Music Composer Upmanyu Bhanot recently got candid with NewsX in an exclusive interview as a part of its special series NewsX India A-List. He shared insights from his 22-year long musical career which involves delivering a Gima award-nominated album to working with singers like Asha Bhosle and Sonu Nigam.

Reflecting on his 22-year long musical journey, Upmanyu said that he began his musical journey at a very early age. He was only 8 or 9 years old when he started playing the tabla and then gradually progressed to other instruments like guitar, keyboard and computer-generated music. Upmanyu expressed that he has always been interested in instrumental music and was particularly interested in scoring background music since the beginning.

The music composer has worked with legendary Sitar Maestro Shujaat Husain Khan and Asha Bhosle, produced music for mainstream cinema and television series, background scores of feature films and documentaries.

Having produced music in a variety of genres, he further shared what defines Upmanyu Bhanot’s music. “I’m more known for my style of fusing things and love to experiment, classical or semiclassical with the symphony, electronic mixing with the symphony, or electronic music mixing with classical. The fusion world music is my genre. I love doing that and people also like that,” expressed Upmanyu.

He recently composed music for the web series ‘The Story’ for Zee 5 and ‘Bekaboo’ for Alt Balaji. Distinguishing between background music for film and web series, Upmanyu said, “We have to compose a lot of themes and then those are matched with the characters, and we have to make some random themes as well. And the background score is as per the scenes. It was a good learning experience for me. I enjoy doing background score off late. The more challenging the scene is, the more I enjoy it.”

When asked about his opinion on the remix culture and whether artists have to put in more efforts to remain relevant, he said, “Sound is changing every day so music is converting into sound. If you compare today’s music world with the 1970s, 1980s or mid-1990s, in those times, composer and producers were focusing more on the music and the melody but today the melody is missing. This is the reason why we are remixing old songs. We’re picking up the old melodies and putting new sounds which is a brilliant idea but unfortunately, some of the remixes are so bad. They overdo it and kill the melody so much that the sound overpowers the melody and you don’t enjoy the sound. They just kill the song. If you don’t overdo it then it’s fantastic. There’s a very thin line between overdoing it and doing it properly.”

At last, sharing a piece of advice for the young aspiring music composers, Upmanyu said, “Stick to your genre and don’t try to copy. Don’t think that if this guy is doing remixes and he is earning big money so I should also do it. All you need is to explore yourself, know your strength, and stick to that. I’m also exploring myself and still learning.”

Ahead of the planned tour to South Korea by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin this week, Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on Tuesday threatened to scrap a military peace agreement with Seoul and break up a Workers’ Party organ tasked with inter-Korean dialogue as she lambasted the South for conducting military exercises with the United States, reported Yonhap News Agency.

It marked North Korea’s first message toward the Joe Biden government since its January inauguration. Kim Yo-Jong warned the new US administration not to engage in such hostile acts, saying it better not do things that would “keep it from getting a good night’s sleep” if it wants to sleep well for the next four years.

The statement came after the White House said it has reached out to North Korea for talks, but the North has remained unresponsive.

South Korea and the US kicked off their springtime combined military drills early last week involving a “minimum level of troops” given the coronavirus situation. The drills will last until Thursday, reported Yonhap News Agency.

The North has long demanded an end to joint military drills between the allies, denouncing them as a rehearsal for invasion.

Kim said that North Korea has no choice but to disband the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country handling cross-border affairs and dialogue, saying there is no reason for such an organisation to exist anymore, reported Yonhap News Agency.

“South Korea has again chosen ‘March of war’ and ‘March of crisis’ instead of ‘warm March’ in front of all Korean people,” Kim said in a statement carried by the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, reported Yonhap News Agency.

“Whatever the South will do by following its master, it will be not easy that the warm spring days of three years that it strongly wants will return.”

“We will keep an eye on the attitude and behaviour of South Korea going forward and should it become more provocative, we could take special measures such as boldly scrap the inter-Korean military agreement,” she added, referring to the deal signed in September 2018 to ease cross-border tensions.

Earlier in January, at a party congress meeting, the North called for an end to such exercises, calling it a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed before improving inter-Korean relations. It has also urged the U.S. to give up any hostile policy toward the North.

Inter-Korean relations remain stalled since a summit between the US and North Korea in early 2019 broke down without a deal on the North’s denuclearisation.