Famous musicians’ kids strike a chord

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There was a time when singer-composer Lesle Lewis was famous as a ‘remix man’. He is still recalled when someone hums Piya Tu Ab To Aaja from Rahul and I or the songs from Colonial Cousins. But now, concentrating on his original compositions, the talented musician is busy experimenting with another genre. He along with a team of young musicians — all of them his friends’ kids — are working on a Electronic Dance Music (EDM) album that they plan to come up with by September.
“It is going to be different from everything I have done till now. This album, that we have not named as yet, is unlike any other pop album as it will have different beats and music that you can groove on. There will be little bit of singing but don’t expect any gaana from it. What is special about this album is that it has the youngest new talent coming together for the first time and they all have different potential,” says Lesle, who plans to make electronic music the pulse of today’s generation.
Lesle’s young brigade of musicians include Akshay and Karan Hariharan (playback singer Hariharan’s children), Siddharth and Shivam Mahadevan (Shankar Mahadevan’s boys), Shane and Alyssa Mendonsa (Loy Mendosa’s kids), Bindu and Ambi Subramaniam (kids of Kavita and Lakshminarayana Subramaniam) and his daughter Divya Lewis.
Surprisingly, Lesle did not have to do any convincing to get them on board. “You won’t believe that I haven’t spoken to their parents for anything. In all probability, they did not even know that we are working on this album. I was in touch with these kids, who grew up in front of me and saw them performing at parties and family get-togethers. Somewhere, they all expressed their wish to perform, and hence the idea of this album germinated,” he shares.
Talking about the musical prowess of his young team, Lesle insists they are musicians in their own right. “They all come from illustrious families and grew up under the guidance of their expert parents, so they are princesses and princes of music in their own right. And since I had always watched them from the sidelines, I knew each one’s weakness and strength, their likes and dislikes. It also made it easy for me to assign a task to each one of them for the album. All have got one song each,” says Lesle.
Recalling the fun part about working on this album, Lesle says it was pagalpanti all the way. “They all grew up with each other and now are working together under one roof. Imagine the blast they had when we all got together. There was a lot of pagalpanti, leg-pulling and jamming. But I was sold when I noticed the passion and enthusiasm they had for music. It gives me immense satisfaction to see this ‘new generation’ musicians so dedicated towards their music,” ends Lesle.