Desraj Thaper uses a mix of music genres in the band, combining the traditional Bhangra genre with a fusion of the music genres Electronic Rock, Pop Folk and Latin American Percussion.  He is a self-taught professional musician and can play a number of musical instruments professionally and has vast experience of stage and sound setup.  He uses a stage setup known as the ‘flying saucer’, as a plan view of the stage layout resembles the outline of this object.  The sound setup ranging from low-range to mid-range to high-range, allows every instrument to be heard clearly and each individual drum to be heard with a crisp and resonant sound.  The sound setup allows for the electronic keyboards to cut through the musical mix.  His main specialism is playing the electronic keyboards, which he has been playing since a young age.  Desraj Thaper has a distinct style of playing the keyboards.  He uses the voice of the 12 string guitar to sound out melodies and riffs, giving the impression of the tumbi to complement the Folk genre.  Very often, he plays this voice using a percussive style of pressing the keys, using fingers of both hands simultaneously to play the notes.  He blends the sound of the synthpad with the 12 string guitar for melodies and chords and uses this voice to provide the Electronic music to support the Rock genre.  Finally, Desraj Thaper blends in a suggestive echo of the voice of strings to provide the perfect harmonic or monophonic effect and sustain voice needed to support and accompany the vocals, adding a well-rounded full body to the music at the same time.  He also uses this voice for keyboard slides when songs start and at fill-ins and also to add drones to the music, sounding a note or chord continuously, throughout parts of the music.  The dholki, tabla and dhol are the traditional Indian drums used to support the Bhangra and Folk genres.  The bongos and congas often combined with the cowbells and/or timbales provide the additional Latin American Percussion and the bass guitar provides the Rock and Pop genres.  The five piece drum kit also provides the Rock and Pop genres to the music composition.  Finally, the vocalists provide the Folk genre, singing traditional folk ballads and they also complement the Rock genre by playing the tambourine at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                             Desraj Thaper (Music Arranger)