Gypsies from the west

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One look at her and you know she is not your usual musician who would give dollops of knowledge in terms of musical jargons. The beauty lies in her inability to clearly define the style of music of her band Rupa and the April Fishes. Her eclectic band of myriad shades and tunes comes up with a “stew” of multifarious rhythm through its first few minutes of presence on stage.

At the Rajasthan International Folk Festival (RIFF) in Jodhpur, Rupa Marya managed to convince everyone about her style of music. With a penchant for quirkiness, Rupa and the April Fishes, has something interesting in every moment of its music.
With a gypsy-like feel, the band from San Fransisco surely brings some much-needed novelty with its folksy and nomadic lilting tunes. Rupa’s band comprises Safa Shokrai (upright bass), Misha Khaikulov (cello), Rob Reich (accordion), Mario Silva (trumpet) and Aaron Kierbel (drums).
Born to Indian parents, Rupa grew up in the United States, but maintained her Indian equation by visiting her grandparents in India every summer vacation. For Rupa, music was never a separate entity from her physicality. It was always ingrained in her and the musical legacy ran in the family. Her mother studied at the Royal College of Music, while her grandmother, as Rupa describes, was a musical genius.
“My parents in fact fell for each other because both of them loved music. While my mother loved western music, my father was a connoisseur of Hindustani classical music. So I’ve had quite a musical upbringing,” says Rupa.
What followed later in life transformed the way Rupa looked at the world. She moved with her family to France, where she lived for 10 years. It was the period of unrest in France, as Roma (the so-called gypsy group), a racial minority group was fighting for its acceptance. That the Romanis have Indian roots is a well-known fact and these incidents led Rupa to the eternal question of perplexity — identity. (That’s also visible in her songs like C’est Moi, La Linea and other tracks, where she asserts, questions and opinionates. The pain and anguish comes across in tracks like En La Mar, Este Mundo, I Am A Clown, all of which, she has written. Some in English, while some in French).
Meanwhile, she was also taking her lessons in piano and training in Western classical music. In college, Rupa also took to Hindustani classical and found a voice in the guitar. A self-taught guitarist, Rupa started composing while studying the architecture of composition of it. Her father’s loss further moulded her belief in music and the loss of a dear one led her deeper into music. She is the songwriter of the albums that the band has produced and feels comfortable expressing herself in her words.
What takes many by surprise is her ability to juggle her career in medicine and music, both which she can’t do without.
Yes, Rupa studied medicine and also works at the San Fransisco General Hospital, treating all kinds of patients. “You know, illness is a great leveller in life. It just makes everyone common at the hospital and there are no pretences there, which also provides a certain kind of intimacy. There is a sense of urgency to communicate and create music,” she says.
Rupa describes herself as a student of life. “I just learn so much by meeting people. Different people lead to enormous possibilities. The more we tour, the more we grow. Our music is purposefully accessible and it finds deep nature of heritage. My hope through music is to remove excessive attachment,” she says. “I like to enter into a dialogue with people without a sense of border in mind,” she adds.
Rupa, who felt that she hadn’t reached the depth of her identity post 9/11 scenario, says that there is a sense of over-identification in the air. “We are living in times of global consumerism. There is an emergence of a new colonial uprising silently,” she says, throwing light on the various shades of American and world politics.
Considering she devotes six months to medicine and six months to music, Rupa thinks it’s time to explore music deeply and reach out to more and more people. She also cites the importance of maintaining finances, especially since the economics of music have changed. “Since I am in the commerce of music, finance is certainly important. There are times when we don’t charge anything as a band. But we can’t sustain like that. So sometimes one has to find ways of sustaining,” she says. Her tour in India is quite an extensive one. “After Jodhpur, we are off to Jaisalmer, then Ahmedabad to do a project with underprivileged children and then we plan to travel to a couple of other Indian cities,” she says, expressing the desire of sharing music with people across the world.