How two beatboxers are celebrating Mumbai’s sounds in their latest track

Mumbai-based beatboxers BeatRAW and D-Cypher Photo: Gaurav Gambhir

Car horns, the idliwallah cycle horn, whistles, sounds made by birds, the opening of a bottle. The acoustics of everyday life that often get lost in Mumbai's ambient noise, have recently found a home in a new track called 'Aamchi Mumbai', which celebrates the spirit of Mumbai.

In it, city-based beatboxing artistes Gaurav Gambhir, better known by his stage name D-Cypher, and Roshan Gamare aka BeatRAW, recruit their trusty instruments--lungs and mouths--to recreate the sounds that seem to elude Mumbaikars in the times of curfews and lockdowns. "This beatboxing track is a tribute to Mumbai as we replicate the various sounds you hear on the streets that are a part of the lifestyle of the people in the city," says Gambhir about the "clean track without any electronic sounds" that was released on April 21.

The Virar and Nallasopara-based beatboxers, who are also a part of the Bombay Lokal hip-hop collective, have been working on the track since November 2019 after a friend introduced Gambhir and Gamare to Daniel George, who is the background score composer of the Bollywood film Andhadhun (2018). After a brief brainstorming session, they decided to make a track that simply celebrates the city through its various sounds. "When we met Daniel, he wanted us to create something that we see in our daily life. Since D-Cypher and I stay in the Virar-Nallasopara belt, the one common thing we see is the local train and what happens in it. Right from the crowd to the struggle, and also all that we see on the road," says Gamare.

The challenge was to make it sound fresh like a new-age track and have these known elements in it, says Gambhir. While it was recorded before the lockdown in March 2020, the track has only been released now, due to pandemic-induced delays in post-production. They wanted to shoot in the local trains and various places outdoors, but couldn't because it was difficult to get permissions during the pandemic and so finally shot the video in November 2020.

"It is completely made through beatboxing without any external production. Since many people are stuck at home, I think they miss travelling by the train and the autorickshaws, and even to be surrounded by all the other sounds that they hear in the city every day. As artistes, we hope to entertain people and at such times, I think everyone - from a young child to an old person, will like and identify with this track," adds Gamare.

It is only fair to assume that such a track will encourage more people to take up beatboxing, considering that sounds like these and beatboxing go hand-in-hand. "When most people start beatboxing, they start by mimicking these very sounds," says Gambhir--who has been a part of Mumbai's beatboxing community over the last nine years.

He believes such a track will help change the mindset of not only beatboxers but people in general too. "Most beatboxers have a mindset that beatboxing is only a solo routine or can be done only through a cover of a song," says Gambhir, adding that after 'Gully Boy' in which the duo made two tracks, people's perception changed. "They realized that beatboxing can also be used in Bollywood. Now, since this (Aamchi Mumbai) is a theme-based song about the city, and the commercial kind, I think they will realise that it can also be done in this space, and they can make a proper musical track with beatboxing," says Gambhir aka D-Cypher, without missing a beat.