Joy’s Jamroom’s ”˜Kashmakash’ is a sheer joy to hear

Mayank Singh

By Manju Mittal

Recently watched Joy’s Jamroom’s production ”˜Kashmakash’ and I was completely overwhelmed with emotions. It is one of the most relatable song I think I have ever heard. The song is about life’s eternal struggle, that no matter what everyone else says, one is perfect and unique in their own individual way. If we look around, there is so much negativity in the world, ”˜Kashmakash’ song carries powerful lyrics, it is positive all the way through, with an uplifting feel, its about being happy with what you’ve got, a very positive message in the current stressful and lonely times of Covid-19.

Satyajeet Roy-Joy
Somwrita Sarkar

”˜Kashmakash’ song has been composed and penned superbly by multi-talented musician Satyajeet Roy-Joy. The song has been rendered by Mayank Singh, Rap lyrics written by Somwrita Sarkar, Rap vocal by Rahul Dutta and DOP and editing by Pankaj Upadhayay of Euphony Films.

 Satyajeet Roy-Joy needs no introduction to his fans in Sydney.  Joy is an accomplished Keyboardist, music composer and songwriter. He runs his own music production house named ”˜Joy’s Jamroom’. It aims to spread good local music, create original soundtracks by collaborating with high quality artists and musicians.

Joy is the son of a former singer and music assistant Shibani Chakraborty who has closely worked with legendary music director Hemant Kumar during the 1970’s. Joy has shared stage and featured on air with some of the renowned Bollywood artists including Javed Ali, Kunal Ganjawala, Hariharan, Mahalakshmi Iyer etc. He was also the grand finalist of CTC India 2016.

Talking about the song, writer and composer Satyajeet Joy said, “Kashmakash is a song which is relatable to all of us and the life we lead on a daily basis where our actions are so much influenced by society, peer pressure, impression management etc. At the end of the day, it’s just you and your life, everything else is a non substantial part. It wasn’t easy to come up with a concept that would depict the storyline of the song it had to be apt and precise with minimal complication. It was a rewarding music project and I was surrounded by creative, interesting, talented artists who loved the same thing as I did”.

Sydney’s local talented vocalist and guitarist Mayank Singh, who has been intrigued by musical instruments and notes since his childhood. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Sydney based rock band Pyramid Room. They released an original album called ”˜Wonder’, with six original songs that topped the rock charts for many weeks in 2018.  He has served as a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force.

Mayank has performed in many venues in Sydney and has many concerts to his credits. I remember watching Mayank’s performance at ”˜Poetic evening with Deepti Naval’ show two years ago in Sydney and then again in Wollongong, he was phenomenal. This time he has moved from stage to a video shoot as a vocalist, and he has shown that he has incredible singing voice too.  ”˜Kashmakash’ is a song for any common person. Vocalist Mayank has good control on the high notes, every word he has sung seems to be coming from his heart, ending up with an exceptional overall performance.

Mayank shared his experience after the success of music video, “I have been working closely with Joy on a lot of projects lately and working with him has been a great experience for me. He is very friendly and dear to me. The most important aspect was to do this song when Joy approached me for this song I totally jumped into it as it sounded so good to me. I am glad that I went ahead and explored my vocal expressions along with swing feel guitar tones. It was a great working experience with the entire team of Kashmakash. This song has been a great start and I feel blessed”.

Somwrita, an exceptionally talented classical singer and writer in Sydney, her subtle command in ragas, the melodic structures, their rhythmic disciplines and her mastery on dhrupad, khayal, thumris and ghazals is amazing. She is inspired by the universality of music; using several diverse musical forms, she loves to experiment at the boundaries and confluences of these forms.

Somwrita also shares her experience with TIDU of the making of this music video,’ “I have always loved writing lyrics in Hindi, Urdu and as well as English. In ”˜Kashmakash’, first time I experimented with rap lyrics, this was an extremely unusual writing genre for me, but turned out to be quite a fascinating experience. I tried to exemplify and shape the abstract into the concrete, bringing out the thousand dilemmas that the youth of India face. Producing the abstract ”˜Kashmakash’, the struggle, that every person always seems to be battling and hence the message of hope, healing and breaking out of the quandary”.

Rahul Dutta

The rap vocal for the song was done by Bangalore based musician Rahul Dutta, he is an Indian singer, songwriter at Raqeeb -The Band. He is most famous for two songs ”˜Moh Maya’ and ”˜Dozakh’ with the band featuring in Rolling Stone India in 2020.

Rahul shared his experience, “Kashmakash holds a special place in my heart as I got to collaborate with some amazing people from the music scene in Sydney. This song tells you what we already know about life, it’s a mystery, it’s the greatest suspense film ever, and we are living in it; go experience this groovy song about life and how we know it.”

Pankaj Upadhayay

Pankaj Upadhayay, a film maker and a cinematographer from Kolkatta, he is an award winning independent film maker, visual artist and a poet. Pankaj’s short film ”˜Smile’ screened at Canberra short film festival in 2017, and later his second film ”˜Not Alone’ made it to the SF3 short film festival finalist in 2019. Recently Pankaj co- produced, shot and edited two anti-dowry videos for NSW Police and he is currently producing, directing his short film series ”˜Bhram’ ”“ a collection of mystery short stories.

Pankaj, who likes working with local independent artists here, says “This is my third collaboration with Joy’s Jamroom. I will share success with Mayank and Satyajeet Joy, who gave me this initial brief regarding the song and shared their brilliant song to replicate this vibe as their director of photography and editor. I merely acted on their vision and so happy the video has come out this way. The song is so apt in today’s world and appeals to all ages. Our song video was widely appreciated on social media. It was a pleasure working with the entire cast of, they are gifted, sincere and committed artists, Satyajeet Roy Joy, Mayank Singh, Somwrita Sarkar and Rahul Dutta.”

”˜Kashmakash’ I hope those who listen to this song track feel its healing vibes, the power to transport a mind to aesthetically pleasing spaces and the tranquilly it brings is actually tantamount to witchcraft. This is on replay for me: ”˜Har roj ki hai yeh kahani jo main jee raha, parde ke peechhe dhuein ko main pee raha, kashmakash hai meri rukti zindgi’.

Euphony Films truly captured the mood and emotions of the song so artistically. All the artists are an absolute inspiration to the next generation of young musicians here in Australia. They are already famous performers with an amazing passion. We sincerely wish them the best for their future. The video is playing currently on you tube and social media.

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