of Brandeis?
Surprisingly, I’m pretty much a one-man show. When it comes to recording, I handle all the music by myself (drum programming, keyboards, guitar and vocals). When I play live, it’s usually just me and my guitar, but I try to switch things up and experiment with loop pedals and backing tracks. I’m really into music production now and saved up enough to run a semi-pro music studio out of my room.
I’m working on collaborating with musicians on campus for live-shows and recording. During the summer and on breaks, I usually get a band together with my high school friends and play shows in Boston. Another artist that I have to mention is rapper Saz.E (Osaze Akerjah ’14). He’s probably one of the most lyrically talented guys out there on campus, and we’ve collaborated on a couple songs so far. Another artist that I’ve collaborated with is Green Street. They’re a Boston-Brooklyn hip-hop group that my older brother started with his best friend when he was in high school. They’ve gotten pretty big now, opening for Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa and others. They’re also touring Japan right now and have struck up a distribution deal with a Korean record label. My brother and I, growing up, had polar opposite musical tastes, but we did a collaboration 2 years ago on one of their early mix-tapes, Chess Moves. It’s a little stressful having a brother doing basically what I want to do in a few years, but his knowledge of the industry is useful to have and we operate in very different musical niches.
HC: Where does your passion for music stem from? Did you grow up with it?
Music was always playing in my house when I grew up. My mother sings Indian classical music and my father loves classic rock so while I was growing up, I incessantly listened to the Blue and Red Beatles’ Compilations and Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits and also songs by Rabidranath Tagore (a Bengali poet) and Kishore Kumar (an old Hindi popular artist). Everything I listen to inadvertently influences the music I write, so I just try to soak up everything. But The Beatles and that 7th grade crush was definitely what got it all started.
HC: Do you write music at school?
Yes! I haven’t actually written a song my sophomore year here yet, but a lot of the songs on my last album, Death of a Love Song (which you can download for free at www.ayansanyal.bandcamp.com) were written at Brandeis. I specifically remember the song “Umbrella For Two” was written during my orientation week when it rained for around five or six days straight. You write about what you know and most of my songs are about the college experience. That usually deals with post-teen angst, girls, trying to find out what do with life and pretty much everything in between. I’ve learned not to force inspiration and the best things come just from living life.
HC: When and where will you be performing so our readers can come see you?
I’m performing at pretty much every coffeehouse you can think of on campus (and if I’m not, please invite me to – I probably won’t say no!). Look for my name, and I’ll probably play around somewhere soon. My long-term goal is [to] open for Brandeis’ SpringFest in April, but I’ll need a ton of support from everyone on campus for that, so let your representatives know! Hey, they don’t have to pay me to play and that money can probably be used for a better headliner or something.